The Big Apple, the city that never sleeps – oh how I love you.

The excitement and creativity that electrifies the air gets my designing juices going every time I’m there. It’s so easy to be inspired by everything around you.

Heed my word – five years or so from now, Confero will call you home.

On to my story…

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with a true master of his craft, photographer Nick Onken. I want to share with you an interview between the dear Lara Casey and Nick about his book, and the process leading to the release.

The full story can be found on her blog, here.

What is Photo Trekking about?

Photo Trekking is an educational travel photography book that gives insights to a range of audiences from the amateur looking to take better photos, to photographers wanting to learn a little more about the travel photography business. The book is written from my perspective of how I shoot travel work and what I see. It contains stories of images I’ve shot from around the world. The book is derived from my passion of travel and photography combined.

Why did you decide to undertake this project?

I undertook this project in big part because it’s a lot of who I am and what I love. My biggest passions in life are travel and photography. Sharing what I’ve learned along the way is another part of who I am as a person and a brand. When someone threw the idea at me to write an educational book on travel photography it was everything combined.

What was the most difficult part about the process of making Photo Trekking, from beginning to end?

The most difficult part of the process was not realizing how much of an undertaking this project actually was. Curating images, prepping them for press, and most of all sitting down to write the manuscript. All these things proved to be more time consuming than you could ever think. Isn’t that always the case for us artists though?

What was the best part about making Photo Trekking?

The best part of making Photo Trekking was curating the images, because it conjured up all the memories around the images. Where I was, the people I was with, the smells, the sounds etc. That is the amazing thing about being a photographer and experiencing new places. The photographs take you back and paint vivid memories. In creating the book, I had to look at these images and remember the stories that took place around them. It became very reminiscent.

Why Pencils of Promise?

Pencils of Promise is the charity I just shot for in Laos. They build schools for kids in Laos, and are spreading to countries around the world. A big part of my philosophy which is talked about in the book is teaming up with NGO’s or non-profits to A: give back and B: to travel to places deeper in a country that you normally would. When I met with the founder of PoP we clicked right away. We both have similar outlooks on life as well as passions. After talking to him, I was pumped to be a part of the organization and work with him. We set up a time that he would be there to go travel and do the 6 day shoot. We went to the little villages where they have schools built and are building them. We went to document and build branding imagery for them. It was an amazing experience.See images from this shoot at: http://bit.ly/nickonken_PoP

The details of the book launch event itself were wonderful. All of the contributing vendors and folks who gave their time were nothing short of wonderful.

Event Design : Christopher Confero

Venue : Calumet Photo

Event Logistics :  Kat Popiel with I Want Afternoon Tea

DJ : Cosmo Baker and Johnsville

Charity Collaboration : Pencils of Promise

Yummy Food : Asia Dog

Photography : I Think You’re Swell

Video Production : Reckoning Studios

I couldn’t have made it without Nick’s interns and my new buddies

Ashley Camper, Isaac Koval, Ben Evans and Ricky Williams

In the middle of my time in NYC for the book release, I was blown away and honored to meet a legend to me, David Beahm. That will be an entire post in itself. I fly back to NYC in a couple days to work with David on a few of his many projects this week. So excited for this opportunity.

I’ll leave you with the video by Reckoning Studios which was SO amazing.

Cheers everyone!