Dear Friends,
Happy New Year everyone! I hope that your 2023 is off to a fantastic start. It is definitely January here in Minnesota - snowy, icy, and cold. Perfect weather on this Monday night January 16th Martin Luther King Jr. day to write and share Issue #21 of A Twenty Percent Creative with all of you. In this issue, I am excited to share an update on my photo book project, some photographs from a trip my daughter and I made to California last week, and the status of my health and wellness journey — my primary focus for improvement in 2023. Please enjoy and have an amazing week ahead.
Warm regards, Jeff
Photo Book Update
When I last wrote to you in mid December, I had uploaded my design and ordered a print version of my draft photo book, Visibility, from Blurb.com. I promised you a preview of the book in the next issue [past Jeff promised January 1st — past Jeff was obviously wrong with his timing;)] The book arrived on December 27th despite being delayed due to the weather across the U.S. and holiday related shipping volumes. When the book arrived, I recorded a brief unboxing video for you but it now feels so “last year” especially as I have made significant changes to the book since seeing it in printed form. That said, I have included a few photos of some of the spreads in the book that I really enjoy and plan to keep (in some form) in the next draft of the project.
Here are some things I learned from printing a draft of my book
It was amazing to see the included photos printed for the first time. They looked great, sufficiently bright, colorfully punchy, and adequately sharp and textured when printed on premium matte paper.
Some of the photos looked great across the “gutter” where the two pages on a spread meet each other. Most of them, however, will be better presented on one page rather than spread across the gutter.
I did not add any writing or captions in the first draft. I have since updated the design to include captions with the title of the photo, where it was photographed, and in what year it was taken. I now think the captions are a great way to introduce a narrative between single page photographs presented in a two-page spread. I also like how the captions will help remind me about the photographs years from now when I revisit the book on a snowy January Saturday in 2028. This will be especially true for this project as many of the photographs have an abstract quality to them.
I did include some full page (aka full bleed) photographs in the first draft. While they looked great, they will look even better when given some space on the page to breathe. I have reduced the size of most of the photographs in the updated design to reduce the visual heaviness of the spreads.
Note: I have watched a bunch of Ted Forbes Youtube videos from his Mail Time playlist in the last month. I tried to consider his book design recommendations when making updates to my book. Sneak preview — Ted is a big fan of photographs having space on the page to breathe. That is where I picked up this phrase, too;)
On Sunday January 8th during our weekly zoom call, I had the chance to share my updated 2nd design of the photo book with my friends in the Stolen Echoes collective. We had a great discussion about the design and the photographs included in it. The group had amazing insights and constructive feedback that have really helped me to see the book as a fully baked thematic collection. Thanks Ann, Kris, Hugh, and Dan for the really helpful first impressions and thoughtful comments.
I am in the process of making more edits to the design, sequence, and collection of photographs included in the project. The name of the book and the image wrapped cover are going to change too. In short, the book is still a work in progress. But the work is progressing nicely. I hope to finish the second draft of the photo book by the end of January. I will share another update in the February issue of the newsletter.
48 Hours on Coronado Island
Yesterday, my oldest daughter and I returned from a 5 day trip to San Diego and Coronado Island. A work related meeting brought me and my travel partner to the west coast. The beach, America’s finest city (San Diego), and the moody skies tried to convince us to stay there. We spent the second half of Wednesday the 11th through Friday morning the 13th at the Hotel del Coronado — a historic oceanfront hotel first opened in 1888. The hotel was in pretty good shape considering its age. Our 4th floor room did have some cracked crown moldings and remarkably sloped floors. We figured that our room’s “character” was to be expected after being a temporary residence for potentially more than 45,000 guests over the last 134 years. After a stop in the history museum within the hotel, we were happy to check out on Friday without witnessing any episodes of paranormal activity (https://hoteldel.com/history/; see 1992 in the timeline). We also got a bit lucky with the weather while we were on Coronado - partially sunny and warm enough for 3 walks on the beach - 2 at sunset and another a few hours after sunrise. The rest of our time in San Diego was rainy and quite gray like the rest of rain soaked California. Below, I have shared a few photographs from our time on the island. If you want to see more photographs from our stay in Coronado, I have created a new page on my website called Coronado: www.jeffreymkarp.com/coronado.
