New developments

First, I want to say that putting lots of words at the top of this blog will by necessity force the good photographs down, but keep scrolling, they're down there. There's also a good Flickr page with more.

What happened was that I brought it up with my brothers and sisters, the major stakeholders in the operation. They made several points that need to be expressed, but they were all ok with what we're doing. They're ok with my son's helping. They will cooperate with every picture they own.

The first point is that his photography is wide and varied and numerous. This I already knew but I think they know of some places and photos that I didn't even know about. Having them onboard will provide more and give us more to work with.

It can be divided into categories according to topic; there is a huge supply of family photos which we would have to decide whether or not to include. The nature photography is by far the prominent group. There is also what we could call industrial design photos: photos of mills, work environments, etc. Sometimes this includes things I don't even know what to call: round things, sandy things, etc. He saw them at work. He was interested by the design. He used quality cameras. Beyond that are a few other kinds. Landscapes - views of mountain valleys. Pictures from Mexico, particularly of people. They went to the Galapagos diving (lots of pictures of boobies and exotic animals), and to the Pacific Northwest. I guess you could call these travel photos but in some respect they also fit into the other category. So choosing may be an issue.

One valid point is that preserving his legacy may involve more than a single book.I have always seen a book of any size, as high quality as possible, as the most urgent of goals. But my sister maintains that framing a couple of them in metal or in as good a representation as possible might be the better way to preserve his legacy. I couldn't argue but finally concluded that the Committee for Preserving Jim Leverett's Legacy should strive to do both. A single wall at Good Sam (Las Cruces) and a box of slides in Bruce's attic, and some digital photos on a disc (which I believe several us have) is simply doomed to obscurity. We can't let that happen.

The issue of what platform is simply this: If I can make a book free, or print-on-demand, and only ten of us buy it, I'll do it. I won't lose any money. It won't bother me if only a few family members know about it, though I can take it to places where they know him if I'm aggressive. I will at least have put his legacy somewhere where we can touch it. But quality is an issue; that's why I have my son involved. If it takes a few thousand to make a quality book, that's already too much work, raising the money, arguing about it, etc. But I think I can get adequate quality on the print-on-demand sites. We need to find the right one and be happy with it for the first project. If we end up making more books, all the better. If we make some quality productions that's good too. My goal is to make ONE book. If time catches us before it's over, so be it.

Any thoughts?