Beards - Who They Really Are

This project has the goal of demonstrating that beyond the "clean-cut" image men who wear beards are not all societal outliers: derelicts, homeless, rebels, motorcycle gangsters and the like. I want to illustrate the maxim, "You can't judge a book by its cover" when it comes to what are the varied lives and personalities under the beard. This book is prepared with InDesign software and ready to publish with fifty subjects over sixty shoots. The portraits were done in a studio with great lighting and artistry to go beyond the usual headshot to show who these men are in all their varied and diverse forms. One of the portraits is a finalist for a Sienna Award (a prestigious international photo contest), and a dozen of the photos have been on exhibit locally. Self-publishing is at a very steep price for me as an individual. Anyone donating $70 or more will get a signed copy of the book when it comes out at no extra cost.

UPDATE: August 2nd, 2023 The book has gone to the printer, Chatwin Books in Seattle. We have gone through one proof, two meetings, and countless revisions. Our goal is to have the books in hand and available by August 18th, the day before Open Studio. It is a tight deadline we may not be able to meet. I will keep you posted, but in any case please come to the studio on the 19th or 20th. I am doing a limited edition of one hundred books. GoFundMe donors will have priority.

FURTHER UPDATE: A SETBACK: August 3rd, 2023: I prematurely said the book would start printing tomorrow (8-4-23) and likely be available by Open Studio. This morning Chatwin Books canceled our contract over my concerns about the poor quality of the end result. The version they were producing was going to cost me $40 a copy, for a total of $4,000. Yet it was going to be with a soft cover, and very light weight pages that wouldn’t hold up to wear. The total 80 pages were in a ¼” thin book. I didn’t think the book could reasonably retail for more than my cost, and it was a version I’d be apologizing for with buyers. So I am actually relieved the deal was canceled. However, the next step is a search for another printer, this time doing a much larger press run; offset versus digital printing which means it’ll be sent overseas to actually print. You can reserve a copy by contributing to the GoFundMe page (see the QR Code, or go to this link: https://gofund.me/68b9b7ea) And it will take at least another six months before it will be available. But I am intent on providing a hardbound book with nice paper that you would be proud to show your friends. For this result it will be worth the wait, and the additional cost on my part. In the meantime I still hope you will come visit me during the Whidbey Working Artists Open Studio 10am-5pm Saturday and Sunday, August 19th & 20th.

Mike

UPDATE: November 2, 2023: Books have been shipped from Shenzhen, China!

The anticipated delivery is in 5-6 weeks, which means they will arrive before Christmas, at which time I will notify you of their availability.

UPDATE: WHIDBEY BEARDS PROJECT RECEPTION

6pm, December 8th

Universalist Unitarian Church, 20103 WA-525, Freeland

After a year-and-a-half the project has finally been published as a book! The good news I have two hard copies to exhibit, the bad news is the rest of the press run, 247 copies, are in a container ship on their way from Shenzhen China. Best case scenario they will arrive Christmas week, worst case the first week of January. But in the meantime come to the reception where we will show each page of the book projected on a large screen with some commentary. Many of the “beards” plan to attend, some wearing the costumes depicted in their portraits. Also, there are large canvas prints of nine portraits in the foyer as you enter the church. It should be a great time!

The book itself is large: 11 1/4" x 12 1/4", 74 pages with 62 photographs, hardbound with a spiffy dust cover. I sent it to China to have it done by offset printing instead of digital, the latter not being the quality I wanted. The final price will be $64.95 + sales tax, and shipping if required.