14 May, 2005
‘The Empirical Photographer’ Finally Published?
According to Imaging Resource and Photography Blog, Mike Johnston has finally gotten his book The Empirical Photographer published.
Mike writes The Sunday Morning Photographer (SMP). This column has visited almost all aspects of photography over the years, from rangefinders to digital SLRs, image critiques to interviews, and inkjet printing to developing a personal style. It’s always thought-provoking and interesting, and I’m hoping The Empirical Photographer will be more of the same.
I originally paid for this book on June 22, 2003. It kept getting delayed, and delayed, and delayed. Even the book’s web site still says it “has been delayed somewhat, to October 2003″. Maybe he lost the piece of paper that said “to do: publish book and update web site”.
In the end, I wrote to Mike and asked for my money back as it didn’t look like the book would ever be published. He ignored my email. Several further attempts were also ignored.
Despite the quality of his customer service, Mike writes well and is very knowledgeable about all things photographic. Now that it’s published, I’d prefer to get the book than a refund – I’ll update this entry if and when it does arrive.
Let’s just hope that the list of people who pre-purchased the book isn’t filed in the same place as that piece of paper with the “to do” on it!
Filed under: Books
2 Comments
2 Responses to “‘The Empirical Photographer’ Finally Published?”
January 4th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Mid-to-late last year, Mike announced that he’d started shipping the book out to the people who’d pre-ordered. Interestingly, if you place a new order it’ll be filled immediately, but if you pre-ordered, you have to wait until he works his way through the list ordering and shipping them manually.
Later in the year, I emailed Mike again and asked what was going on with my order, as it still hadn’t arrived. He replied that he hadn’t gotten to my name on his list yet, but that he expected to be shipping the book to me soon. He sent me a pdf version of the book so I could start reading immediately, which was a nice gesture even though I’d rather read it from dead-trees.
To date, though, the book has still not arrived.
January 19th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Another year on, I’m still waiting for the book. I’ll email Mike again tonight and see what’s going on…