100 Blossoms by Glenn A. Osborn

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100 BLOSSOMS.

(Note that many photographs in the layouts are "clickable" and will yield a large version of the picture. Even then, however, it should be remembered that the image representations here have been optimized for delivery on the web and do not begin to convey the richness and detail of the photographs themselves.)

About the Author

Glenn Osborn is a freelance writer-designer-
photographer who lives in Perrysburg, Ohio. He toiled in the cubicles of corporate America for 20 years then set out on his own to produce communications materials for a broad range of businesses and organizations while pursuing his love of personal creative endeavors, of which 100 BLOSSOMS is his first non-fiction publishing venture.

Book Synopsis and Proposal

"100 BLOSSOMS" is envisioned as a 10-inch by 12-inch coffee-table book of photographs of flowers--luscious flower "portraits" in the tradition of Robert Mapplethorp's flower photography.

As the following dummy spreads will show, the concept comprises more than 50 large (8x10) photos of flowers along with nearly 200 smaller pictures and brief text blocks that convey the author's thoughts about the flowers or the situations in which he photographed them.

To call these photos simply "pictures of flowers" is less than descriptive. They actually are "portraits of blossoms." Indeed, the process is akin to portrait photography, in which the visual objective is to draw out the true character and beauty of the subject.

Over the past three years, Glenn Osborn has photographed nearly 3000 flowers. The best have been selected for this volume. If it is successful, others will follow.

The author currently is seeking a publisher for the book and hopes the samples on this website will convey to publishing houses both the excellence of the photography and the elegance of the book's design.

As presented here, Glenn has designed the book himself but is open to suggestion as to size, length, page layout, typography and other physical and visual characteristics of the book.

Interested parties may contact the author-photographer-designer via email at:

glennosborn@buckeye-express.com

Book Proposal

To download an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file of this proposal, click here.

Suggested title and subtitle

100 Blossoms
Portraits of Flowers
By Glenn A. Osborn

Overview
"100 BLOSSOMS" is a coffee table book dedicated to elegant portraits of the world's most popular art form-flowers!

"100 BLOSSOMS" features the unique flower photography of writer-designer-photographer Glenn Osborn. The photographs are rich in detail and highly expressive.

While the book will be of interest to horticulturists and gardeners, its emphasis is on the beauty of the flowers. It will feature 100 large (8 inch x 10 inch) photographs, along with nearly 200 smaller photos. Each spread will be devoted to one flower species, color family or type and will contain brief text blocks about the flowers depicted, the circumstances in which they were captured and the author's thoughts about art, beauty and nature.

A distinctive aspect of the photography is that all of it was done in natural light-in sunlight, as opposed to the studio. For that reason, the flowers are all warm and glowing rather than sterile and harsh. At the same time, each photograph has been Zinnia painstakingly "re-imagined" by means of computer technology: the backgrounds are removed and rendered in rich black; the leaves and stems, when shown at all, are muted to become framing elements. The emphasis is on the blossoms themselves.

Contents

1. Introduction and acknowledgements by the author: 2 pages
2. Commentary by qualified horticulturist (2 pages); may include line drawings of flower anatomy.
3. Photo spreads: 200 pages, each with one large full-page photo and 1-4 smaller photos plus a small block of text. Common name and Latin name of flower.
4. Notes on the photographic and computer graphic processes (2 pages)
5. Index (2 pages)

Graphics
All photographs are 8 x 10 inch RGB 300 dpi TIFF files. Spreads can be prepared in PhotoShop and/or PageMaker. Artwork will be pre-press ready for producing negatives or plates. Author would prefer that production art be produced by the publisher, following his design. All aspects of design and art production are open to discussion.

Market
This book will appeal to the following markets:

Lovers of flowers
Nature lovers
Collectors of art books
Gardeners and horticulturists
Romantic gift-givers
Libraries· Museum stores
Interior designers

An extensive publicity campaign is anticipated among magazines reaching these audiences. The author will be fully available for book signings, publicity appearances and other promotional opportunities.

Ancillary products
Calendars and note card packages and a CD-ROM with screen-saver are planned and can be merchandised with the book and/or used as promotional material.

Competition
Seemingly hundreds of books are currently in print on the topic of flowers--indication of a strong market.

