Self Publish, Be Happy (SPBH) is an organisation founded by Bruno Ceschel in 2010 that aims to help aspiring photographers to self-publish their own

books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ar ...

. It does so through workshops, talks, exhibitions, live events, on/offline projects and publicising of books. It is based on Ridley Road, in Dalston, London, where it keeps a library of some 2000 donated self-published zines and books. Since 2012 Self Publish, Be Happy has also published photography books as SPBH Editions. Ceschel is its director and Antonio de Luca its art director. It has published books by

Broomberg & Chanarin Adam Broomberg (born 1970) and Oliver Chanarin (born 1971) are artists living and working in London. Together they have had numerous international exhibitions. Their work is represented in major public and private collections. They were awarded th ...

Cristina de Middel Cristina de Middel (born 1975) is a Spanish documentary photographer and artist living and working in Uruapan, Mexico. De Middel self-published ''The Afronauts'' in 2012, a photobook about the short-lived Zambian space program in Southern Africa. ...

Mariah Robertson Mariah Robertson (born 1975) is an American photographer. She lives in New York City. Robertson has exhibited work internationally including at Saatchi Gallery in London and MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. In 2015 she was a co-founded Situations ...

, Lorenzo Vitturi and others. SPBH produces various series of publications—SPBH Book Club, which are sold as part of a yearly subscription as well as sold separately; SPBH Pamphlets, pamphlets with photography and text, including one by

Anouk Kruithof Anouk Kruithof (born 1981) is a Dutch artist whose exhibitions and books merge social, conceptual, photographic, performance and video. Kruithof has had published, or self-published, a number of books of her work (including ''Happy Birthday to Yo ...

; and Self Publish Be Naughty (SPBN), books of intimate pictures of people by their romantic partners. In November 2015 Ceshel's book ''Self Publish, Be Happy: A DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto'' was published by

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

Reception

Parr and Badger include ''Self Publish Be Naughty'' (2011) in the third volume of their photobook history. Critic Sean O'Hagan, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', said "An accurate measure of SPBH’s importance to the contemporary cottage industry is the array of photobooks they have featured that I would cite as contemporary classics."

Publications (selected)

*''Self Publish Be Naughty.'' London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2011. . 122 photographs from 75 photographers, and text. Edition of 1000 copies. *''AB&OC.'' SPBH Book Club Vol. I. By

Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin Adam Broomberg (born 1970) and Oliver Chanarin (born 1971) are artists living and working in London. Together they have had numerous international exhibitions. Their work is represented in major public and private collections. They were awarded th ...

. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2012. . Edition of 250 copies. *''SPBH Book Club Vol. II.'' By Brad Feuerhelm. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2012. Edition of 250 copies. *''SPBH Book Club Vol. III.'' By

. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2013. . Edition of 500 copies. *''SPBH Book Club Vol. IV.'' By

. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2013. . Edition of 500 copies. *''Dalston Anatomy.'' By Lorenzo Vitturi. **London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2013. . Edition of 700 copies. **London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2014. Edition of 1000 copies. *''SPBH Book Club Vol. V.'' By Esther Teichmann. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2014. . Edition of 500 copies. *''SPBH Book Club Vol. VI.'' By Melinda Gibson. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2014. Edition of 300 copies. *''SPBH Book Club Vol. VII.'' By Lucas Blalock. London: Self Publish, Be Happy, 2014. . Edition of 300 copies.

Events

*2010: ''Self Publish, Be Happy Weekend,''

Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established in ...

, London, 5–6 June 2010. *2013: ''Compilation Tokyo,'' Tokyo, 6–7 April 2013. A SPBH Live event where artists produced a publication live in front of an audience. This event produced ''Compilation Tokyo'' (2013) with Itami, Koji Kitagawa, Taisuke Koyama, Shinryo Saeki, Masafumi Shirakami, Hirosh Takagi, Hiroshi Takizawa, Nerhol, Kenji Hirasawa, Daisuke Yokota and Anne Schwalbe. *2015: Jimmy Limit with Self Publish, Be Happy,

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

Contact Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada, 2 May 2015. *2015: Offprint London,

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

, London, 22–25 May 2015. *2015: ''Business as Usual: Self Publish, Be Happy in Residence,'' Photographers' Gallery, London, 20–27 November 2015. The SPBH office set up in the gallery, plus daily events.

Awards

Awards received for Self Publish, Be Happy publications: *2016: ''Fire in Cairo'' (2015) by Matthew Connors won Artist's Book award, Infinity Awards, International Center of Photography, New York, NY

References

External links