The Ogden Book

Check out Photoguy's latest and greatest project at: www.ogdenbook.com or www.nicholsonphoto.com (click on "Ogden Book").

Almost exactly one year ago, Photoguy had a wild hair. And, as those of you who know us well are aware, these wild hairs can sometimes lead us down crazy roads (like roads that lead to China for example).

This time, he had a vision to create a book of portraits of people who live in Ogden. Influential people, vagabonds, people with cool tattoos -- a book of portraits of people from all walks of life connected by one simple thing -- the awesome city where we live (really, it is awesome, we even found t-shirts that say "Ogden is Awesome," so there's the proof).

For an entire year, my hubby has been devoting loads of time to this project. Making phone calls, compiling lists, sitting at the Union Station with his backdrop and cameras all set up waiting to snap photo after photo after endless photo. In the end, thousands of portraits were taken of more than 400 people (the book will contain about 350).

There were many, many phone calls to the publisher, even more hours of editing, and, finally, a few weeks ago, we got to see the first hard copy of the project. And, guess what? It is amazing!!! I'm so excited for how it is turning out. Many people who had heard of the project and then saw the sample copy in print admitted afterwards that they hadn't been very excited when they merely "heard" about it, but when they "saw" it, they were astounded. They were impressed. They said they would definitely buy a 12x12 hardbound version for their coffee table and/or permanent book collection.

Bill, from X96's morning show is originally from Ogden. Just before Christmas, Photoguy shot his portrait for the book and showed him the sample copy. Snarky, always-making-fun-of-Ogden Bill got excited about the book and said some complimentary things on the radio.

Part of the reason my blog has been so devoid of photos lately is that my photographer has been MIA this past month. That is because it is crunch time. His goal is to get the book off to the printer by the end of this month. The problem is that self-publishing is extremely pricey. And, it even turned out to be almost twice what he originally thought it would cost. So . . . he's been hitting the pavement looking for sponsors (who will get a nice bio in the front of the book in exchange), and, guess what? He called me just a few minutes ago to share the news -- he got his first sponsor!!! So, I'm super excited that this is lifting off the ground. Go check it out and tell me what you think. You can even e-mail comments to Photoguy directly from the site, and, if you do, it will make his day.