Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "fjohn1963" 
<john@f...> wrote:
>

Hello, I've been and am still under the impression that Lulu (and 
Café Press for that matter) do not have an option to use that nice, 
slightly glossy and heavier paper that one normally sees used in a 
book or high-end periodical primarily dedicated to photography (or 
other art reproduction). I've looked at Lulu's Help again and it 
appears that there are still no options for this kind of printing. 
(Not that they said there would be.) I'm not suggesting that it 
makes them totally unusable for ANY kind of photography/art oriented 
book, just that it seems they would be less than optimal, which I 
can understand considering the per unit prices. 

A while back I bought a Lulu book called "Streets of New York", by a 
(non) photographer named "Nitsa". Though I've always admired Nitsa's 
work (and philosophy) I must admit I bought the book primarily to 
check out the quality of the printed photos. Unfortunately, I was 
kind of disappointed. The photos have that low-DPI look, like 
printing a photo using my HP LaserJet 4L. 

This is not to suggest that books from Lulu are low quality. For 
what they cost, they are indeed very nice books. If I were planning 
to self-publish a novel or my not-so-steamy biography, I'd seriously 
consider Lulu without any concerns about my book being poorly 
manufactured. But we're not talking about novels or biographies or 
any other book whose pages are meant to be read, we're talking about 
visual art.  

Can someone please convince me that I'm wrong about this? Is there a 
Lulu option that provides for a better class of paper? Maybe 
something closer to MyPublisher.com's output, or something like 
Aperture or Blind Spot magazine? Am I just not interpreting their 
options correctly? 

Thank you for any insight you might provide. 

John F.

BTW - Here's a link to the books by "Nitsa" - 
http://www.nonphotography.com/books.html