“What might be worth mentioning to anyone who has a collection of work
they want to get ‘out there’ is that it’s worth thinking very carefully
what your goal is. Producing a book is very satisfying, but not cheap,
either in time or money. Photography books are not like Harry Potter,
it’s a small market and whilst there may be seven billion or so people
out there, the percentage of them who want to buy a photographic book is
very, very small. Do it because you have to, not because you think
you’ll be able to retire on it. On the upside, thanks to the fact that
you can know print so much cheaper than in the past, I worked out it was
cheaper to produce a beautiful book you can sell worldwide than to put
on an exhibition you can show to a few hundred people. I’m rather
particular about glass and materials when it comes to framing so it was
no surprise to discover that my rather modest forthcoming Circus
exhibition was going to cost more to produce than a book! They say the
best way of becoming a millionaire photographer is to start off as a
billionaire, so do it for the love of the art, not for the bottom line.”
– Tim