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Coffee Table Book on RV Aircraft

B

BruceS

Active Member
First , thanks to Doug for allowing me to use this forum to talk about a coffee table book I want to create just for the RV aircraft community.

Having just finished a coffee table book for the canard community titled, "The Big Book of Canards", it's time to start on one for the RV community. This book can be found in digital form at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BookofCanards/

Since there are tons of photos already taken of RV aircraft from around the world (during construction, on the ground, in flight, IP's, etc) I thought I'd solicit for donation photos, (all the photos in the canard book were donated as well). Having looked at many over the years, there are some absolutely beautiful ones out there and it's nice to have them all under one roof (coffee table book) so to speak. Of course all donated photo's will have your name/photo credits and any info included in the book as well. Take a look at "The Big Book of Canards" (www.pursuitofflight.com) and you'll get a feel for how the RV coffee table book will be handled. That book is 12 inches wide by 10 inches tall with 80 pages of photos. Given the number of different models, I expect the RV book will be somewhere around 100 or so pages, give or take a few, depending on the number and quality of donated photos.

Since the canard community is rather small, that book is printed on demand, one at a time, thus the reason for the higher cost of $85 each. For the RV coffee table book, I expect it'll be in the $50-$60 range since we'll be printing a lot in one printing run.

If you decide to donate some photos you can send them through email to me or you can mail them on a CD. The photos need to be high resolution images, preferably taken with a digital camera. Slides and scanned photos are welcome as well. We need at least 200dpi or better for printing. I'll need as much info about the photograph as you can supply, the typical who, what, where and when information, at the very least who took the photos.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or email me.

Best regards,

Bruce Sturgill
503-491-5040
www.pursuitofflight.com
 
Bruce,

I have a coffe table book on all the planes I have owned, except the RV.

(OK, that would be one other airplane)

Feel free to use any of the pictures on my web site. Let me know which ones as I might have a higher res picture than you can snag from the site.
 
PS. Now this is a great picture:
Picture%2059.png
 
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In the Vertical

Bruce, cool idea. Two's in!

For an unusual and exciting shot, here's my RV4 looping over the Oklahoma plains:

Loop.jpg


Of course, I can send you the original.
 
RV7Aflyer said:
What is your deadline for submission?
Click to expand...

No hard deadline as yet. It'll probably take a month or so to gather enough photos to fill the book. As I get closer to filling the book I'll start to let folks know, I'll keep everyone in the loop as far as progress goes.

Bruce
 
N941WR said:
PS. Now this is a great picture:
Picture%2059.png
Click to expand...

That's one of my favorites. It took a little while to cut that plane out to make the composite.

To help out some of the photographs, I took out whole airplanes, buildings, people, telephone poles, wires, created wing tips that were cut off in the original shot, or level the horizons. I'll do what needs to help the photo look it's best. Removing a lot of back ground distractions really helps a shot go from OK to great.

Bruce
 
Bill Wightman said:
Bruce, cool idea. Two's in!

For an unusual and exciting shot, here's my RV4 looping over the Oklahoma plains:


Of course, I can send you the original.
Click to expand...


Hi Bill,

Neat looking shot, I look forward to getting the original, thanks.

Be sure to include info about the photographer so we can include that in the book.

Thanks again,

Bruce
 
Bruce.

What format do you want (Raw, JPEG, TIFF, etc.)?
What color space would you like?
Should we sharpen for offset?

--Bill

p.s. As a Portlander, you should have done an RV book first!
 
N941WR said:
Bruce,

I have a coffe table book on all the planes I have owned, except the RV.

(OK, that would be one other airplane)

Feel free to use any of the pictures on my web site. Let me know which ones as I might have a higher res picture than you can snag from the site.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bill, I'll take a peak and get back to you.

Bruce
 
Judging by the work in the Cozy book, this is going to be fantastic!! I want one already!

This picture grabbed me...not only is it a great picture, but...

