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Editor’s Note: MaineBound is a column featuring new books set in the Pine Tree State or with other local ties.
MAINE 24/7: AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY STATE, created by Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen, DK Publishing, Sausalito, Calif.; 2004, 160 pages, $24.95.
No one familiar with the risky world of photo-book publishing ever would accuse Rick Smolan and his partner David Elliott Cohen, founders of the legendary Day-In-The-Life series, of thinking or acting small. Their latest project involving 1,000 professional and many more amateur photographers blanketing the nation with digital cameras during a single week is characteristically grand.
The end result: 500,000 copies of 53 large format, lavishly illustrated books transformed from shooting scripts to bookshelves in record time.
“America 24/7,” which encompasses the nation, inaugurated the series in September of 2003. A year later, 52 additional titles covering each of the states, the District of Columbia, and New York City followed. Among these is “Maine 24/7,” a hardcover portrait of Vacationland composed by 33 regional pros and talented amateurs.
This, the “largest collaborative book project in history,” was made possible by high quality digital cameras, cutting-edge imaging management and production software, and a crack team of newspaper, magazine and online professionals. One popular innovation is a custom dust jacket featuring a personal photo and costing $7.95 plus postage and handling. Reportedly, one in every five buyers of “America 24/7” uploaded a favorite image to the publisher’s Web site and bought one.
“Maine 24/7” contains many fine moments: Thatcher Hullerman Cook’s dreamlike image of a small girl with soap bubbles and terrier floating in midair is magical, and there’s a deja vu quality to Kevin Bennett’s Aroostook County field of dreams. Chris Pinchbeck’s stark shot of a chain-saw operator’s mutilated hand is sobering. Greg Rec’s take on three bundled and binoculared bird watchers brings a chuckle, as does his view of 2-year-old Clayton Simoncic awestruck by a baby chick. Robert Bukaty contributes a fetching glimpse of National Women’s Football Association defensive end Theresa Amell braiding linebacker Tyanita Ferrell’s hair. Jose Azel’s glowing landscape of twining cedar roots in setting sunlight paired with Bennett’s still life of moose and deer antlers nailed to the scarlet walls of an Aroostook County cabin evoke the spirit of the North woods, its wild creatures, and the hunters who stalk them. There are others.
Smolan and Cohen have described their series as a “visual patchwork.” Indeed “Maine 24/7” is a piecemeal product, but, sadly, the effect is ragged. Dragging it down are the range of skills of the participating photographers, the varying visual potential of the subjects, and the oversized format and formulaic design. Priority No. 1 was to stage a spectacular publishing event and showcase technology. Book content and editorial focus came second. The process that created “Maine 24/7” is extraordinary. The book is not. Lacking is the overall coherent and insightful vision that one expects from many of the elite corps of visual reporters and storytellers who contributed to the project. However, given the circumstances, “Maine 24/7” may be as good as could be expected. Tighter editing, return visits at more opportune times, greater selectivity, a smaller format, and broader representation could make it better.
Certainly, a patchwork approach can work, but its composite pieces must meet minimum standards of journalistic, aesthetic and technical excellence and be ordered to reveal distinctive patterns in the dissimilar parts.
To learn about Maine 24/7 go to www.america24-7.com.
– By Bill Kuykendall
HOW TO BUILD GLUED-LAPSTRAKE WOODEN BOATS, by John Brooks and Ruth Hill, WoodenBoat Publications, Brooklin, 2004, $39.95.
There are a lot of things to like about this book, whether you’re a newcomer to the world of boating, like me, or a seasoned boat builder. This is a good book to have by your side before you cut your first piece of wood, or, in fact, before you choose what type of wood you’ll use.
Brooks and Hill have a conversational style that makes you feel as though you’re already in the shop listening to them talk you through each procedure. They take time not only to explain what you’re doing, but why they want you to do it a certain way, and what can happen to your boat if you don’t.
Not only do they explain how to accomplish each step, they often provide a way to build a guide or a jig to make the process go more smoothly. From reading plans to choosing woods, scarfing or spiling, painting, garboards to gunwhales, they provide precise instructions on how to get it done right. And if words are not enough, there are tons of illustrations and photos throughout the book to help you visualize what you’re supposed to do.
The authors are sticklers for details such as how to bevel the plank lap or the precise angle the screw needs to be at going though a plank into the transom, which will enable you to build the craft you envision.
Their instruction often comes with humor, and I appreciated the chapter titled “Oh, @#!,” which outlines their “favorite near disasters” and how to deal with them. It’s encouraging to know mistakes can be corrected.
This is not typical armchair reading and in the early chapters, my relative unfamiliarity with boat terminology kept me flipping back and forth to the sample construction drawings checking for terms, most of which were clearly explained once I’d kept on reading.
Brooks and Hill have provided an invaluable guide for the guy or girl who can’t resist the sweet lines they’ve seen on that well-built lapstrake skiff at the local dock and who’ve said “that’s the boat I want.”
Once you’ve ordered your plans, make sure this book is on your workbench before you start building.
– Rich Hewitt
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