Bypassing A Bypass
If you have read my recent newsletters, you will remember that I gave up meat, pasta, and other foods in September 2022. My pescatarian and low carb diet has become a new routine in my life. I actually quite enjoy eating this way at home, at work, and even while traveling like I did last week. Each week, my repertoire of meals and healthy dietary choices has expanded. I have tried so many new foods and have come to the realization that I actually like most vegetables - still totally shocked about this after 40+ years of avoiding them. Additionally, for the most part, I have replaced my mindless eating behaviors (especially after 9 PM) with more sleep and glasses of ice cold water. My dietary changes and revised behaviors around food have started to become more noticeable physically in the last couple of weeks. My pants are too big and the belt I use to hold them up is too loose as well. I am feeling lighter and have better energy throughout the day. I think I have lost about 35 pounds so far. I am not really sure though as I try to stay away from the scale as I don’t want these changes to become gamified, counted, or tracked in a productivity sort of way. I am focused on eating good healthy food in reasonable portions at reasonable times of the day.
What I did not share last fall was the reason why I made this change in diet and nutrition. The reason is pretty simple. I am working hard to bypass the need for a gastric bypass. In June 2022, I went to see my primary care physician for a checkup and to get advice regarding my progressive weight gain over the last decade and especially during the covid-19 years. My doctor is a very practical physician with more than 30 years of experience seeing a wide range of patients. I handpicked him to be my physician when I moved to the Twin Cities because of his communication style and direct approach to counseling his patients on health and wellness. When I saw him in June 2022, his advice caught me off guard in a major way (the following quote is not exact, but it is how I have internalized and remembered it). He said “Jeff, I am going to put in a referral for you. The data on gastric bypass surgery is really positive for people in your situation. Your lab values, weight gain, and family history of heart disease are all concerning. I think it is time to learn more about gastric bypass as a way to reverse your weight gain and more importantly improve your overall health.”
Between the busyness of the summer and a heavy dose of denial, I put his advice up on my mental shelf for review at a later date. I did not take any action on his recommendations in June, July, and August. As the end of the summer approached, my sense of denial lifted and my commitment to action emerged. I decided that I was going to invest time, energy, and purpose towards living an intentionally healthy life. Phase I of my plan included the nutrition changes I have discussed above and previously. Now, I am starting Phase II of my health and wellness journey. I am starting to routinely devote time to working out and getting enough sleep each night (except tonight as I am editing this paragraph at 12:39 AM). Unlike other years when I have decided to pursue a long list of goals, 2023 for me is all about eating healthy, building cardiovascular strength and endurance, and sleeping sufficiently to feel recharged every morning. So far, I haven’t acted on the referral to the surgeon specializing in weight management and bariatric surgery. I am hopeful that my aforementioned lifestyle changes will help me to non-surgically bypass a bypass for the foreseeable future.
Two Must Follow Substacks
Jeffery Saddoris
Joel Pulliam
Final Thoughts
My 2023 is laser focused on my health and wellness. Going forward, I am standing up and walking away from the computer screen as much as possible. To support this plan, I am going to officially move A Twenty Percent Creative to a once monthly publication cycle. Between the newsletters, I would love to connect with you via email (jeff@jeffreymkarp.com) to learn about your projects and your goals. If I can figure out how to do a zoom call while riding the bike in my basement, I think that could be a fun way to connect too from time to time. If this newsletter brings you value or inspires you in some way, please share it with your friends and social network to help our “twenty percent creative” community grow and reach more people throughout 2023.
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Comments, questions, feedback: Please email me directly at: jeff@jeffreymkarp.com
Check out my photography and illustrations at https://www.jeffreymkarp.com
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