Ian Coristine's photo book of Thousand Islands wins prize

Photographer Ian Coristine's fifth book of photography of the 1000 Islands has been selected from more 5,000 entries as the winner of the Premier Print Awards' top prize, a "Benny," named after Benjamin Franklin.

"Like an Oscar, this is the graphic arts industry's largest and most prestigious worldwide printing competition," Mr. Coristine said in a release.

The Premier contest is sponsored by the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation.

Mr. Coristine's fifth book, "The Very Best of Ian Coristine's 1000 Islands" offers a look at the Thousand Islands region through 100 images from a collection of more than 30,000 photographs. He said it "uses a process never seen before in the pages of a book."

"I wanted to try to raise the bar on quality to make a very clear statement of how I feel about this place and how I believe it should be presented," Mr. Coristine said. "I've always used lustrous high gloss on the covers because it adds depth and vibrancy to images. The idea was to apply this high cover gloss to every page."

Mr. Coristine, of Hudson Heights, Quebec, and who has a summer home on Raleigh Island, Mallorytown, Ontario, said pages with high gloss lamination on both sides become very difficult to fold, stitch and bind. The slipperiness of the sheets provides another challenge for printers.

The photographer scoured the Internet, eventually finding a print broker in Seattle.

"They steered a lot of specialty work from clients like Microsoft and Boeing to a number of specialty printers across Asia," he said. "After polling them all, only a single printer was willing to attempt the job, no doubt because they were hoping to impress the broker."

The printer in Shenzhen, China, submitted the book to contest organizers.

It is Mr. Coristine's second Benny. His booklet, "1000 Islands," won a Benny in 2007, which he shared with Henderson Printing in Brockville.

"But getting one for a hardcover book against submissions from major companies around the world is quite a surprise," Mr. Coristine said.

The book, which retails for $45, is available on Mr. Coristine's website: www.1000islandsphotoart.com