Beer, Bait & Ammo – Michael Loyd Young

In 2007 I gave a small grant from my blog Road Trips to Sean Gallagher. This first grant of 5k just came out of my pocket. Times were changing for young photographers who wanted to shoot for magazines etc., or could not finance personal projects, so it just seemed the right thing to do. It was.

I had never even seen any blog when I started Road Trips, and I am not an internet cruiser now. I still love print, the tactile nature of books especially and I work just as hard trying to help others publish their work as much as I do my own. Maybe more. The net is for audience building and information, and yet print is still the ultimate medium for fine work. Ahhh yes, and the wall.

The point is this. Others picked up on my spirit of passing the baton to the next generation and have helped me support young photographers in a way that no one else could. We have no advertising here nor any sponsors except those of you out there who do so often contribute. So you are my “stockholders” so to speak. This audience collectively and individually have been my “angel investors”. So I owe you, not anybody else.

Michael Loyd Young, featured in the video above with his new BEER, BAIT & AMMO (BurnBooks) has been a major contributor to the Emerging Photographer Fund since 2008. Mike up until today has wanted to remain anonymous as an EPF supporter and has contributed to the Burn/EPF through the Magnum Foundation which allows tax exempt donations because of their non-profit status. He is not the only one.  We have had many very generous anonymous donors all these years. Thank you all.

The Magnum Foundation, spearheaded by Susan Meiselas, also supports young photographers outside of Magnum. So it is in this spirit that the EPF exists in tandem with the MF.

Mike has told me that any book sales profits from  BEER, BAIT, & AMMO will go back to BurnBooks and the EPF. To help us with our operating costs which is always a struggle. Mostly the Burn team works for free. If we do a workshop, I make sure my crew gets paid well for those, and I cut them in on any commercial gig I may do. In other words if I make money, my team makes money. They deserve it. Still without generous support from this audience, Burn just couldn’t exist.

So check out Mike’s book. Printed in Italy, cool design, best paper and binding. Our BurnBooks crew knows how to build fine books.  Win win. Hold a fine book , help to support Burn, and support your own work as well.

Circles.

I am old school. Payback pay forward, and everything will somehow work out. To tell the truth, that old idea has worked for me.  For sure “angel investors” have given us a lot, asking nothing in return except to keep supporting those who need it, and to keep publishing good books and as good an online magazine as I can do from my 11 inch laptop and my team spread out all over the world. Hey we have a lot of fun! We want you to as well.

Do I pay special attention to Michael Loyd Young and his work? Yes I do. I mentored him. Yet about 50 times less than I spend with a whole lot of other photographers and their work. I said to Mike when he told me he wanted to do this book that I would cut him no slack because he was a friend. I told him what I would tell any of you. Friendships and hanging out etc have nothing to do with an honest appraisal and editing of work. The work must stand on its own. Magnum photographers are the same way with each other. Nobody gives anybody a break on critique. Tough love works.

So, submit a story to Burn. We want good stories. Or give the current EPF a shot. 10k might just help you finish your work. Or, be a contributor and feel good about it. We will make sure you do.

By the way, come and meet us. The Burn team tries to be as accessible as possible. Ask a question here on Burn, and I will answer it. Three of my Burn team, Diego Orlando, Claudia Paladini, and my Burn startup partner Anton Kusters were part of the Magnum photo fest in Reggio Emilia , Italy just this last weekend, and one of us or all of us hit as many photo fests as possible. We will look at your work. Patience helps, but we will look. We do workshops when we can. We cannot please everyone, nor be everywhere, yet I do believe we are more personally accessible than any magazine staff you will find.

With photography as the world’s only truly common language, we see only unfathomable opportunities ahead for those who have something “to say”. If you have a voice we will listen, if you are finding your voice we will help.

One of mankind’s greatest pleasures is either the telling of or listening to a story.

That is why we are here.

-dah-

Buy “Beer Bait & Ammo” by Michael Loyd Young here:

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SOFTCOVER version





HARDCOVER version





 

 

43 thoughts on “Beer, Bait & Ammo – Michael Loyd Young”

  4. Kyunghee Lee

    “I love the Book.”

    Congratulations!

    It is a great intuition.

    Thank you David and Mike.

    Kyunghee Lee

  5. Frostfrog

    You got me hooked. All the way around. So much so with this little promo that after I read and looked at it, I went right to Burn Books Store, knowing that right now I can’t afford to buy a quality photo book but thinking I probably would anyway, because ultimately I will survive just the same as if I don’t, but it wasn’t there. When will it be?

  6. marcin luczkowski

    Congrats Michael, well done job. The book looks really terrific.

    David,
    Great video. The Burn way promo. Best way. Have a nice time in Italy.

