SPILL book arrives

Exciting times here in Seattle! Arriving at 1 pound, 10.1 ounces and 9.25 by 12.25 inches is an advance copy of SPILL, Daniel’s monograph of photos from the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill that is being published by GOST Books.*

Within it’s 62 FSC-certified pages are 27 photos from Daniel’s SPILL series and an essay by Barbara Bloemink. Thanks to the design talents of Stuart Smith, SPILL makes a stunning impression, allowing Daniel’s photos to really breathe; 23 of these photos are on full-bleed double-page spreads.

Best of all is that this book is that will be available to the general public, unlike Daniel’s first book. Keep your eyes peeled for details about purchasing a copy of your own, we’ll have these details finalized shortly.

For more details regarding the book, please read an earlier blog post about it’s production here. Cool stuff!

* Actually, we have a handful of copies on hand and are awaiting the rest from EBS printers in Italy. They should arrive by mid-October, fingers crossed.

SPILL book comes together

We are happy to announce that Daniel is in the final stages of book production for the SPILL monograph, a collection of fine art images from the tragic 2010 Gulf Oil Spill.

The first step was finding a publisher. GOST Books, of London, was excited to take on this project. Friend and GOST co-founder, Stuart Smith, designed Daniel’s first book, Rainforests: Lifebelt for an Endangered Planet. (Rainforests was the culmination of a commission from the Prince Charles Rainforests Project in 2009. Find out more about it here and here.)

Anderson Ranch executive director and modern art curator Barbara Bloemink authored a lovely essay about Daniel’s SPILL work, putting it in the broader historical context of artistic response to human interactions with the landscape. Daniel really appreciates Barbara’s participation in the project, as the contemplative essay prepares the reader for  deeper understanding of the message presented by the SPILL photographs.

During a trip to London for the Landmark exhibition, Daniel met with Stuart to consider an expanded selection of photos for the book, beyond the original twenty in the SPILL show.  Despite all the technology available today, sometimes the best way to edit a book is to use 4″x6″ proof prints and a carpeted floor.

In the years since the first display of SPILL in September 2010, a few photos have beocome favorites of Daniel’s, and he decided to include those in the book.

Once a layout design was finalized, Daniel and Stuart went to Verona, Italy to oversee the actual printing at Editoriale Bortolazzi Stei, one of the top art/photo/design book printers in the world. For producing some of the best books out there, they have a pretty unassuming office and plant.

Each page was scrupulously inspected prior to the final printing.

Dozens of adjustments were made.

Once the page met Daniel’s  approval, he would sign off on it.

Because of the nature of the book design – full bleed across the gutter – SPILL was a bit more complicated  to produce than Rainforests. Calibrating each printed sheet of 200-gram FSC paper was a task of monumental patience, but it was completed to a sublime result. If you’ve seen any of the gorgeous prints from the SPILL series in person, you’ll recognize the same extremely fine attention to detail that was used for the production of this book.

(note the Salgado book that was printed at EBS just before SPILL).

SPILL at G2 in Venice

A full exhibit of SPILL went up on the walls of the G2 Gallery in Venice, California and opened on March 5th. Daniel was especially thankful for the opportunity to raise visibility of the Gulf Oil Spill while the civil trial against BP is taking place almost three years after the spill began. Proceeds from the formal opening – which Daniel was able to attend – were donated to Greenpeace USA. SPILL at G2 ran until April 21st. The gallery show at G2 garnered the attention of NPR’s affiliate in Los Angeles, KCRW, which produced a really nice interview of Daniel.

Once the G2 Gallery show of SPill closed, some of the prints were moved to the Sturt Haaga Gallery in beautiful Descanso Gardens, just 20 minutes outside of L.A.  The exhibition will be on view from May 5th until July 28th.

Also, here is a cool video of the opening reception:

SPILL @ Human + Nature in Kirkland

photo by Will Braden

Three SPILL prints by Daniel were selected for an exhibit at the Kirkland Arts Center called “Human+Nature” that opened on March 1st and ran until April 6th, just across the bridge from Seattle in Kirkland, Wash.. It was a cool opportunity for Daniel’s local friends to see some of his work in person! Fingers crossed that another chance can be arranged soon.

Lucie and WPOY wins for SPILL

Rather than intermittently post photos from various sources of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Lucie award ceremonies from last fall, we decided to compile them into a single post to give them a better order.

Daniel accepts the award for Wildlife Photojournalist of the year from the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photography during a ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London.

Moments later, Daniel accepts an award for Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Beyond the honor for this recognition, it’s even cooler for the award statue being a commissioned glazed clay sculpture by Nick Mackman of a pelican (since the photo chosen was of the pelicans).

Daniel celebrates with friend Jack Dykinga, above, and with his father and brother, below.

Update of recent videos

In the above video, the jury of SNAP: A National Juried Exhibition of Photography discuss selecting the images for the show at the Beford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California. The kind words spoken of Daniel’s SPILL work are much appreciated, as always.

Two pictures from Daniel’s SPILL portfolio were included for display with the rest of the SNAP exhibit at the Bedford Gallery until February 19th.

In addition, we also found a video previewing Daniel’s presentation for the opening of the exhibit at the Aquarium of the Pacific – recently extended until February 16th – online. It isn’t embeddable, so you’ll have to click thru to watch it on their site.

SPILL extended in Long Beach until Feb. 16th

We just got word that Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach has extended it’s display of Daniel’s SPILL portfolio for an extra month. It will now be on their walls until February 16th.

– JN