40/40: Forty Years, Forty Portraits.
Lexington, Ky. - Does online "crowdfunding" work? Just ask Lexington photographer Guy Mendes. Mendes and Phillip March Jones, owner and director of the North Limestone nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space, Institute 193. They posted on http://www.kickstarter.com an appeal for funding in support of the Mendes project, Within days, pledges exceeded a $5,000 goal with more than a month of the campaign remaining.
So Mendes and Jones decided to raise the bar.
With the actual production cost of the book estimated at $12,000, friends and supporters are urging that pledges on http://www.kickstarter.com continue until the official final day, Monday, October 4.
As of today, pledges had reached $7,390 with 35 days remaining to reach a new goal of $12,000.
The book, with an introduction by Wendell Berry, will trace Mendes' career through portraits he has taken over the last four decades, each complimented by a passage about the subject.
Like many projects posted on http://www.kickstarter.com, the Mendes work offers various pledge levels with premiums. All contributors of at least $25 receive a signed copy of the book. A pledge of $100 or more also receives a studio tour with Mendes. $200 or more offers a two-hour private photography workshop with Mendes. For $500 or more, Mendes will produce three prints of a portrait of the donor. And donors of at least $1,000 receive a limited-edition signed copy of 40/40, which includes two original 8X10 silver gelatin prints.
Plans call for the book to go on sale for $35 on November 1.