Wyandotte Artist Publishes First Photo Book

Wyandotte artist Eric Krimmel enjoys taking photographs.

So much so, that in 2010, he made it a point to take at least one photo every day.

And now, those photos have been grouped together to form a 737-page photo book, Illuminate: The Yearlong Photo-a-Day Project.

The book, which Krimmel self published, contains a photograph, a series of photos or a photo composite for every day of the year. The pages are numbered and dated to allow the reader to know what Krimmel focused on during any particular day in 2010.

He said three parameters guided the project–strive to create something new and different every day, explore the possibilities of photography as an art and resist using the camera simply to record a time and place, and base each photograph on an idea that includes text to guide the viewer to that idea.

"The work is impressive and its subject matter touches on social commentary and cultural issues, joy and sorrow, existential ruminations and mundane realities of life," he said.

The book's entry for Day 185, July 4th, is a flag-waving shot from Wyandotte's Independence Day Parade.

This was Krimmel's first time designing an eBook, but he said he preferred that method over the traditional route of hiring an agent and pitching the book to a publishing house.

"The advantage of digital is that you don't have a physical book that has to be produced, and the costs related to it," he said. "For example, I laid out each day as a double page spread, so the book is 737 pages long, which is a big book. A high quality, printed version of this would mostly likely sell for over $100. But with digital, there is no physical copy, so I'm able to sell mine for just $14.99."

The book is available exclusively for the iPad and can be purchased from iTunes. Depending on how sales go, Krimmel said he is considering making the book available for other tablets, as well.

"I love print, but the photos look great on the iPad," he said. "The screen really brings out the colors and you can zoom in and make the photo larger than the screen and use your finger to scroll so you can see all the details. It's much less expensive and the iPad will hold thousands of books so you can have them at your fingertips no matter where you go."

The book received a five-star rating from an iTunes user named Klienstein: "I had the pleasure of meeting Eric last year and seeing his project first hand. I was captured by the insight given to each day of the year through common everyday events. Events that people take for their face value are seen in a new, inspirational light, often given a comedic value for life itself has its moments that all you of can do is smile about it. Being an artist and having a love of photography, I find his work inspirational and I am glad to see it being shared to everyone."

A sample of the book can be seen on Krimmel's website under the illuminate heading.