Today I did an initial sequencing session, as I am trying to see which images in my series naturally speak to each other, and what kind of narrative or flow I can construct. I am quite tactile, so I decided to print out all the images and do this physically, before replicating my combinations in InDesign. At the moment I am planning to make my book A5, as the size is quite intimate, like a personal diary, but not too tiny. So I printed the images out at that size to play with.
I began by spreading them out on the table, to try to see connections, but there were far too many, so I ended up making a space, and pairing a articular image with other combinations until I could see a pair that ‘matched.’ From this, there were definitely some that worked really well together, but also lots of combinations that I feel are ‘ok’ but not quite perfect. I also found that some images seemed to work better alone, so for now I am planning to have them facing a white page.
When I was done, I made the same combinations in InDesign. Then I was able to play with the flow of the book, but moving the double page spreads about. This was easier to do digitally because of space. I also found that some images didn’t really go with anything, which tells me that there are still gaps in my folio.
Whilst I was creating the InDesign file, I also edited some of the book scans that I took earlier this morning, and added them in. On some occasions, these seemed to fit well with some of the images that were lacking a facing image.
Of course, this is just the rough draft of the layout, and my first attempt at sequencing a photobook, but I can feel the story starting to come together a bit more. I think I still have a lot more refining to do, but I am learning.
I revisited an old suggestion today, which was to photocopy some pages form the Japanese book I am using as a study tool. I am reading 君の名は (‘Your Name’ in English), which is actually has a central theme of the Red Thread, and connection not only across distance, but time. So it seems quite fitting in terms of theme and context. I scanned the pages, and then darkened the areas that I have highlighted (indicating I don’t know that word in Japanese.) This represents ‘gaps’ as well as the uncertainty of when Shinya and I can meet in real life again. The annotations where I have written the word’s meaning in English are also important, as I want viewers to read these and perhaps draw some kind of meaning from the combination of words that appear (of course, this would be pure speculation on the viewer’s part, but I would like them to engage in coming to their own conclusion about what the work means.)
I also like the way that english fills the blank ‘gaps’ of the Japanese text. This is very representative of how Shinya and I usually speak. We either speak all in Japanese, or we use Japanese grammar with the occasional English vocabulary thrown in.
I also had a thought about the order of the images. I would like the dates of the SMS messages to be chronological, and I would also like the page numbers of the book scans to be in ascending order. But I also thought that as the book continued, perhaps the images of Shinya’s face become more and more pixellated? Perhaps to show how my memory of him gets fuzzy around the edges, or some such notion.
This weekend I have been playing around with layout, and have been trying to bring everything together in a way that seems cohesive. I have been told in the past that I should not include more than 5 different elements in a photobook, as this can become overwhelming for the viewer and just end up looking messy. I have shot on a bunch of different cameras- some with different sensor ratios, and have also been experimenting with square cropping. Additionally, there are images that have been created by scanning using ‘PDF scanner’ on the iPhone, so I have a huge range of different shapes and sizes of image.
To begin with, I re-formatted the images where I combined string, old images of Shiny and I from Facebook, and sms messages. I made sure that everything was consistent in size and placement, but some of the images were a little bit different in shape. So I decided to keep the width and placement of the base line the same, and this helped give them a sense of cohesion. From there, I used the same baseline to create clean frames for the simple square images I had taken, as well as the landscapes. I also knew that I wanted to include some larger images, but a full page bleed just looked odd, so I created a template with quite a thick white boarder. I liked the way that Keiko Nomura used a lot of white in her book Otari- Pristine Peaksas I think it helped keep a sense of balance and humility through the work- I’m not sure if humility is the right word here… formality perhaps. Below are some examples of images within the key layouts.
When I placed some of my ‘shot from the hip’ images into these frames, they suddenly seemed to work, particularly when cropped. I was also pleased to see that the black and white film scans were very effective when framed with white.
I also had a few screengrabs from FaceTime sessions with Shinya, so I had a play around with them. I initially duplicated the smaller image of me and placed it over the top of the main image for logistical reasons. This was because the larger image of Shinya wasn’t wide enough to fill the frame, and if I stretched it the image of me was cut off. So I re-added it over the top and added some string. I think this is actually quite effective because it emphasises the separation between us, but the red of the string ‘ties’ us together or ‘joins’ us. I don’t have a very good internet connection, so the larger images are a bit pixellated. So I thought, why not enhance that, and used a pixellation filter to enhance the ambiguity of the photo. I actually quite like the result, as I think it plays on an idea I mentioned earlier in this project regarding fading memory, and how sometimes we cant quite remember things from the past in perfect clarity. I am also considering making Shinya’s face slightly pixellated throughout the entire folio. This might be a way to further push that notion, and maybe as the narrative continues, he gets more and more blurry, as my metaphorical ‘memory of him’ fades. This could also nod to the passing of time, which is re-occuring as a theme throughout my book.
Next I will have to print everything out and play with sequencing, because I like to do things in a tactile way (rather than on a screen) where possible.
Today when I was looking for an old point and shoot camera, I found a CD of old film scans which I thought might have some images from Japan on it. I was right! These images were shot on black and white 35mm, mostly in late 2017. I think the ones in the snow are from 2016, but I could be wrong. I can’t remember exactly where took them, but they are definitely in Japan. The rest (including the funky light leaks) were taking in Tokyo around November ~ December 2017. I think I might be able to re-work these for something- and maybe I am starting to see the “good crap” aesthetic that I was talking about in earlier posts.
