Photojojo!: Insanely Great Photo Projects and DIY Ideas [Paperback]

Amit Gupta (Author), Kelly Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 15, 2009

A photo, an idea, and simple crafting skills are all you need to transform your pictures into useful, fun, giftable art. With clear DIY instructions, Photojojo! by Amit Gupta and Kelly Jensen shows you how to turn your forgotten photos into ingenious photo projects.

Do you have lots of pics of friends and family you want to show off? Make a sleek, stylish photo display rail so you can change them up at a moment’s notice. Need something to play with? Make photo slider puzzles, Rubik’s cubes, and temporary tattoos. Or spruce up your pad with a photo chandelier or a giant wall mural you can print at home! All the projects use basic materials and are easy enough to whip up in an afternoon.

Once you’re armed with what you can do with all your images, check out Photojojo’s inspiring ideas to get you shooting photographs more creatively. Investigate the world from a canine perspective with the amazing doggie cam, or grab your friends and head out on a photo safari. Make a sneaky hidden jacket camera and turn string, a washer, and a screw into a monopod that fits in your pocket, MacGyver-style. Learn how to motivate yourself to take a photo every day with project 365, or get the little ones involved with Photojojo’s head-spinning photography method: because you + kid + centrifugal force = awesome. Yep, photography just became a whole lot more fun.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

AMIT GUPTA is a photoblogger and entrepreneur. He dropped out of school to start his first Internet company, moved to New York City to help start the nonprofit Change This, and launched the coworking event Jelly in his apartment. And, he’s been known to hang out on street corners exchanging lollipops for portraits. He’s also the founder of Photojojo! (www.photojojo.com, but you already knew that) and blogs at www.amitgupta.com. He lives in San Francisco.
(P.S. You can write him at [e-mail]; he’ll write back.)

KELLY JENSEN sews, knits, draws, builds stuff, embroiders, cooks, messes with cameras, and wrestles her Boston terrier. When not busy with the above, she’s worked as a freelance photographer and cataloguer of the teratology collection at the MŸtter Museum. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Bryan, and Molly, the dog (as seen on the cover).

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307451429
• ISBN-13: 978-0307451422
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.7 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Decorating
  • #45 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Equipment, Techniques & Reference > Reference

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't be happier! September 30, 2009

By Sara

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been a subscriber to the Photojojo e-mails, so when I saw this book, I knew I had to buy it. The projects are fun, but my favorite part was the second half of the book. Anything that can inspire me to go out and take more pictures (sometimes I do get in lulls!) is definitely worth 5 stars to me!!!

I read it cover to cover in one night. Once I was done, I immediately came back to Amazon to purchase two more copies for my other photog friends! Get it - you won't regret it!

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Give your photos some DIY love September 23, 2009

By ALICIA G KACHMAR

Format:Paperback

Photos are for looking at? They're good for more than just looking at! In Photojojo!: insanely great photo projects and DIY ideas, you'll learn how to get really creative with those stacks of photos and/or digital copies you have been "meaning to do something with." Why stick to regular old frames when you can make a magnetic photo chain or a fork photo stand! Camera gurus can find a nice assortment of camera projects, including making a flash diffuser or fish-eye lens. All projects and tutorials are clearly outlined, visually pleasing and won't have you running around searching for obscure "ingredients." Speaking of ingredients, did you know there is such a thing as edible icing made from your very own photographs?

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbeatable Recipe for Awesome Fun! September 27, 2009

By Daniel Bigler

Format:Paperback

This book will rock your world. No, seriously.

Within the pages of "Photojojo: The Book" (just like the terrific e-mail newsletter that comes twice a week to my inbox) is a recipe for actually DOING SOMETHING FUN with your camera and photos.

YOU (a whipsmart, able-bodied person) + a CAMERA (any will do; in fact, the more obscure types, the better) + THIS BOOK = A sudden ocean of creativity and mirth that will make your friends go "Whoa, that's ingenious! Wish I thought of that." (I'm sure you can still keep your little magic book a secret at this point.)

But really, no joke: Kelly Jenson and Amit Gupta (the gang at Photojojo) did something miraculous here with this book. "Photojojo: The Book" has neat tips and tricks for taking better photos, sure - absolutely. (They also teach you how to do neat stuff easily with your camera, like "Light Painting," "Kid Swirling," or - what's always scared me - Street Photography of random strangers.)

The book goes way beyond that, though: it loads you up with a bunch of stinkin' fantastic DIY ideas for what to do after your photos get made... projects so easily done the craftily-inept (like me) can do them. The instructions are simple, non-boring, and make you feel like a pro. Seriously, before you know it, your house/apartment/abode will be full to the brim with nifty photo things - like photo lamps and chandeliers, slider puzzles and giant murals. I've done a few already, and am instantly in love. (Truthfully, it feels like summer camp when you were twelve again, where you got to make all those nifty crafts and things, and you felt like a genius for doing so.)

All that alone would've convinced me to buy this book. But Jenson and Gupta have gone beyond that, and also sprinkled magic funny power all over and filled the pages with whimsical and enjoyable writing, funny tidbits, gorgeous photography (made all the more cool by them telling you how they did it), and just a heaping dose of Awesome.

So if you have a camera, or maybe a shoebox of old photos lying around: Buy this book today, and your life will be forever changed.