Highly refined yet ever-evolving, the work of this photographer started with portraiture, moved through landscapes and seascapes, and has for a time now focused on architecture, capturing even conventional structures in amazing ways.

WebUrbanist recently asked Joel Tjintjelaar of BWVision more about his history, process and transition from taking photographs to also teaching photography and post-processing techniques. The resulting interview follows below.

While the results of his recent work may look like a fine stylistic stopping point to some, Joel states: “My workflow has changed gradually over time and will continue to change. It will never stop changing and it should never stop changing. The day I stop evolving is the day I should quit creating images.”

In part, the evolution of that work is tied to the teaching he does in at workshops in real life and also online via master classes and videos like this one on long exposure workflow.  Teaching, he notes, “forces me to be critical at my own work as well and to try to understand my own photography better, and more importantly: what drives me to create the pictures I [take] …. I teach them that fine art photography is not so much about technical qualities and skills but more about being able to express who you really are in a way that offers a completely new point of view for the viewer and leaves him changed.”

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Fine Art Of Architecture Bw Photography By Joel Tjintjelaar

New Zealand native Linda Radosinska takes her photography to the streets in Exit Through the Thrift Shop, a stunning series of Banksy-inspired images. Carefully staged in parks, stores, alleys and more, these shots add depth and dimension to the work of that most infamous of English graffiti artists. Linda reflects on this project and what comes next in the following interview with WebUrbanist:

1) What was your moment of inspiration for this project?

It was around October of 2010 and I had been trying to think of an idea for a new project for a few weeks. I went out walking one day and I remember wondering to myself what it would look like if I brought a few of Banksy’s stencils to life with real people and things. Over the course of the next few months, it just sort of grew from there.

2) As a photographer, what was it about this project that was engaging enough to put great time and effort into staging each shot?

Being such a big fan of Banksy’s work, I was really excited and inspired by whole idea of it; the images I could see in my head were the most exciting part for me, I sort of used that as a goal post to work towards and it really challenged me to do my best. I also felt like I had a responsibility to treat his work respectfully instead of just hacking together uninspired photos of people in costumes, so that really pushed me both technically and creatively to try my hardest and produce these images to the highest standard that I could.

3) Do you feel like doing this project has enhanced your understanding of Banksy’s work, and if so: how?

I’m not sure if it’s enhanced my understanding of Banksy’s work, but it has certainly given me an even greater appreciation of his skills as an artist. His ability to create powerful images that comment on complex issues with nothing more than a can of spray paint and bit of cardboard is pretty amazing if you really stop to think about it.

4) Banksy calls you with verification he is who he claims to be. What one question do you ask him?

I would ask if I could see something he’s working on at the moment, I’ve never seen a real Banksy piece in the flesh before, so that would be pretty special for me. I’d also tell him I was a huge fan of his work and thank him for creating so many amazing pieces for us all to enjoy.

5) Banksy shows up the night before your solo show, breaks in and creatively alters your work inside the gallery and how would you feel about it?

I would be really excited about it … unless it was like what he did to Paris Hilton’s album cover.

6) The subject of this project is raw, untamed, site-specific graffiti – your mode of capturing it could be considered in contrast: controlled, framed, and location-independent. Did this occur to you in the process and, if so, do you have any thoughts on the differences between your work and your subject matter, or the relationship of street art and photography in general?

I don’t know if I would consider Banksy’s pieces to be raw and untamed; a great deal of thought has been put into the concept for each piece and its execution, right down to the realistic lighting and shadows. You could probably say that brainless tagging is raw and untamed, but Banksy’s work feels careful and deliberate, he does colour within the lines after all. So, in that respect I don’t feel like the process of creating street art of this nature is very different to the way that I approached photographing this particular project.

7) What are you working on now (or: are you planning to work on soon), and to what extent has this project reshaped your approach to photography in general (or choice of subjects specifically)?

My next project is going to be completely different to this one; I will be shooting a story, which I am in the process of writing at the moment, and it will be presented as a book when it is complete. I’ll probably have another small exhibition when it’s all finished, just to introduce people to the work and display a few of the final images. It’s going to give me the chance to get some more landscape photography back into my work, and try some new things. Unfortunately, I will need to do some fundraising before I can start shooting anything though, because it’s probably going to cost me quite a bit to produce.

The ‘Exit’ project has had a pretty significant effect on my photography; not only has it made me a better photographer and retoucher, but it has made me strive to say more with my images. It’s shown me that your best work comes when you really stretch yourself to try and create work that challenges and inspires you. It’s kind of blown the lid off any limits I had of what I thought I could do with photography.