Picture%2037.png


...sumthin funny about that -4...;):cool:
 
Great idea Bruce - this should be a remarkable book, as there are some outstanding RV photos out there!

The only good pictures of my bird have been taken by Doug Reeves, so he's going to have to give you permission to use them.....I was just the "subject", not the "artist"!

Paul

Paul
 
How are you handling Rockets? Part of the RV community or do we have to wait for our own book?
 
bigbill25 said:
Bruce.

What format do you want (Raw, JPEG, TIFF, etc.)?
What color space would you like?
Should we sharpen for offset?

--Bill

p.s. As a Portlander, you should have done an RV book first!
Click to expand...


For the format, if you have Raw that would be preferred, however if all you have is JPEG of TIFF I can work with that as well.

For color space, either RGB or CMYK is fine.

I'd prefer that you do not sharpen the image, I'll do that. I'll make all the adjustments regarding color correction, sharpening, cropping, etc. Some of the photo manipulation will depend on the other photos on the page with it or on the adjacent page. If I can get the photo in as original state as possible that would be extremely helpful.

Yes, there was some discussion about doing the RV book first. :)
 
f1rocket said:
Geez, don't ask them.....they HATE us!:p They always make me park at the other end of the ramp.
Click to expand...

They must treat the Rocket guys nicer here in the NW at the Scappoose Fly-In, they let the rocket guy park right in with the rest. :)

Here's a link to a video that I shot at the 2007 NW RV Fly-In, you might find the last plane interesting. I believe it's a Rocket, if not, well, it sure lifts off and takes to the sky like one.

http://pursuitofflight.com/scappooservfly-i.html
 
Need 2....

Bruce,

Once it is done, put me down for two....one for me and one for my pops.

Thanks! Great idea.
 
BruceS said:
f1rocket said:
How are you handling Rockets? Part of the RV community or do we have to wait for our own book?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. I'm not really sure, I'll have to get some feed back from the RV community.
Click to expand...

f1rocket said:
Geez, don't ask them.....they HATE us!:p They always make me park at the other end of the ramp.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. Include the Rockets in a section (in the back) titled "Modified RV's". Put the rockets, fast backs, etc. in that section. You will have to include a short description of how an F1 and HR are "inspired" by the RV design, bla, bla, bla.

The only problem with that is, you will have to decide what a "Modified RV" is. Fast back, I can see but what about a Sam James cowl? Larger engines would go with the regular RV's, even Kahuna's S8, as it looks like a standard RV to the untrained eye.
 
RV Book Pics

I took some photos at the NW RV Fly-In at Scappoose and I am trying to track down the owners of these three aircraft. I'm going to use them in the book but would like to see if it's OK with them.

We think N999BT, the RV-4 in invasion stripes, is Brent Travis.

If they belong to you or you know who they are and have an email address I'd appreciate being contacted. Thanks for the help.

RV%20Fly-In_6.jpg


RV%20Fly-In%20_5.jpg


RV%20Fly-In_4.jpg
 
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Bruce-
I thought the person who takes the photograph is the owner of it, and can use it anywhere he/she wants?? It would seem to me that you don't need the subject's permission?
 
PCHunt said:
Bruce-
I thought the person who takes the photograph is the owner of it, and can use it anywhere he/she wants?? It would seem to me that you don't need the subject's permission?
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct, in some cases. Out of professional courtesy I like to ask for permission to use someones picture (picture #2) in a case like this. In the past I've had people say no and they were very appreciative of the fact that I'd ask. For the other two, I'd like to be able to list the builders and/or current owners of these planes and maybe there's an interesting back story we don't know, yet. :)
 
Bruce if you like those Finnish RV pictures I posted in other thread please let me know. A friend of mine snapped them and will forward them to you. He doesn't know the owners though.
 
Stand by for OSH

I just spent way too much money on a new Nikon DSLR and you better believe I will be filling up 16gb of RV photos!
 
