Photo book critique/ tips

[A/Ox4]

Well, the worst of the worst happened. All of my camera gear was stolen. For those that don't know, I'm a Paramedic and do photography for the fire department in my off time. My truck was broken into at my station and all of my gear was stolen. Looks like insurance isn't going to cover it.

My community of followers is pretty strong, many telling me to start a GoFundMe so they can donate.

In lieu of just taking money, I've thought I might sell prints and albums. I've pieced together my first album and am looking for tips and critiques. Let me know what you think.

KCFD Album

 

[smoke665]

I did it for the fun for many years (Volunteer Fire and 1st Responder), till age caught up. The images brought back some memories.

 

[EIngerson]

Man, I F&%$ING HATE THIEVES!!!! I hope they find them. Sorry to here about that.

 

[MSnowy]

That sucks. Nice book. Let me know if someone sets up a GoFundMe page. My father was a captain on the local FD for 35 yrs so I know how tough the job can be.

 

[Coreysaysyo]

Hey man, how much would you be charging for some prints like that? I have an uncle that is a full time fire fighter. He would love a print like these

Awesome photos btw!

 

[A/Ox4]

Hey man, how much would you be charging for some prints like that? I have an uncle that is a full time fire fighter. He would love a print like these

Awesome photos btw!

The photo book will be about $50. I have prints available ony website www.TreySpooner.com

 

[Coreysaysyo]

Well at $50 bucks I would be interested.

I'm sorry your gear got stolen, people like that will get what's coming to them

Also sorry if this is a noob question, but it would be a physical book right?

 

[A/Ox4]

Well at $50 bucks I would be interested.

I'm sorry your gear got stolen, people like that will get what's coming to them

Also sorry if this is a noob question, but it would be a physical book right?

Yes it's a physical book. I'll be making two, one for each of the local Departments

 

[tirediron]

Very sorry to hear about your gear. Hopefully those responsible will soon be in dire need of your services and you'll be just too busy!

As for the book, bearing in mind I have nothing to do with your community so depending on your target market, my remarks may be useful or utterly pointless.

Cover: I like the image, but it doesn't really say "Fire Department" to me.I think something a little more dramatic... something like page 13-14.

I would also put page 1-2 farther back; you need a few s**t-hot images at the start to hook those who may not be sure they want to buy. I would swap the current 1-2 with 7-8. 11-12 seems like an odd combination to me. Again, both good images, but I don't see any connection. To me it looks like you had two images and went, "Ahhh, stuff 'em in here." I like the last page; good choice there!

Good luck with your sales.

 

[vintagesnaps]

You're pricing your prints too low! well, maybe not that low, but you might want to check out pricing in your area and rethink it, that seems so low. And sorry about your camera getting stolen.

And on your website I saw - hockey!!! (I'm not a big hockey fan or anything! lol) There's a fire hockey men's league team here, they don't have charity games real often but do have one scheduled this summer I hope to go to.

You've got some really nice photos in there. I agree with John, the cover didn't grab me and I didn't even realize what it was at first. I think figuring out how to arrange them can be tricky but other than that you've got a really nice book in the making.

 

[A/Ox4]

Thank you all for the comments. I took them into consideration and have published the books. They're now available for purchase from my Facebook page

As luck may have it, my truck was broken into AGAIN! This time they broke a window and got away with my work backpack with all of my paramedic paperwork and some text books.

I tried to upload the covers but Tapatalk is having issues right now.

 

[A/Ox4]

The first books have arrived.

 

[A/Ox4]

May or may not be allowed, but for those with kind hearts and a $ or £ or anything to spare, there's a GoFundMe...