Visit Linda’s website for more of her wonderful work from this series and to watch for future updates!

Friend of the site Cyer Law (Eric Sanderson, Prolocutor for LoreFolk) has done what many talk (or dream) about: taking his own nearly 500-page novel all the way through from concept to execution, including print copies and multiple ebook formats with creative custom illustrations throughout. We sat down to talk with him about the process, and he provided not only a step-by-step narrative of his own means, methods, trials and tribulations, but also a spectacular set of resources (skip to the very end for this must-bookmark list for would-be self-publishers!). But before we begin, be sure to check out The Novel: Aeternae Aetatis by Cyer Law (and view the Book Trailer).

WebUrbanist: How did you decide to pursue self-publishing and did you consider approaching mainstream publishers first?

Prolocutor: From the beginning, during a dark and stormy night, I was looking at my options.  Publishers to my eyes, when I read first hand accounts on the internets, appeared monolithic in their formality. I studied advice on query letters, publisher requirements, and tried to wrap my head around how much work I would have to put into trying to get someone to notice my baby.  You should understand, that the entire process of writing, revising and editing The Novel, just to get it to it’s preeminent form took nearly a decade.  By then, I was completely exhausted with writing, and staring at what looked like another year or two years in writing and sending query letters, along with every other internet citizen with a careful and mediated word to spread, was too daunting.

On the other side, the technology for self-publication, was developing into an efficient Print On Demand solution. What at first started with vanity presses, where a self-publisher would have to pay a press to do a run of a thousand books, for thousands of dollars, has morphed into a smaller investment, for a printed product. And of course, along came Kindle, which was the first killer-ebook device, which led to the Nook and the very open market of direct publishing on either KDP (Kindle) or Pubit (Barnse & Noble).

Lastly, I’ve always been an old hack with software, which allowed me to do everything a publisher could do from the technical stand point. I found and paid artists and other editors myself to finish up portions such as the interior illustrations (Jeremy Ney!) and the map (Adam Schmidt) for The Novel.

WebUrbanist: Once you chose the route of self publication, what criteria did you use to determine your best option?

Prolocutor: The hard copy had to be cheap to print. The vanity presses, no matter how large a run, could never compete with the full-scale publication industry.  That was the deal breaker, really.  I looked at two options for the hard copy, Lulu and Lightning Source.  At this point, I had already incorporated LoreFolk LLC as publisher and moniker, so when I reviewed the Print-On-Demand costs, and took some advice from JoeThePeacock, Lightning Source came out the winner. They won’t take self-publishers, but if you’re incorporated, even as an LLC or owner-proprietor, they won’t care.

Of course, trying to play with the big boys has it’s rewards, and draw backs.  Lulu will offer every service under the sun, from editing, to designing, to marketing, for anyone, any time, anywhere.  If you have the cash to burn and lack the technical know-how to format your content, then Lulu is where the train is likely to end.

WebUrbanist: What were your biggest surprises in the process, both good and bad?

Prolocutor: The biggest surprise is how good quality Print-On-Demand (POD) books are currently.  Everyone I’ve showed it to is either stunned or simply does not question its orgin. If you picked it up in a store somewhere, you’d be hard pressed to discern that it was not mass produced. Some of it is my ability to navigate the various facets that make a book a book (the touch, the feel, the fabric, the book of our lives) but mostly, its the latest and greatest technology that make it possible.

The most challenging surprise was how impractical publishing extraordinary content on the Kindle is.  I spent a good deal of time getting my EPUB ebook formatted for the Nook, requiring downsizing the quality of the various images, and let the device handle more of the basic formatting. Once I finished with that, and retained 95% of the presentation aspect (The Book), I went to Amazon to try and convert the EPUB to the Kindle format, and was suddenly shattered in how archaic their Kindle format was.  It was as if I had entered a time warp into the early days of Netscape. Despite being the forerunner of the ebook market today, they had adopted the premier and non-killer-app format of yester years, theMOBI format. Tl;dr, another 30-45% of the presentation quality had to be further reduced. So if you want the best presentation, the physical copy, is your best choice.  I would say the EPUB from Barnes and Noble is the highest quality ebook I can produce, and the Kindle is just enough to not destroy my faith in humanity (I should try to not phrase it like it’s plague to the earth, as it’s the primary destination for most ebooks).

WebUrbanist: What advice would you give to someone else who is interested in potentially publishing their own novel or other book for print and/or web?