The closest current competitor so far identified is "100 Flowers" by Harold Feinstein (Bulfinch Press, $50).

Other related titles include:

"Wolterinck" by Cees Roelofs (Terra Publishing, $122.50)
"Flower" by Lynn Goldsmith (Rizzoli, $60)
"The Orchid: From the Archives of the Royal Horticultural Society" (Harry N. Abrams, $60)
"Naked: Flowers Exposed" by Walter Hubert (HarperCollins, $60)

"100 Blossoms" will differentiate itself from these competitors by the distinctive natural-light photography complimented by the rich backgrounds of the images.

Timing
Assuming an agreement between the author and a publisher, a complete manuscript and all artwork for the book can be delivered within 90 days. All materials can be transmitted electronically or delivered on CD-ROM.

Author biography
Glenn Osborn is a freelance writer-designer-
photographer who lives in Perrysburg, Ohio. He toiled in the cubicles of corporate America for 20 years then set out on his own to produce communications materials for a broad range of businesses and organizations while pursuing his love of personal creative endeavors, of which "100 BLOSSOMS" is his first non-fiction publishing venture.

He is a founder of the Scrawl: The Writers Asylum (http://www.stwa.net), a collaborative workshop for writers, and has been managing editor and designer of that website's ezine, The Story Garden (http://www.stwa.net/tsg/). He is the author of the "PhotoFiction" column on the international photography website, PixiPort at http://www.pixiport.com. According to the Google search engine, he is one of the top three "photo writers" on the Internet. Glenn operates a website design firm at http://www.HandsOnWebsites.com and has a successful photography business selling prints of his digital photographs of flowers (http://www.HandsOnWebsites.com/blossoms).

Author's statement
I began taking "nature shots" in the mid-1970s when I acquired my first serious camera. I was drawn to flowers in particular, but also to mushrooms, the textures of tree bark and the colors of stones. After a few years, though, something about the process began to bother me; I became aware that my concentration was on the image, not on the object, whereas my intention had been to reveal the natural beauty of the things I saw around me. It was like falling in love with a photograph of one's lover rather than with the actual lover. I had borrowed the interest of everything I photographed.

That conundrum was used playfully in the 1926 painting by Réné Magritte, Ceçi n'est pas une pipe, in which the Belgian surrealist wrote that legend ("This is not a pipe") in longhand directly beneath a realistic image of a pipe. My point is the same as Magritte's: the image of something is not the same thing as the object itself and we mustn't confuse them. Nor, I would add, should we value the image more than the object. That is a form of idolatry. No representation of a flower can be more beautiful than the flower itself.

As a result of such thinking, I quit taking such pictures of flowers for many years and made instead a concerted effort simply to look-to see-the lilies of the field, the mineral strata in a wall of rock, the gnarly twist of a branch.
It was a religious quest, in a way. A search for meaning and purpose in nature. My own father had at one time said to me that the proof of God's existence-which I had come to doubt-could be found in a Orchid flower, and I stared intently at them trying to confirm that belief. Science and logic ruled, however, and eventually I abandoned the quest and accepted that I was lost, with neither object nor image for spiritual succor.

In its place I discovered only questions: Why do we universally find flowers beautiful? For that matter, what is beauty? Did Og the caveman clutch a daffodil in his hairy fist and smile? Or have we learned-or been led, over the centuries-to agree that a rose is beautiful and a worm is not? How did we come to believe such things?

I don't know the answers to those questions, but they no longer trouble me. I have accepted my own ignorance.

Thoughts of these matters came back to me in a rush when I bought my first digital camera a few years ago. After a several assignments shooting historic houses and head shots of hair stylists, one day I focused the camera on a single white rose. And when I transferred that digital file to my computer and looked at the image on a large color monitor, I was struck as if for the first time by the subtle colors and compound curves and seductive shadows. It was lovely and I was in love again.
In these photographs of flowers-of blossoms-I have tried to convey the excitement and wonder I feel for the mystical beauty of nature. The viewer can decide whether or not these images are beautiful, but no one will deny the beauty of a flower. I leave it to you to fathom why that is true.

Glenn A. Osborn
572 East Front Street
Perrysburg, Ohio, 43551
(419) 874-4409
Email: glennosborn@buckeye-express.com
Website: www.HandsOnWebsites.com/100blossoms