Archival Recordings 04
Last week I celebrated a milestone: I sent out the 4th Archival Recordings zine to my paid subscribers!
Details on the latest Nonstndrd Creative Zine
Last week I celebrated a milestone: I sent out the 4th Archival Recordings zine to my paid subscribers! It was the culmination of what started out as an experiment, the merging of my photography/design practices and exploration of whether a newsletter powered photo project was financially sustainable. I learned a lot running Archival Recordings last year and plan on applying those lessons to Nonstndrd Creative as a whole. Ok, let's dive into my latest release!
Archival Recordings: Pasadena is a part of a series of 4 zines published last year. I recently restructured the paid Publication Tier, lowering the yearly cost (from $40 to $50) and reducing the number of publications from 4 to 2. Putting out 4 photo zines a year was a little overwhelming, it didn't leave me much time for my art/design work so I had to scale back. The upside is that it allows me to put more into the two publications scheduled. More info about the Archival Recordings Publication Tier can be found at this link:
https://www.archivalrecordings.com/publication-tier/
As far as content goes, the work in this zine represents a pivotal part of my artistic development. I started working as professional photographer while working at ArtCenter. It was during this time that my work documenting Los Angeles received international recognition and I was published in several major outlets. The photographs in this zine are representative of that period in my work, a time where I would wander the outskirts of Pasadena recording the topographic shifts with my camera.
From a design perspective, the cover is a continuation of the theme that started with my second Archival Recordings zine: a typographic element with a photo collage made up of images from the zine. I go into some detail about how I design them in a prior newsletter, it's a process (no pun intended) that connects the zines to my full body of work as an artist and designer.
I had to make several adjustments to my original plans regarding the zine subscription over the course of last year. From deciding which topics to focus on to looking for ways to reduce printing/shipping costs, the learning curve was steep but steady. What I did realize is that a strong subscriber base is absolutely critical for independent creatives right now.
Quite frankly, if I didn't have the Archival Recordings project up and running I don't know where my photography practice would be today.
