Reaching goals

Making a book takes a lot of time and an entire cast of expert contributors

This is Jim Lawson at work on some of the photos for the first few parts of my book.

Originally Published 1-30-2013

Progress on the production of  The Jewelry Maker’s Field Guide: Tools and Essential Techniques goes well; my editorial colleagues in the book division and photographer Jim Lawson have been cranking non-stop right along with me since the new year began. Creating a book with such complex subject matter and so many moving parts is a huge undertaking: I often vacillate between unbridled enthusiasm for this thing I am taking part in the making of, and abject despair over my own stupidity thinking I would have the time and energy to get it done.
But this post is about my friend, photographer Jim Lawson. He is an ace, super talented, soft-spoken and rock solid. He must be an earth sign, because unlike me, I never see him overflow or fly off (water and air, scary combo) and, Jim is so reliable that knowing he is shooting my stuff has removed 88% of the stress I was feeling way back at the start of this whole process. Like several of my content-producing colleagues at the office, he too has created DVD content of tremendous use to anybody trying to market/sell/get exposure for/exhibit their artwork on that wild frontier known as the internet.

The other cool thing about this entire bookmaking process is that the two of us have clocked so much time in each others studios that we could (and should) collaborate on something else. We have discussed and toyed with a few notions as we've been working, so more on that later. Right now, I'm going to start reciprocating Jim's hard work on my behalf by unabashedly plugging his work. If you have the slightest interest in making photos of your jewelry work (or of anything for that matter) go check out his instructional videos, Instagram feed and Website. He. Totally. Rocks.