Book review: Abuthina, J. (2015). Dubai: Behind the Scenes; Memories of Satwa; The Best of Dubai Shop Names.

• Abuthina, J. (2015). Dubai: Behind the Scenes. Dubai: Inside Dubai.
• Abuthina, J. (2015). Memories of Satwa. Dubai: Inside Dubai.
• Abuthina, J. (2015). The Best of Dubai Shop Names. Dubai: Inside Dubai.

I don’t usually rush out to buy books, but I was eager to see these.  I take the same kind of photos of the same places as the photographer whose work is presented here, Mr Jalal Abuthina, though so far as I know I haven’t yet run into him in any of the neighborhoods in which we work.  Two of the three books feature Forwards and Introductions, but are of such a general nature as to be unhelpful in learning much about Abuthina’s approach, method, philosophy, or the history of the work presented.  A more informative profile of the photographer can be found at The National, a leading UAE newspaper, or at the photographer’s website.  From these we learn that Abuthina has been active for a little over a decade, though many of the images in these books appear to be of more recent vintage.  The Burj Khalifa, a building that was completed only in 2008, for example, features in the background of several of the Satwa photos.  I’ve also taken images of some of the same graffiti, which doesn’t typically remain for very long in Dubai.

Making a Photobook in the UAE: Zno (formerly Artisan)

The Zno (Artisan) book left, Riot right

Last month I curated a collection of images of Dubai neighborhoods to test the work of online photobook service Artisan, which has since changed name to Zno.  They currently offer a $5.00 trial on a 6x8 (grammatically misnomered) lay-flat book of 20 pages, a similar size to what I ordered previously from competing services.  For more about those, see this blog post.

Zno provides an online design application that was fairly easy to use, but may require a little tinkering if you have unusual needs. As with my last experiment, I used a plain background and only one image per page.  Unfortunately, I didn’t discover until near the end how to format all pages with one command, and so manually resized all 20 images. This was not a huge inconvenience, but if you are doing a large project, or one using multiple images per page, be prepared to spend a little time getting things set up.  I did not try Zno’s help services, so cannot comment on their speediness or usefulness in assisting with these kinds of issues.  Upload of 22 images at 300 dpi (20 interior pages + front and back covers) was relatively quick and easy, and moving images around within the design software quite effortless.  My project was submitted 20 March, I received confirmation of shipment the next day, and DHL delivered the package a week later on 27 March.  With $5.00 shipping, the book came to $10.00 total.  Normal pricing for this product appears to be $35.00 (shipping included).

Making a Photobook in the UAE: Riot and Picsati

Riot left, Picsati right.  Note the air bubbles in the cover film coating on the Picsati.

I now have a rather large collection of images and wondered how they might look presented in a book.  I also thought it might be helpful to have something to show others who ask about my work without having to worry about the availability of a device or internet connection.

So one fine day in late February I spent perhaps five hours preparing images, investigating various websites, registering, designing, and uploading a 20-page layout.  I ordered identical A5 photobooks from two online services - Picsati and Riot.  Delivery was made within one week from both services.

Printing a book using an online photobook service

Error at Riot

Yesterday I ordered a photobook from two online services.  It’s the same set of 20 photos in the same order and roughly the same size.  Delivery should be within one week.

I found seven services available in the UAE through a Google search. Links are available below.

Piscati, Riot, SnaptoShop, and Artisan offer a range of products from the reasonably priced to expensive.  The simplest books start at 100AED.  Middle East Photobook doesn’t offer an online design option. It appears you provide the images and they do the work for you. The other two services offer premium products starting at 250AED.  I would have used SnaptoShop if they didn’t require a 40 page minimum.  Riot, Piscatti and Artisan allow for 20.