From Joan Zachary: Details on next week’s free presentation of photography and book design

By Joan Zachary, official Parisian Phoenix photographer

This 21st century world is a visual one.  We have social media to thank for this. Are you drawn to a Facebook post with a picture, ignoring the ones that are only text?  Of course you are.

I was first invited by Parisian Phoenix Publishing to use my camera for the most basic of photographic tasks: author portraits.  But we soon discovered that a fledgling publisher has a need for much more than just a few headshots.  Covers have to be appealing, whether in print or online.  And what’s going on inside?  Images in children’s books are common, but why not include them in works for adults?

Then I began to think back to my days as a writer, and how I so often found inspiration in pictures.  Maybe some other writers would find my sources helpful.  Do you need to document your setting, so you can go back and relive the moment?  The ability to freeze time is the  photographer’s superpower.

Best of all, these days, everyone is a photographer.  If there’s a cell phone in your pocket, you have a camera at your disposal.  Yes, it’s a visual world, becoming more so every day.

On June 25, 11 a.m., at the Palmer Branch of the Easton Public Library (1 Weller Place, Easton, PA 18045), please join us at the June meeting of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, where we will talk about all these things and more.  If you are looking for a way to make your published work more appealing to the visual customer, or just searching for inspiration for your next work, we may have some ideas for you.  See you there!