Tag: Nerdtour 2012

Finally, a new book!

After many years of dithering and dawdling and otherwise procrastinating, I finally have a new book out! Hopefully the first of many, its photos cover one morning and early afternoon at the Kiyosumi Garden in Tokyo, Japan, on my first full day there.

In case you’re interested, I have both print and ebook versions available, although not through the Apple iBookstore. I’m using the software and website of Blurb.com, which is a print-on-demand service that provides book composition tools, as well as a marketplace and promotion utilities (such as the preview below) to help people create and sell books. Their model is quite reasonable, they establish a base price for paper quality, number of pages, and size of book, and the creator (me!) adds a small amount of markup, to keep once the book sells (hopefully!). I want to take more of the photos that I took on my Nerdtour 2012 trip and make books from them, because I saw and photographed some interesting sights and activities in the Tokyo area, as well as in the Touhoku region of Japan.

I named this book “Kiyosumi Garden Tour” and it’s basically a walk-around through the park, in pictures, with some occasional explanatory commentary in captions. The ebook version can be previewed and ordered here, while the print version (much more expensive, but batteries not required!) is available here.

If you want you can preview a few pages in this viewer (click on the “view fullscreen” icon to see a larger version:

Look for more books during the upcoming year!

Nerdtour 2012 quickie: Kiyosumi Garden

Here’s a photo from the “star” of my upcoming book, Kiyosumi Garden! I went there on my first full day in Japan in 2012, and even though it was a mixture of sun and rain during the hours I was there, it still managed to be very beautiful, quiet and serene, even in the heart of Metropolitan Tokyo.

Enjoy!

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It’s a book thing!

So, I finally have a few tools to help me with the workflow, the process of making a photo book. I decided to work on a few books from my Nerdtour 2012 excursion, one each on a different place, topic, or a single day. I took so many photos that it was hard to work on them individually, selecting each one, adjusting lighting, selecting which to use and not use. Fortunately technology has kept advancing and getting more affordable, so now with Adobe Lightroom and Blurb BookSmart I think I can start creating the books I want to write! Of course, the hard part will now be writing up stuff in the books, the photo part was easy! By the way, the first book will be about the Kiyosumi Garden in Koto Ward, Tokyo, which just happened to be a couple of miles from my apartment, and one brief subway stop away!

Here’s a couple of screenshots of the “work” in progress:

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All Nerdtour 2012, all in one place!

So, I reorganized my pages and posts somewhat, and gathered things together in a more coherent fashion! I grouped all the posts (so far) concerning the 2012 Nerdtour, and put them where they belong, under the “Things I’ve Done” link to “Nerdtour 2012“. I added sub-menus for “About“, “Preparations” and “Trip“, with posts relating specifically to each. Hopefully things make a bit more sense, or at least are easier to find!

Nerdtour 2012 quickie: some tilt-shift fun

I figured I’d try the “tilt-shift” action in the latest Adobe Photoshop Elements, modifying one of my Nerdtour photos.
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Nerdtour 2012 quickie: Yokohama Chinatown

Chinatowns in all big cities are pretty much alike, but the one in Yokohama is very colorful at night, just like most of urban Japan, and much more so than the DC Chinatown. Here’s a prime example:
street scene in Yokohama's Chinatown

Nerdtour 2012 quickie: The shortest train line!

When I was in the station at Takadanobaba in Tokyo, this was the sign I saw above the stairs leading to the platform.
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