There were also a couple of shots from Melbourne on the end of the roll, which I think are interesting because you can see the film didn’t wind on properly (I wound this film from a bulk roll myself, so it’s bound to be a bit inaccurate!) I kind of like this aesthetic though- I think it makes the shots seem like little movie frames or storyboard cells, and the imperfection being just off works somehow.
Finally, I found a physical printed photo of a bowl of noodles, shot in Japan in 2018. This one I scanned with the iPhone PDF scanner, but I think I will re-shoot it with the DSLR. I think this could form an interesting composition if combined with some text. I especially like the shadow, and the fact that you can see the edge of the photo. Oh, and the date stamp! Maybe I could have this image only half sewn into a page, similar to Chloe Dewe Mathews’ work.
I thought I would try something different and put text messages on top of images, to add another element to my folio. But they look like weird ammeter lifestyle images and I won’t be doing that again.
Cemre Yeşil is another artist that incorporates text in a way that makes the work feel personal and diaristic. What I like about it is the handwritten nature of the text, as well as the consistency in the sentence starters. By starting the sentences with “This was…” and finishing them with a specific situation, it helps to draw all of the images in the series together. This reminds me of the importance of consistency in a series, as well as the effectiveness of repetition. The images and the writing don’t necessarily match in concept, but their juxtaposition forces the audience to create their own meaning, story, or relationship.
Below is a quote on Yeşil’s work, which is available on her website. I noticed that her work also deals with social media, and how we communicate or project our thoughts and perceptions into the online world.
“Cemre Yeşil’s “This Was” project with its specific focus on personal memory, exposes the cultural conditions of sharing photographs in social media and demands us to reconsider our conception, either professional or amateur, of the status of the “image”. This project also has a very intrinsic, very poetic characteristic, which is in fact extremely far from intellectualism, so to speak. A phrase pairing with each image, are like image/text haikus that describe the flux of our everyday lives. The interrelation between visuality and textuality is an interesting dimension of this project, and in a world that makes us think in indicators and visual codes it drives us to reflect on the ideological structure in the background of the image production. But her attempt is completely innocent. She raises the question that how an image is able to explain a feeling or a concept by unlocking the door to her own world (or maybe pretending to unlock).”- Ahu Antmen
I’ve found that I am paying more attention to the construction of a photobook than the images inside it lately. The amount of different styles and binding techniques has really opened my eyes, and there are artists creating books using styles that I could never have thought of! One such photographer is Chloe Dewe Mathews, and in particular I love her book, In Search of Frankenstein. The images themselves, are of course stunning, but they do not relate to my folio or ideas at all. However I adore the way that they images are inserted between handwritten pages in this book. It reminds me of a travel diary of sorts, and the images are different shapes and sizes, which adds to the scrapbook feel. I would really like to explore a similar style in my own work, to see if it would suit my project too. There is an almost hand-made nature to this book, which makes it feel quite intimate (of course, I have not seen it in person, so the actual viewing experience may differ from what I am envisioning.)
Above are some closeups of the actual work, which is beautiful, simple, and geometric in its own right.
After doing a little more research, I discovered that the ‘handwritten pages’ are actually copies of the manuscript for Frankenstein, and the images were taken in the present-day landscape that inspired Mary Shelley to write the book. In the video below, Dewe Mathews talks briefly about the work.
I’m getting closer to having to produce a mock print of my photobook, so I’m looking for inspiration on layouts and binding methods at the moment. I think I have mentioned before that I don’t want the layout and the binding to overshadow the images or the narrative of the photobook, but at the same time I would like to have some sort of feature to the book. But first, it is important to think about using layout, and sticking to a set number of layouts so that the book isn’t too disjointed.
One photographer that has a simple yet effective layout is Olivia Arthur, in her photobook Jeddah Diary. What I like about this is it is a straightforward book (no gatefolds or sewn in flaps, etc) and the simplicity really allows the viewer to focus on the images and text. It reads a little like a scrapbook or a journal. I also like the combination of typed text and handwritten text, but the typed text features much more heavily to maintain uniformity.
Here are some of the images from the book. The images are either square or rectangular in shape, but they only appear in two ratios. I think that including a lot of negative white space around the images also aids in the effectiveness of this book.
The aesthetics and colour palette of Zhang Kechun’s The Yellow River, remind me of Xu’s Watering My Horse.Does China lend itself to this aesthetic, perhaps? The faded colours give a misty, almost unreal quality to the image which also offer a stillness that can’t be articulated easily. What interests me about these images is that there is a definite sense of distance in them. When viewing them, I feel as though I am removed from the scene; an outsider looking in. The colours seem bleak and faded, and the sparse landscapes give an odd sense of emptiness. I love the composition of the images- all focusing heavily on negative space, symmetry and balance, and very carefully considered framing.
In searching for images to support my research argument, I came across the work of Eric Pickersgill. In particular, this series called Removed resonates with themes that I am exploring both in my research and in my folio. The images comment on human’s addiction to smartphones, and how they are inhibiting real connections. Instead of communicating with those around us, Pickersgill’s series illustrates how we are more concerned with the small metal device that we hold so dearly in the palm of our hand.
‘[The subjects] are asked to hold their stare and posture as I remove their device and then I make the exposure. The photographs represent reenactments of scenes that I experience daily. We have learned to read the expression of the body while someone is consuming a device and when those signifiers are activated it is as if the device can be seen taking physical form without the object being present.’
I plan to use these images to argue the point that technology can have a negative impact on intimacy, particularly if it prevents us from interacting in real life.
