Going With The Flow

I just returned from a quick trip to Washington, DC and a meeting with one of my favorite clients, The National Geographic Society.

Mondadori has just finished printing a massive, multi-language production of one of the lead titles for National Geographic, The Image Collection, and I had a chance to look over the first samples with Production Manager Nicole. The book looks beautiful, and I especially love the old photos from the Geo archives, of the early explorers.

Alas, times are getting tougher for traditional printers like Mondadori, and I am not sure what projects Mondadori may work on with Nat Geo in the future. Still, I had a great meeting with Phil, the Manufacturing Director, catching up on industry news, the shenanigans of various print sales people we know in common (who shall remain nameless, Charles, ...) and life in general. So many of us in the publishing and printing businesses have wonderful friendships built upon years of working together through the ups and downs of various projects. It is a little melancholy for everyone involved when that work starts to dwindle.

But as my object was to not get too distressed with the turn of events, and to "go with the flow", I took a night off from working on the computer and sending email reports to everyone, and went kayaking on the Potomac, with another Nat Geo buddy, Rachel. It was a lovely evening. So wonderful to be out in the middle of nature, in the middle of a big city like DC!