Prolocutor: There’s an explicit answer I must give, because of the route I took.  If you want to self-publish, you need to know the tools of the trade. The physical copy was produced all in InDesign. I would have liked to use an open source program, but I have used adobe software for about 15 years off and on, and I did not want to try to learn something new.  Everything submitted to the Print-On-Demand service, whether Lulu, LightningSource or other, will require you to have a PDF.  It sounds simple but the PDF has a whole host of various specifications, and you need to consult the POD service for the right settings.

From the Indesign layout, you can produce a rudimentary HTML file.  At this point, it should be noted that if you have HTML design skills, you can easily create an ebook.  And if you do not have nostaligia for The Book, then InDesign is a useless step.  The epub and mobi digital formats are merely just XHTML.  The following software is what I used: Sigil for compilation of the EPUB from HTML files, Calibre for conversion from EPUB to MOBI, then Mobi Pocket Creator & Amazon’s KindleGen. It can seem like a maze at time, but there are plenty of resources to be found on google that will get you to your goal.

Now for the other answer. If you want to publish, but do not understand any of the various links I posted to PDF, EPUB, MOBI, XHTML, you can still get your material published. AWord Doc or RTF is acceptable to Lulu or Smashwords as distributors, they’ll convert the document to the required format, and push it out the door.  I did not try this, as the presentation of the material usually suffers.  As outlined above, I had to use several different programs to just get two versions of the ebook.  Lulu and Smashwords will offer you to distribute your book anywhere and everywhere, which sounds nices, but at the end of the day, I think presentation and content go hand in hand.

The last stage is registering your content for distribution, which requires purchasing ISBNs from either your distrbutor or Bowkers. This of ISBNs as a url to all the various outlets such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Any distributor or printer (Lulu and Lightning Source are both) will require an ISBN.  I chose to purchase mine through Bowkers, so I could claim a middle ground between vanity publishing and true publishers, as I would like to continue publishing not just my works, but others, if the chance comes along.  Slap the ISBN onto the barcodes and copyright pages, and suddenly, you have a book!

Formats to Know:

Word Doc – Either DOC or DOCX, the general format for Microsoft Word (Learn the style guides) can be imported into InDesign or directly to some of the distributor’s formats.
RTF – Rich Text Format:An open source text document with formatting capabilities.
]PDF – Physical copies and some eBooks (iPad size)
EPUB – Open electronic publication format, used by Barnes & Noble, et al.
XHTML – A form of HTML, that uses stricter open/close tags (XML compliant)
MOBI – An old ebook format used as the basis for Amazon’s kindle format (AZW) which are proprietary.
SVG/PNG/GIF/JPG – Various graphic formats (in order of preference)

Software to Have:

Adobe Illustrator/Inkscape (Free Open Source Software) – I used these to take advantage of the SVG format available on the EPUB.
Adobe Photoshop/GIMP (Free Open Source Software)
Sigil (Free) – EPUB layout software, requires XHTML files & graphic files (you can use this to open any .epub file, and see it’s guts.
Calibre (Free) – Converts various types of ebooks and works as a ebook library.
Mobi Pocket Creator (Free version) – Like sigil, it will take XHTML files and covers, and create a MOBI file. Definitely not as easy as Sigil (Possibly useless if you understand the next program.
Amazon’s KindleGen (Free) – A command line (ooo scary) program that makes a MOBI file from properly formatted XHTML files.
NotePad++ (Free) – A advanced text editor for HTML or XHTML, very handy for cleaning up DOC to HTML/XHTML conversions (For those OCD among us in presentation)

Distributors to Contact:

Lightning Source – Cheap POD service, no hand holding, and you should probably incorporate (for tax purposes).
Lulu – One stop shop for all your needs, from bare-bones to full service. I can’t say anything more than for me, it was useful to get a rough but ready looking physical copy.
Kindle Direct Publishing – Distribution for the Kindle available from Amazon, they take DOC or MOBI or other formats. I published on the physical copy through Lightning Source, then converted to MOBI and uploaded it to Amazon.
Pubit – Distribution for the Nook available from Barnes & Noble. They take an EPUB and other formats.
Bowkers – ISBN supplier and database (for distribution lists)

Recommended Reading:

The Absolute No-Bulls**t Guide To Writing, Publishing and Selling a Book

LoreFolk

The Novel: Aeternae Aetatis by Cyer Law (Book Trailer)

Barnes & Noble (EPUB & Physical Copy)

Amazon.com (MOBI/AZW & Physical Copy) also available in UK/DE/FR