Wallpaper April 2015

Congratulations to Dale Maclaughlin, Rick Gregware, Tom Tresohlavy, Hugh Cowan, Sandy and Jack Patterson, all of whom correctly identified last month’s scene as the south bay at Endymion Island in the Lake Fleet Group. Simon Fuller also got it right, suggesting this view is in Brockville, because it is. A 7-foot wide canvas graces the amenity lobby of the new Tall Ships Landing building.

Last month I shared with you that I have a new book of 1000 Islands photography coming in late spring. I also suggested there were a couple of reasons (beyond new images) that make it better than any of my others.

When I did my first book, I thought a map would add tremendous value. To provide the largest scale without sacrificing pages, I used a western and eastern half as end sheets. Printing two different 4-color maps is considerably more expensive than using plain paper, but they added value by using coordinates and page numbers to show the location of every image so the book could also function as a guide.

In the era before Google Maps, this proved a far bigger challenge than I imagined. I drove the map creator nuts for about six months. In the end, had I asked for one more addition, he would have shot me. To be honest, we were both used up. However, it proved valuable even if it wasn't graphically as attractive as I wanted.

This new book will finally get the map I had always hoped for, thanks to a professional cartographer working in conjunction with my graphics guru who both stoically withstood all the information we heaped on them. The result not only looks vastly improved, but contains significantly more information (attractions, points of interest, tour boat ports, Canadian and US parks, marinas with gas, golf courses, accurate shipwreck sites and much more) that can’t easily be found elsewhere.

It has always been important to me that the books be of high physical quality so they’ll look as good years from now as they do when new. I hate paperback and dust jacket covers because they look shopworn almost as soon as they get home. This book will again feature richly padded hard covers with matte lamination with a precise portion in gloss as well as foil.

I believe it's important that these elements send a subliminal message to the world, stating that the 1000 Islands are similarly of high quality, with another unspoken message - there's more here than castles. Taking the quality cover concept a step further (despite the economics involved), the pocket maps will feature cardboard covers with the same elements as the book's cover.

Few realize that this level of physical quality is seldom offered (virtually never for regional books and forget it with a map) because it’s prohibitively expensive to do in small print runs. That’s the final critical element. The book (and map) must be easily affordable and there’s only one way without sacrificing quality - taking a gamble on a huge print run. Despite selling only on the River, the book order is for quadruple that of a nationally distributed bestseller in order to get the unit cost low. The map run is double that. I’m hoping you’ll appreciate their value and not only get one for yourself, but many more as gifts for friends, guests or customers.

In the meantime, how about identifying where this scene is with any stories it may prompt? (And cross your fingers that this all works out.)

P.S. A reminder that we have a couple of summer rentals on offer in extraordinary parts of the world, the south of France and in the 1000 Islands.

Ian Coristine

1000IslandsPhotoArt.com

OneinaThousand.ca

Download wide-angle version

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