#promobook

Los Angeles-based lifestyle photographer Scott G. Toepfer sent a 186-page promo book my way recently. The roughly 6.5" x 6.5” book contains a collection of images he shot in 2013, including both personal and commercial work, offering a look back at his year in the style of a photo annual. (His client list includes BMW, Triumph Motorcycles, Pacifico Beer, Allstate and Red Wing shoes among many others.)

The design is ultra-simple, and the images are nicely printed on heavy paper stock. “Promos seem to be getting more elaborate, and while a book is more extensive than a postcard, I didn't want the design to outweigh the photos,” Toepfer told me in an email. He printed the book in a first run of ten using Blurb, sending them to “a few regular clients, a couple photo editors and agency creatives that I’m really dying to work for. I tried to do my homework as best I could on my favorite past/current campaigns so that I wasn't wasting money or books,” he explains. He’s ordered an additional ten books.

Toepfer acknowledges that some might shy away from a large promo, and says his rep was a bit skeptical at first. It’s also expensive to print books, “but when I'm trying to build a rapport with folks, I'd rather they get a bigger picture of who I am, with a glimpse into the personal as well as the professional.”