  7. Diego Orlando

    FROSTFROG

    the button to buy the book is at the bottom of the post. And of course it will be added to the BurnBooks Store page now that we are going to launch the new page..

  8. david alan harvey

    KYUNGHEE LEE

    so nice to see YOU here….i am still remembering such a nice time with you in Busan and i hope your family is fine…..i am supposed to come back to Korea sometime soon to do an essay on the lady divers on Jeju Island for a small commissioned book….in any case, when and if this happens, i do hope we will meet again…and you well know my door is open to you in New York or the Outer Banks…..it is always a pleasure to meet you….

    cheers, david

  9. david alan harvey

    Virgil DiBiase

    Hey amigo, i looked at your website and it looks like you did expand your portrait series a bit, or did you have those before you came to Miami? some of them i do recognise from before…

    you have a knack for the b&w portraiture genre, so if i were you i would get very specific with that series…you need a good title and a clear reason for doing them…this “reason”could be anything you choose, yet you must choose it and focus on it and with a good title and blurb wrap it up so to speak so everybody can clearly see your intent…ok, these are beat up weathered old guys (most of them) …so spend just a bit of time to explain why you like beat up weathered guys and what they represent ..for sure they make great pictures…yet i would also like to hear their stories….or read what they have to say…

    also it might help to just pick one portrait lens….and have them all the same, or close to it…kind of riffing off of Avedon’s American West book to some extent….he used a make shift studio, you are on the street but just get that drumbeat of repetition going for you…

    there is a natural tendency for many to make their books all inclusive…..resist that temptation…think big, but think small in terms what needs to be “covered”….narrow your territory, your focus….you are on it, yet you simply need a bit of refinement….you do not need that much more time nor does this need to take a lot of time…just needs the right kind of time….

    cheers, david

  10. bob black

    CONGRATULATIONS MICHAEL! :))))…

    well done and the book looks fab!!!….

    and even more moving is the commitment you’ve made to BURN, EPF and all the rest of the folk out there….for your pledge alone you should receive honorary Burn chairman t-shirt and at least one of David’s Donke bags! :))..

    such a beautiful and magnanimous and soulful gesture Michael! :)))…and a book to boot!

    way to go!…so happy for you and so humbled by your humility and generosity…no wonder you have a permanent chair on the obx porch! :))

    congrats again Michael and BURN BOOKS and David and the whole crew :)

    big hugs and with love!
    bob

  11. Kyunghee Lee

    David,

    Thank you so much for your invitation!
    If your schedule to visit Korea is set, please let me know.
    I am very looking forward to meet you again!
    Please take care and have a great time in Italy.

    Kyunghee lee

  14. Paul

    Congratulations Michael!

    I clearly remember seeing you introduced on the great old RoadTrips blog. Sometimes it feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like sooo long ago. Anyway you are a sure example of how steady, consistent hard work is the way to go.

    Cheers Paul

  15. Virgil DiBiase

    David, can tell you how much I appreciate your comments and input. So thoughtful of you. I admit that I tend to be aimless with my photography. Certainly I don’t yet fully understand what I am trying to convey. Sometimes I think I do. Ha. Usually I have no idea. But you have now given me wise words, substrate…something to work through. So grateful my friend.

  16. skiwaves

    I saw BB&A today. What a nicely done book all around, top notch quality. I can tell you were completely immersed in this, coming from the soul. I particularly liked the photo of the airboat pilot.

  17. Frostfrog

    When I saw the total with shipping, I almost changed my mind. But I ordered it. Doing my part to support Burn, Michael, David, EPF and photography in general, plus I know I will love the book…

  18. C.A.Scott

    What a great looking book. Super to see such a well deserving guy getting a break, so to speak. Even better to read of his paying it forward spirit. I love Burn, it’s contributors and never cease to be inspired by the talent showcased on this forum. I continue to push forward and hope to have something I can submit with confidence.

    The video is super. Glad you pushed MLY into doing it!

    Carole-Ann

  19. david alan harvey

    FROSTFROG

    you will not be disappointed …and thank you…yes, the shipping is a pricing problem for we small publishers…we print in Italy for close supervision of the printing and the finest quality of manufacturing…so this does make our books on the high end price-wise…we simply do not want to print in some of the less expensive places for both a close relationship with our printer and the better quality…point is , you are getting your money’s worth….and we really do try to get the price down as far as we can given the overhead it costs to produce a fine book….

    many thanks for your support Bill….and i DO have an idea for my imagined Alaska Diaries book by you…let me get back home from my travels to New York for the next few days, and i will tell you my idea….a logical evolution of your work…

    cheers, david

  21. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ MICHAEL:
    Congrats for the book and your 4 years baby!!.
    Great southern light, sunshine and twilight over there!
    What about an exhibition and inviting people in the book to the opening… There are not so far away, everyone lives in the South… A photo event with these people LIVE.

