Phobjikha Valley, Bhutan. From the book Myth | Bhutan by Peter Eastway

I am a very happy photographer just now! Geoff from Momento Pro rang me up a few days ago to say my three-volume book-set on Bhutan was finally finished. Covid mucked up his production schedules something serious last year and I was happy to wait. It's predominantly a personal project and while I'd love to sell a few copies (limited editions of 45), I realise at $3995 it's not for everyone.

Some readers will have their interest piqued at the price - how good must this book be to charge such a high price? Other's will think Eastway is into pyramid sales or something odd and to stay well away! Let me explain the reality.

These large format books are actually exhibition prints of my work bound together. The pages measure 390x390 mm, or 390x780 mm when the photographs are presented across a 'double page spread'. Those are big prints. And because you are viewing the photographs up close, the impact is incredibly powerful. I love the printed page!

But it gets better. Each page has been individually hand-printed using an Epson printer with archival pigment inks and cotton rag paper. They are not mass-produced on an offset press or an Indigo printer which, no matter how good they are, simply can't match an exhibition quality print from a modern Epson printer. And Geoff, apart from being a stickler for detail, uses Les Walkling's printer profiles so each page has exactly the reproduction values I want. If there are any problems with the photographs, I have to own them as the reproduction is second to none.

A couple of days ago, I showed one of the books to a friend who has decades of experience in photography, publishing and exhibitions. He rang me back a few hours later to say he was still thinking about the book I'd shown him because he was blown away by the quality and the impact. That's a great compliment for the standard of work produced by Momento Pro. And, I like to think, my ability to produce a good photograph or two.

If you'd like to see a short video of me turning the pages of the Myth - Bhutan book, click on the Read More link and visit the Better Photography website for a detailed view - including the final reproduction of the image presented at the beginning of this blog.