A comparison of print-on-demand bespoke softcover journals from Blurb Books and Mixam. An outline of the costs, the quality and how they compare. Part of my series about printing your work for photographers.

Following my Berlin Journal, in the series ‘Cities I love but can’t visit,’ I bring you, New York. As before, this is the Blurb 6” x 9” Trade Book using their Standard paper with a Softcover.

One of the habits I’ve been trying to form during lockdown is to write more frequently in my Journal. My other lockdown preoccupation has been trying to print more of my work. So the opportunity to combine the two and make my own Journal was just too good to pass up.

'What is AG23?' I hear you ask. AG23 is a collaboration between Dan Milnor of Blurb Books and Rick Elder of Beyond Clothing. They describe it as a project "to promote understanding through dialogue and art".

In a world that feels more divided than at any time that I can remember anything that promotes understanding can only be a good thing.

I've been referring to this as my 'Enhanced Business Card', it's a Digest format soft-back book printed by Magcloud. If we have a business card, many photographers are using the Moo type with a photograph on the back - I've got some. Moo does a great job, if you want it, every card can feature a different image.

I wrote, in what seems like a previous life, about having become disillusioned with Instagram as a platform for sharing long-form work and how I'd started to look for alternatives.

Today is day five, I think (I've already lost track), of our social distancing here in the UK. When we emerge from under the shadow of this lockdown, it will be a massive challenge for some creatives to restart their careers. It probably doesn't take me to tell you to make the most of this time, and be as prepared as possible.

One of the discoveries in the archaeological strata of paper perched on top of my now nonfunctioning office printer was this issue of a Chilean magazine called Cyclo. They published some of the images from my time documenting the Full Gas track cycling winter series in their launch issue.

Over the last few months, I've become increasingly disillusioned with Instagram as a platform for sharing long-form work. It works well as a visual diary, where what you're posting refers to the moment it's published.