Creative Collaboration: The Cabin Sessions

I'm really excited to announce the imminent release of my next photo publishing project. The soon to be available book is titled "Beloved: The Cabin Sessions." My good friend David Garcia has assembled Beloved; a tight and talented circle of New Mexico musicians to help create his first musical release. I am honored that David has asked me to collaborate on all the visual components for the upcoming release. This includes CD and vinyl LP artwork, which is cool all by itself. The release will also include a book of my photographs, that are combined with the lyrics of David's amazing songs. We are awaiting the release of our deluxe edition 12" square, hardcover bound book. It contains 54 pages of images and words, and it is the result of a wonderful collaboration between myself and David. He has given me full creative freedom to not only choose the photos, but also to layout the book. My art is featured prominently throughout, and some of my "behind the scenes" photos of the band's recording sessions are featured as well. David will have a limited number of the hardcover book for sale, starting at the album release show on February 3rd here in Albuquerque. We are also producing a lower cost, 8" square, soft cover version of the book, which I will have copies available to purchase on my online shop after the launch gig.

I can't stress enough the value of print on demand platforms like Blurb and MagCloud. They have allowed me to create this amazing project, with David's help, in a very timely and cost effective manner. The quality of the printed pieces, especially the hardcover book, are truly impressive. We took inspiration from an "art" book Wilco released a few years back. The idea was to have my photographs match tangentially to David's lyrics. There is so much common ground between his words and my images. The American West, the long lonely highways, dreams of hope, and the realities of loss... all factor into the resulting book. The cover design is also a nod to U2's "Achtung Baby" album, which might go without saying if you are familiar with that iconic album. 

The power of collaborating with like-minded creatives, regardless of their area of expression, cannot be stressed enough. Sometimes we need to crawl from our solitary creative cocoon to produce our art. The sum is indeed greater than the parts.

Quo vadimus

I had the pleasure of taking a day-long road trip with my good friend Bob Ayre this past weekend. Bob knows New Mexico like the back of his hand, so it was a treat to let him guide me into uncharted territory in the northwest part of the state. My Fiat would never have survived some of the unpaved back roads we traversed, and I probably would have chickened out heading down some of the routes by myself. With Bob at the helm, I saw some difficult to reach locations for the first time. Here's a sample of our journey. Thank you, Bob.

"Beyond / Além" : My newest book project

I am very pleased to announce the release of my new photo book. It is a collaboration with my good friend Fábio Miguel Roque, a wonderful photographer, based in Portugal. We each set out to shoot on October 22, 2016, each taking a solo road trip, departing from our homes at midnight, and shot over the next full 24 hours. The resulting book contains twenty four images from each of us, and the book is designed to feature each of our series in a unique manner. The book reads as an English version, featuring my photos, and if you flip the book over, it reads as a Portuguese version, with Fabio's photos featured. Two books in one!

The books will be available for purchase starting on April 15, 2017. we only printed twenty four copies, so this will be extremely limited edition. International buyers can purchase through Fabio's website The Unknown Books, and US buyers can purchase via my store. Local Albuquerque buyers can contact me for in person purchases. I am proud of the project that Fábio and I have created, and I hope you all like the work. 

Sample spread by Fabio Miguel Roque (left) and Nick Tauro Jr. (right)