Some of you may have heard of NaNoWriMo, the now ten years old (inter) National Novel Writing Month in which prospective authors attempt to write a novel in one month. Last year they had over 100,000 participants with over 15,000 completed books.

It’s a great idea and has spawned both NaSoAlMo, the National Solo Album Month, and, most recently, the photography focused SoFoBoMo – the Solo Photo Book Month. In 2008 170 photographers from round the world signed up and 60 created a finished book.

Books consist of  a series of 35 photos taken in a ‘fuzzy’ month, a 31 day period between the dates of 1st May and 30th June. The series can be about any subject whatsoever and you don’t need any more equipment than a camera (of any kind!). Books can be created in a physical format or purely as a PDF on the web. The completed books have a wonderful variety to them and are worth a look at even if you don’t want to have a go at it yourself. There is also a community of blogs that have built up around people documenting their projects.

As an exercise in photography creating a carefully crafted series of images is a challenge that can invigorate your photography, a series creating more depth than any individual image can. It can also help you learn new skills, PDF creation being something of an art in itself. Many fantastic photographers signature works are their books, for inspiration try Robert Frank’s The Americans, Eugene Atget’s Photographe de Paris or Egglestone’s William Eggleston’s Guide

So far there are 597 photographers signed up to take part in 2009 worldwide but only one from the West Midlands (and that’s me!). There’s a great essay here on why you should get involved. If you’re interested sign up here and then comment on this post with your ideas for great books. If we get enough interest I’m sure we’ll be able to sort out an exhibition for the finished pieces, at the very least we’ll feature them on this site.

Tags: photobooks, photography, sofobomo, tweet