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Vladyspassky said:
Bruce if you like those Finnish RV pictures I posted in other thread please let me know. A friend of mine snapped them and will forward them to you. He doesn't know the owners though.
Click to expand...

Vlad, that would be great, I'd appreciate that. I took a couple of shots just as they were leaving.

You wouldn't be able to get some shots from the Russian Experimental Aviation Association guys would you? Love those wide angle shots.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=335752#post335752
 
FresnoR said:
I just spent way too much money on a new Nikon DSLR and you better believe I will be filling up 16gb of RV photos!
Click to expand...

16GB, that's a lot of photo's! I'm looking forward to seeing some great pictures. It's nice to not have the extra expense of film now days. I have to admit, it took me awhile to change over from the old school, but once I was there, I'd never want to go back. Have some fun!
 
Count me in!

Bruce

I'll take two as well as soon as they're fininshed. I'll send over some shots I have this evening via the email. I've got 3 art books of the wifeys on the coffee table now...sure would be nice to add some of my "art' ;)
 
Looking for a shot

Here's a type of shot that I'm looking for. This was taken with a video camera and the resolution isn't up to par for printing. If you have one or would like to take a shot similar to this that has an interesting or unusual approach I'd like to include it in the book.

Picture%201.png
 
Coffee Table Book Update

I really appreciate all those that have sent in photos for the book, some really great shots. I have approximately 60 pages done with about 20-30 more to go, so I'm still accepting photos. My plan is to have the book finished by the first of Nov so the printing can be done way before Christmas. I think this time line is very doable, thought you might want to see a few pages from the book. Thanks again for your help (photos and ideas) in putting this together.

RV%20Master%20Pg%20R035.jpg


RV%20Master%20Pg%20R022.jpg


RV%20Master%20Pg%20R021.jpg


RV%20Master%20Pg%20R026.jpg


RV%20Master%20Pg%20L015.jpg
 
Good Idea!

If you are interested I can hook you up with the folks that print my 350+ page ref book, 10,000 at at time.

Very reasonable prices and excellent quality.
 
Bruce,

I can send you a sized copy of this shot if you would like. It's one I took about 2 years ago.



Phil


DSCN0096.JPG
 
This looks like it's coming together nicely. It will be a very nice book!

Are you including any pictures of RVs "in progress"?
 
A big thanks to everyone, you guys are the ones making the book look so good with the quality of images I'm getting.

I would like to include some construction/painting shots. It would end up being a two page spread, construction/painting on the left and a nice finished shot on the right. Very similar to the canard book, haven't run across the right combination yet.

ccrawford said:
This looks like it's coming together nicely. It will be a very nice book!

Are you including any pictures of RVs "in progress"?
Click to expand...
 
Coffee Table Book Finished!

The "Big Book of RV Aircraft" is finished! Many thanks to those of you that sent in pictures, I tried to include as many as I could and still have room for all. The book has 86 pages with 121 pictures of some of the finest looking RV's assembled in one place, thanks again. Here's the link to view it...

http://picasaweb.google.com/bwsturgill/BigBookOfRVAircraft#

This is just a proof, if you see any thing that's not correct, like the spelling of your name, wrong aircraft model, etc., please shoot me an email and I'll correct it. Be sure to include your page number for me. I've gone through it several times, I just need one final good look from you guys, if you don't mind.

The time line is to send in the digital file the last week of Oct (one week from now) and have a proofing copy printed, which I should get back sometime during the first week of Nov. After that, provided the proof is fine, the order will be placed for the books to be printed and hopefully have them in hand around Thanksgiving, first week of Dec at the latest.

After I approve of the proof and the printing is started, I'll start taking orders for the book and will ship as soon as I have them. You'll be able to order them through my web site. The cost of the book is right at $60 give or take a dollar or two plus shipping. I'll get the final numbers this coming week, now that I know how many pages are in the book.

Many thanks to everyone again!
 
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