I watched one YouTube video and now I want to start a zine

When I picture what I want my YouTube channel to look like, Sean Tucker’s channel is pretty close. I like the way he sits on his couch and speaks to the camera about an idea that he has. Along the way, he’ll share some pictures and explain a few things. After watching one of his videos, I feel like I’ve seen something nice and learned a thing or two. He has a thoughtful approach that is quite appealing.

In his video, “How I Self-Publish my Photography Zines/Books (Printing, Selling, Sequencing and Design),” he goes through his process for self-publishing his annual photography zine/book, as the title suggests. The way he presents it, publishing a zine seems like a manageable project. Essentially, I just need to spend the year collecting photographs, cull them down, and then put them in a book. It would seem that easy but I know it’s not.

I’m not surprised that I was so easily convinced that I should start a zine by the mere suggestion of it. Of course, it’s a good idea and one that I’ve had before. The thought of seeing my work in print is enticing.

As I was watching the video, I was thinking about the photographs I took last year and which ones would fit nicely into a collection that I could send off to be printed and bound. A few came to mind. But, having a collection of just photos isn’t what I really want. My ideal would be a zine that has both my writing and my photography in it. Essentially, it would be my blog on paper.

“Well, shit,” I thought, “why don’t you just print off your blog posts?”

I reminded myself that it’s not quite that simple.

But, why can’t it be? When I printed my pictures, it felt great to hold them in my hands and be able to put them up on my wall. I see them much more often than I would if they simply remained in my Photos library. I enjoy them all the more because of it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the same feeling with my blog? Wouldn’t it be delightful?

Maybe making a zine will be the impetus to start building my YouTube channel.

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