So you've got this dream: a photo book of your own. You're not alone. At one time or another, every photographer, from enthusiast to pro, has had it.

These days, though, it doesn't have to remain a dream. Not only is it relatively easy to create, design and publish that book, you've also got a world of options when it comes to how it'll look. And you can publish it for a small (or not so small) circle of friends, or you can reach out to the wider world.

Not only that, but the benefits of taking on a book project are a lot greater than just the immediate satisfaction of holding it in your hands, a done deal. Simply, that book can make you a better photographer.

There are two basic ways to go: publish an attractive, basic book using the resources of your local photo dealer or an online service, or aim for a more professional-looking, bookstore-quality volume via a different kind of online service company.       

To find the former, just stroll into a local photo retailer and ask about photo books. Chances are the choices will be along the lines of 12- or 24-page 8x10- or 12x12-inch volumes you can create at the dealer's kiosk. You load the photos, choose the order in which they'll appear, select a layout and walk out with the printed book. Or you can upload the photos to an online site like Shutterfly or Snapfish, or the website of a photo retailer, and control things from your computer. To get an idea of the options available, Google "photo books" and settle in for a bit of internet exploring.

Then there's the "bookstore-quality" book...but we'll get to that in a moment.

Telling a Story

We decided to talk about photo books approximately two minutes into a conversation with Layne Kennedy. Layne is not only an accomplished pro shooter whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and National Geographic Traveler, he's also a leader of Nikon Mentor Series photo treks. He's had several books published, and he teaches a workshop at the Minnesota Center of Photography on creating photo books. It was when he mentioned his recent self-publishing effort—a book titled 47 Degrees North: Grand Marais and Beyond—that we turned on the tape recorder. 

"It's about Grand Marais, a small northern Minnesota town," Layne said, "and the book was a test to see how the whole self-publishing thing would all turn out." Layne produced the book using Blurb, a print-on-demand service that had been recommended to him by another professional photographer. "Everything worked out well—color reproduction, control of the layout and text, binding—and I order my inventory as I need copies to fill sales. I've already got plans for more books." 

Producing the book meant following the advice he gives to participants in his course at the Minnesota Center, and although Layne's book is the bookstore-quality variety, his guidelines apply to the more modest volume you can create online or at your dealer's kiosk.

Those guidelines start with a theme. "The benefit of going out and shooting to a theme is that we're not distracted by all the other visuals that aren't part of that theme," Layne says. He's found that the most difficult thing for photo enthusiasts to do is to limit distractions. "Most people random shoot—'Oh, that's pretty,' and snap, they take the photo. But when you're working on a book theme, you're building a story line, and building a story line makes you a better photographer because you're forced to see things that you normally wouldn't look at. All of a sudden you start to really see, and that's when you start to tell the story."

And there's the essence of it: your photo book is a story, not a collection of pretty pictures.

"There's a quote I use in my workshops," Layne says. "It's from Robert Gilka, who was the director of photography at National Geographic way back when. When someone asked him about the quality of the photographs in Geographic, he said, 'Quite frankly, my photographers have something to say.' Often people see a beautiful scene, they take the picture, but they never get to the next step: what was it that attracted them to the scene? If they can define that, and photograph it—that's what they're saying in their photo. And when you work within a theme for your book, that's what you ask yourself: ‘what is it I want to say here?' That's the value of doing a thematic book project: it helps you define what you want to say, and when you do that, you'll take better photographs."