Description:
This Summer and Fall, create your own fine art photography book mentored by world renowned photographer and director Mark de Paola, Producer, Editor Sage Backstrom and a team of design, product, printing and marketing professionals dedicated to helping you on create a monograph this is uniquely yours.
Over a series of extensive weeks of curation and sequencing, design, printing, and finally the marketing and book launch phases, we will bring to life an existing series of your images in the form of a fine art book. This incredibly unique opportunity is a one-stop-shop exclusive experience for a select group of participants.
This portfolio could be photojournalistic, abstract, humanistic, landscape, or any subject matter that best frames your personal vision. It is important to Mark and to the entire team to find and uplift diverse stories and voices, and to uncover the work that you may be looking to finally share with the world.
Who Should take this workshop:
This program is for the artist who has been working on a personal body of work and is ready to immortalize it into a fine art photography book. One does not need to be a working professional, and we welcome applications from people of all photographic skill levels. The most important qualification for us when reviewing applications is purity of a singular vision and story.
What's Included?
- All lectures, instruction, and consultations from Mark de Paola and team.
- Production, curation, and sequencing support.
- All book design and designer fees, and concept consult.
- Print production estimate delivered during week 7.
- Private lecture and walk through of Brilliant Graphics in Exton, PA
- Promotional video for your book
- Promo product video produced by Leica Store SF
- Guaranteed sales of 5 books purchased for resale by Leica Store SF.
What's Not Included?
- All book printing fees.
- Each participant is responsible for arranging final book printing costs with our partner Brilliant.
- Flights and hotel accommodations while on press at Brilliant in Exton, PA
- Flights and hotel accommodations to attend book launch event at Leica Store San Francisco in December 2025.
What to Know about this workshop:
Participants will be expected to be available via email and phone to stay attentive to their respective book projects and respond to creative and logistics questions that will arise in the process. It is important that participants are willing to meet deadlines so that each project can progress seamlessly. In addition, participants must be proficient enough in their image workflow to understand how to transfer and send raw TIFF files to production through Dropbox or a mailed flash drive or hard drive.
Each book project will be designed in the industry standard software InDesign by production and the book designer. Each participant will work closely with the team to come to a clear, honest, and personal vision by the end of Part I of this program. Participants are not expected to be proficient or be familiar with InDesign and will not have to do anything with InDesign - let your fabulous team do the heavy lifting while you create.
All online meetings will take place via zoom and participants should have strong internet access and proficiency with zoom to participate in necessary meetings when scheduled. All final book designs will include all team credits involved in the making of each book project (Mark de Paola, production, dePAOLA Pictures, Leica Store San Francisco and Brilliant, etc.).
While on press, you will have a behind the scenes walk through of the entirety of the printing facilities learning about each aspect and element that contributes to the process of bookmaking. Following, each student will have the opportunity to view final proofs of their respective books, make final press checks, and in some cases depending on each participant’s particular project, see your book printing on press. Mark de Paola will facilitate one-on-one interviews with each participant about their book projects and capture imagery to generate important marketing materials. In addition, you will meet with production to consult and confirm your wholesale and retail prices for your book as well as fulfillment plan and shipping costs.
Participants are encouraged to participate in person for the book launch and signing event at Leica Store San Francisco, although not required. If a participant can’t make it in person to the event, Camera West will still have copies of that person’s book present as well as screen their Q&A video from the on-press experience. Each participant’s book will be listed with Leica Store San Francisco as an available publication to order on their e-commerce platforms.
Details:
Location: Online & In-person at Leica Store San Francisco
Duration: July - December 2025 - (Various dates and times. See specific schedule and locations below.)
Schedule:
Part I
July 18 & 19 - Online
July 25 & 26 - Online or in person in NYC (each participant can decide)
August 1 & 2 - Online
August 8 & 9 - Online
August 15 & 16 - Online
August 22 & 24 - Online
August 28 & 29 - Online
Part II
September 29th & 30th - In-person on press at Brilliant in Exton, PA - (exact dates TBD)
Week of December 8th - Book launch at Leica Store SF.
Application Process:
How to Apply & Register
- Submit your application to info@depaolapictures.com
- Receive application status notification within 7 days of confirmation of receipt
- Should you receive program acceptance, you will have 14 days to complete your program contract and submit tuition payment.
Your application should include:
- 50 Sample Images from your book project (low res)
- Your artist biography
- Links to your website and social channels (if available)
- Your proposed portfolio description
- Notes on how this body of work was conceptualized and created
- Any additional comments on your vision for this book
Applications will be reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis. Please allow up to 7 days for your application to be reviewed by the team. The team may have additional questions or require a brief phone call to finalize an admission decision.
Producing your Book:
We believe that creating an impactful, unique, and powerful photographic monograph can come in all shapes, sizes, and edition sizes. Participants are welcome to print projects digitally or offset and will have a full breadth of printing materials and options at their disposal to explore.
For example, from a soft cover 5x7” edition of 50 singer sewn book, to a hardbound cloth cover offset edition of 2000 book, and to whatever you may decide, we are here to bring all visions and printing budget ranges to life and are here to put the artist first.
The Team:
Sage Backstrom - Producer & Editor
Sage Backstrom brings more than ten years of experience producing for Mark de Paola and dePAOLA Pictures. She has sequenced and curated more than ten fine art photography monographs including all by de Paola, curated several of de Paola’s exhibitions in cities and venues around the world, produced global fashion/beauty campaigns and editorials, and most recently produced and edited de Paola’s forthcoming feature film A Stab At Heaven. In addition to Mark de Paola's titles, Sage has now sequenced and produced more than ten monographs with dePAOLA Pictures.
Printer: Brilliant Graphics (Exton, PA)
Founded Brilliant Graphics in 2000, by Bob Tursack Jr., This renown printer has worked with notable photographers including..
- Steve McCurry
- Ralph Gibson
- Sally Mann
- George Tice
- Mark Seliger
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
- Andy Warhol Foundation.
- Emmett Gowin
- Gagosian
DC
- Museum
Philadelphia Museum of Art
- The Hermitage (Russia)
Andy Summers
AT-A-GLANCE
-
Dates
Book Now