Writing a book is one thing, but taking all the photographs for the same book is completely different kind of process. When Klaava Media started out the book series Klaava Travel Guide, we decided it would have to be a concept for a visual guide. Information about a destination must be supported by photographs and videos, or even better: visual information is supported by textual information.

Lately, we have been working with Erkki Leppänen, the author and photographer of the travel guide The Best of Pattaya, Thailand and the Essentials of Thai Culture. In some book projects, the author or the photographer selects the images that will be published in the book, in other projects, the publisher (a graphic designer) picks up the most suitable photos.

If the objective is to have about 150 photos in the guidebook, how many frames the photographer provides to the book layout process? Based on this and earlier projects, the rough estimate is that there is usually 10 times more photographs than gets picked up to the final book. Naturally, if the photographer or the author has previous experience on producing images for a travel guide, the number of photos delivered to the publisher can be the same as the number of actually published photos. Still, the photographer has probably taken 10 times more photos on location.

Video is a different medium, because clips can be cut, pasted and mixed in order to create a lively short film from multiple clips.

In any case, here are a few favorite photographs published in the travel guide The Best of Pattaya, Thailand and the Essentials of Thai Culture.