    As DAH said we are “mirrors” and “windows” of ourselves at the same time… that’s photography about.
    Take care, drink carefully that bottle :-P.

    Patricio

  22. david alan harvey

    BOB BLACK

    hey amigo, pleased to see you here once again!! i know you have been writing a lot lately..well, take some time off and you too have a spot on the front porch…..

    Cheers, David

  23. david alan harvey

    C.A.SCOTT

    hi Carole-Ann, thanks for your comment…how is the new baby? i have seen a few pictures on Instagram, and i know for sure you are a great mom….and for sure i know you will continue shooting and being a mom and juggling it all somehow….we look forward to any new essay you may have…

    wishing our paths cross again soonest…

    cheers, hugs, david

  24. Imants

    One of mankind’s greatest pleasures is either the telling of or listening to a story.”……..then we also just make them up

  25. Bryon Lippincott

    Hey David,
    I love the site and the book looks amazing. I love the concept of Burn and the content you curate is really inspirational. I have a mostly finished book and a couple book ideas and concepts I would love pursue, how does that process work with Burn. I love your idea of publishing lasting things, I love real books full of photography. I can’t afford very many but I love them and want to create them as well.

  27. david alan harvey

    BRYON LIPPINCOTT

    for sure loving books is indeed the first step mentally for wanting to create one as well…that’s for sure how everyone starts….the next steps involve many things of course…it is a long haul, yet worth the ride if you can make it all work for you….

    my greatest pleasure that comes from Burn is in finding either a good essay to publish here or even better finding a good book to do…rare of course, yet rare is what makes anything have value….so let me have a look at what you are doing…a book can be many things of course…yet it cannot be simply a lot of pictures on a topic…it must read it must flow it must have a reason to be…..

    send any ideas to david, kaya, diego, anton, all @burnmagazine.org…..we will give you an honest appraisal, and if it is a good book but not for us, we will put you on to the best possible resource…

    cheers, david

  29. Cesar

    The book looks great, color, light,… and the story behind of course…
    Congrats again for the work the Burn team is doing to show us good photography, and to teach us about it. And “no ads no sponsors”, a way to be independent… Difficult, but here you are!..
    cheers

  30. paige

    the telling of and listening to, a story. thinking about how to tell a good story visually is a challenge, as so much gets conveyed with words otherwise. the narrative though, is the juice. i’m about to start a new project close to mike’s town of johnson city, my hometown of blanco. just not sure where to start. thanks mike for the inspiration, and david as well. may not submit anything this year to burn, but it’s always out there someday….like good bait on the line.

    paige

  31. david alan harvey

    CESAR

    thanks…that is WHY we are here….we know we cannot help everyone…yet we can help some….and some is better than none….it seems to me that any reader here on Burn who has a real project and real pictures has a better chance to move it forward than if we did not exist….there is zero other motive for us…we are not here to get rich ha ha ha…i am all for break even…..get a great book out there and break even on the biz side is all we want to do….so the ball is in your court so to speak…it is up to the photographers in this audience to simply do it…get something done….make it happen….once this happens then we might just be able to take it forward and make your dream come true….i believe in making dreams come true….

    cheers, david

  32. panos skoulidas

    This is a fantastic book indeed.
    The photos are classic Mike , and the design is so super dope..
    Just the feeling of touching the cover alone feels almost 3-D..
    Great way to start a morning with a greek Frappe coffee !
    Great collector’s item.
    Once again : congratulations Burn crew :)

  34. cathy scholl

    The book looks great. Congratulations to both of you.

    David my Indian Basketball work has been accepted into Review Santa Fe. I wish you were one of the reviewers! I am hoping to meet primarily with photo editors. Do you have any advice for photographers about preparing and getting the most out of a portfolio review?

  36. steve.o.tuttle

    Nice work! Furthermore the most captivating…whatever you call those…screen grab for the video frame? Photographers aren’t always the best designers. Anyway very well designed. Had to let you know!

  37. panos skoulidas

    Hello ALL
    Come SEE our BURNBOOKS BOOTH, THIS COMING SUNDAY… COME SEE/TOUCH/BUY BURNBOOKS
    at BRICK GALLERY (EX jump start theater in Southtown Blue Star Art complex in San Antonio Texas)
    1-5 pm FREE FREE BEER AND FREE FREE WINE

    Come “touch” Mike’s book above…just by touching the cover your fingers will feel the surprise…
    Dont miss our presentasion

  38. panos skoulidas

    you will ALSO MEET A SUPERSTAR…
    yes yes you guessed it right..you will meet a GODDESS..Our beloved TRIPOD , OUR super poered 3 legged tripod doggie LOLA

  43. Pingback: mike young – beer, bait & ammo | burn magazine

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