Hey everybody! :-) Ok, I'm thinking of publishing and trying to market my own coffee table book of black and white photography- film shots.  My problem is, I have way too many ideas to narrow it down to one specific theme..ten million different branch-offs keep going through my mind.  So, I was hoping that some of you might have a theme that you would be interested in seeing in a coffee table book that you could suggest.  I'm open to anything that would lend itself well to b&w.  Thanks you guys!!!

-Krista G.

I always thought that black and white lends itself really well to portraits... especially of interesting people/characters.  This shot made me think that there are many interesting people out there ready to be snapped (along with the initial reaction of "omg that is an amazing shot":wink): Link. Although it would take a rather long time to get enough coffee table worthy images like that. Are you thinking of your own back catologue or actually going out and taking the shots along a theme?

I'm actually going to start from scratch and go out taking shots following the theme.  OMG!! That is an absolutely amazing shot!!!  She reminds me of a gypsy!  Soooo interesting!!  I don't live anywhere that's very interesting, but I bet I could find people...just fill a backpack with model releases and go. :-)

well - if that is something you could possibly do then go ahead... From what i can see about kentucky it seems very varied in types of place from industry to agriculture.  Maybe horses and the people surrounding them? Or i see that there is some coal manufacturing, now think of the black and white film possibilities of taking a shot of coal miners at work

Yeah, that would be neat with the coal miners, if I can find a mine that's still open though.  A lot of them have been shut down.  What do you think about war veterans?  My step-grandpa is a vet, and he hangs out with a bunch of other vets..they're all very colorful characters, for the most part.  This is definitely shaping up to be an interesting idea.

yeah - that could be interesting...although going down the path of vets could get a bit political especially if you get into vietnam vets or even 1991 iraq vets... not something for a coffee table i wouldnt think. But if you have a readily available source of colourful people to shoot then go for it anyway and decide later :)

You dont really need open coal mines i suppose - the old mine workers will probably still be in the area and i'm sure they will make interesting people to shoot, considering the life they would have had down the mines...

Yeah, come to think of it, my uncle used to work in the mines..I'm not sure if he still has any of his old gear, but that would be interesting, definitely.

Sorry to say I don't have an idea for a book - just chiming in to say THAT'S AN AWESOME PHOTO!! WOW that has a lot of character! Thanks for the link!

I'd thought about doing as book on tattoos, but that wouldn't work for B&W.

As far as the Vets, you could have a portrait on one page, and a story from them on the facing page. Just a thought.
Given you're next door to Tennessee (okay, you COULD be 6 hours away, but just thinking out loud... and besides, you MUST have local music around somewhere), you could do a book about local singers and clubs - think older musicians in Blues and Jazz - their faces (like the link) have more character and history to them. There's a fantastic pic Mark Seliger did of John Lee Hooker's hand - just the top of his hand in B&W with all the texture that could fit on a negative - it's amazing!

What do you LOVE? Shoot that?
Good luck and have fun-
-Lew ;-)

You could create a web site to test the concept. 

You would want to protect the images by watermark or using low-res. 

--
Martin

an expansion on the coal workers idea... how about something based around people at work. Showing how they do what they do. Depending on the job i'm sure you could get some really dramatic pics (glass/steel workers etc).

my 2pennys worth

Good ideas, one and all. ("omg, that is an amazing shot" )

Employment, jobs, commerce?

people at work and play?