Project URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/19 ... hammad-ali
Project Description: The Secret of Muhammad Ali is a Fine Art Photography book that includes pictures taken by photographer, Al Satterwhite, as Ali prepared for his first fights after being allowed to box again. Along with some never-before-seen photographs, this book will also contain personal reflections from the author himself as well as several other writers and is bound to be a great collectible item for Ali, boxing, and photography fans alike.
A Little Bit About the Creator:
The Secret of Muhammad Ali is the fifth of a series of fine art photography books published by Al Satterwhite. His last book on Hunter Thompson raised $55,987 on Kickstarter last year. Satterwhite began his career as a photographer in Florida, first for a major newspaper and later as personal photographer for the Governor of Florida. He continued to have a successful career, first as a photographer for major magazines (such as Time, Sports Illustrated and People) and later in advertising where his clients included many major companies (American Express, Coca Cola and Nikon, to name a few).
In recent years he has focused his attention on making films. He has shot commercials, features & award-winning feature shorts as Director/Cameraman. He is currently working on several book and gallery projects. Satterwhite lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two Zen-Masters, both cats.
For more information see: http://www.alsatterwhite.com/#!/about
I recently had the opportunity to do an email interview with Al to get more information about his project as well as some insight into the Kickstarter process:
1. Your work documents Muhammad Ali in a way that was not often achieved by the traditional media, who focused on his fights. What can fans that support this project look forward to seeing?
All of my work with Ali was him preparing for his upcoming fights, the first in Georgia against Jerry Quarry, after being denied the right to box due to his refusal to be inducted in the draft; the second in 1971 when he was preparing to go up against Joe Frazier in Madison Square Garden.
I really liked shooting people and getting up close and getting them used to me so they would forget I was around – that’s what I did with Ali and was able to capture some great moments with him sparring, working out, talking to sports writers, walking around the neighborhood, riding around in the lim, etc. It’s all about Ali being Ali – he’s not playing to the camera, he’s just being himself. There are lots of great images that I think Ali fans and photography fans will really enjoy. And working in B&W is/was such a joy. The images really stand out.
Most of these images have never been published because they are behind the scenes, instead of Ali in your face – they show a different side of him. He was such a big, awesome guy in person … and a real pussycat when he was off camera, just being himself.
2. Your Kickstarter project has 123 backers so far, do you have any idea where most of your backers are coming from?
At this point, not really. Once it ends I’ll know exactly where everyone is; my last book in Hunter Thompson had around 100 overseas, from Russia to Australia to Europe, something like 14 countries.
I’m still working on getting the word out internationally – the big problem is the expense to ship a book overseas.
3. So far your project has raised $27,396 of its $57,500 goal with 30 days left. What are some of your strategies going forward?
It’s all about getting the word out to fans and persons who might be interested. In this case, it’s Muhammad Ali fans and boxing fans.
$75 is a lot of money for a book these days (unfortunately, I can’t produce it much cheaper without sacrificing quality and that’s kinda what this book is all about) – so, I need to find fans that are really interested and excited about seeing something different and done really well; that’s why I have a great designer (he did the Thompson book) and two editors who are getting quotes and writing from 10-12 different writers and boxers with their take on why he was so great or what they thought at the time or some little tidbit that hasn’t been mentioned before, that’s interesting.
4. Based on your experience, what advice would you give to someone planning to launch a campaign on Kickstarter?
I think you need a project that has a pretty good number of people that might be interested – otherwise, it’s difficult to raise the necessary funds.
You also need to use everything you can think of to spread the word – you need to reach out to anyone that you think might be interested – but without being obnoxious or over the top annoying.
And you need to consider all of your costs upfront before doing it – like what will it cost to ship? Produce? Who will you have to pay? Every little detail is important. On my first book, I forgot to include anything in the way of ‘profit’ – I was lucky and got far more than I asked for – if I hadn’t I would have been in serious trouble with print costs going over and a few other items, details are really important.
