Al Brydon – Photographer and published photobook photographer interview 10.9.24
Al responded to my email survey questions saying he was happy to take a call instead of answering by email. I prepared for the call by doing more background research on Al.
His website is here: https://www.al-brydon.com/
He has published many ‘books’ mainly zines, of those:
No mans land: zine/40 pages/x 125/signed/£10
The code for flowers. The last star to shine: Soft cover/88pages/x220/Anotherplace press/£15 30 copies & print@£56
Even the Birds were afraid to fly – Book/80 pages/£35/2020/Kozu books
None Places Zine – Zine/soft cover /32pages/Another place press?
Solargraphs Book – JW editions/x350/£30 reduced to £15- ltd edition sold out
Graveyard Bins Book – x200/another place press/£10 sold out
As we wander – another place press/£10/x150 sold out
Usually, zines small in size to reduce costs. Favours sewn thread, case bound, litho print.
I reviewed my questions before we spoke and was surprised that most were still appropriate, I asked:
- Why do you make photo books/zines, what outcomes are you looking for?
Photobooks suit his work; they have a long life, are portable, and allow the work to breathe. You can show more images than at an exhibition. He doesn’t start photographing intending to make a book but as the work develops it becomes the obvious path to share his work – he doesn’t allow it to strait jacket him and continues to experiment and take risks.
He doesn’t make books out of all his work, knowing that only some work is suitable for photobooks.
- Who is your audience?
He doesn’t have one in mind as he photographs to suit himself, he’s fortunate having followers and an existing audience, which grew organically. Again, he likes to keep the freedom to experiment and not to think about conforming for a particular audience – freedom from expectations. He believes that publishers don’t want work aimed at followers/publishers.
His books sell easier than his higher priced prints.
- Why do you use a publisher rather than self-publish using a printer? He has self-published for the 1st time recently and would do it again for a simple zine however; publishers have skills he hasn’t, particularly, editing/sequencing and design. He thinks objective “eyes” are important.
- Would anything attract you to self-publish? Only if he was making a simple zine.
- What’s important when choosing your publisher? Knowing that you can work together well. Another Place press and Kozu have approached him in the past. Kuzo does their printing in house. Al likes to work collaboratively, is happy to take suggestions, and hand the project over to an expert.
6. Do you self-fund or have you obtained other financing for any of your publishing? The publishers he uses finance the publishing initially, so he views it as low risk. Should they not sell out then he doesn’t get paid and may be liable for some of the costs – it the way they work, and it works for him. I asked him outright if it was financially viable for both parties and he said that yes they both make money from the book sales. He gets a % of the profit. He mentions Marc Wilso who crowd funds as an opposite who spends a lot of time on creating funding and probably makes more money, but this isn’t what Al wants. Nor does he want to go to larger publishers who expect larger bodies of work. His balance is to make enough money to continue to do the photography that he wants to.
7. What makes your work attractive to a publisher? They seem to like photographers that they’ve worked with before and view him as a ‘safe bet’ with a reasonable sales record.
8. What do you do to maximise book sales? The market is oversaturated with photo books and photographers. He does work hard at Instagram and to his website and always sends about 10 copies to people in the industry and galleries.
9. What does your publisher do to maximise your book sales? He mentioned Instagram, magazine features and interviews.
10. Do you find you have the control you would like with end product?
End note: I was interested to hear that he still entered competitions but doesn’t get chosen. He says this shouldn’t be used to value your work.
Brydon, A. (2024) Responses to questions on publishing routes used. Interview by Niki South. 09/10/2024
NIKI SOUTH 