What are photo books
Photo books are books which document and compare different photographs, each photo book does this differently since every photographer sets out his/her photographs differently from one another as well as this their themes are often different as well therefore it is nearly impossible to have two artists photo books document almost the exact same things from one another, this means all photo books are unique and are often limited and good collector items. Another thing is most photo books do not contain any words or simply just the titles of the photographs on the page, therefore the photographs often have a mystery to them, plus on every page of a photo book is a different photograph which usually links with the photo on the oppersite page making the links between the two a key thing to look out for while looking through the book.
The history of photo books
The apparent first photo book was made in 1843 by Anna Atkins which was a cyanotype collection of british algae however we aren't sure whether there was any released before this due to them being vulnerable to light and being handled which means any earlier examples are most likely lost. As well as this photo books have been recorded from then onwards such as William Talbot's "Pencil of nature" in 1844 E.T.C and there are also some interesting examples such as Shinzo Fukuhara's postwar photo book of Japan in the 1920's and Julia Cameron created the first photo book to illustrate literary work, these photo books paved the way for photo books and how photographs are displayed today and has started a new way to engage viewers and collectors alike around the world, which hopefully will continue to get people into photography and will spread the popularity of upcoming photographers worldwide.
Although this video is very long and drawn out it does contain lots of interesting information on how photo books came to be and how they have became a medium for photographers today, so if you have the time I recommend you watch this since it is extremely interesting and goes into much more depth than my small explanation at the top.
How to make a photo book
There are several ways to make a photo book for example you can use a photo book making website such as Blurb, Albelli, Snapfish E.T.C, you can also go to many different photography stores or stores that develop photographs and ask to have a photo book made from your photographs or you can also simply make a photo book yourself, as well as this there are several photo books which have been specially made out of different materials the most famous being a photo book being made from lead therefore you cannot change the page without several people and all of them wearing gloves since lead is a toxic substance. However actually making the photo book is actually harder than taking the photographs in some aspects because you have to think about what connects the photographs you are putting together and what order you will put them in for example would this photo be better half way through the book or at the end or perhaps should it be on the left or the right of the page.
Ravens or The Solitude of Ravens by Masahisa Fukase, 1986
Masahisa's work has a morbid lonely feel to it due to the monotone colours with unsettling atmosphere given off by the photos, I find this interesting since the style of this is unique since it's like he is trying to represent death by taking photos of crows both alive and dead in black and white this makes the photos look grim and disturbing to look at. Another thing about Masahisa's work is the monotone colour scheme makes the detail and motion blur of the images stand out more than if they were taken in colour plus it also makes the entire photograph directed at the idea of raven's being represented with darkness and death and the little amounts of light in the background.
As well as this I find it interesting how Masahisa differentiates all of his photographs from one another by using different techniques, focuses and distances, which makes you focus more on each photograph and makes it so no two photographs look the same or give off the same aura which is very unique to his photo book which is probably why he was such a well renowned photographer.
As well as this I find it interesting how Masahisa differentiates all of his photographs from one another by using different techniques, focuses and distances, which makes you focus more on each photograph and makes it so no two photographs look the same or give off the same aura which is very unique to his photo book which is probably why he was such a well renowned photographer.
Uncommon places by Stephen Shore
Stephen's work also has a lonely feel to it although this is usually down to the photos rarely having people in although this is something I find odd with his work since his photos are usually on main streets and public places where the absence of people is nearly unheard of although there are one or two photos which do include some people but this was probably unavoidable, what makes these pictures so interesting to me is the amount of detail you can see from each photograph which almost makes it feel like you are in the picture as well. One thing that stands out to me about these pictures are that they are all taken at day with a clear or almost clear sky this makes the photos seem unreal this again is something that makes these pictures so unique since most photographs don't pay close attention to the weather or the time of the day they go out to photograph.
One thing however which stands out in each photograph as well is the fact that each photograph is roughly taken at the same angle which is looking directly down the road or at the object of interest, this is something that interests me since there is most likely other places where he could take photographs similar to this for example, on top of a building or lower down on the floor looking upwards. This idea might add more diversity to the photographs but I do also like the style he is going with and I am interested wether I could possibly catch one or two photographs like these for my photo book.
One thing however which stands out in each photograph as well is the fact that each photograph is roughly taken at the same angle which is looking directly down the road or at the object of interest, this is something that interests me since there is most likely other places where he could take photographs similar to this for example, on top of a building or lower down on the floor looking upwards. This idea might add more diversity to the photographs but I do also like the style he is going with and I am interested wether I could possibly catch one or two photographs like these for my photo book.
Shit London by Patrick Dalton
What interests me about these photographs is they are things you regularly find in London although London is usually seen as the city with streets paved of gold even though that can't be any further from the truth, my own photos try to show this fact while Patrick's photos show in a much clearer light what the streets of London are really like, although his work is in an area which is nether urban or rural which is the two places of London I'm used to taking photos within. One thing I noted from these photos are Patrick somewhat tries to put comedy within his photos which makes the viewer look deeper within his photos which then makes you want to read on and through his photo book.
Another reason why I have such a interest with this photo book is that some of these pictures have the same style of what I am trying to convey which is a very negative look at the city which I have grown up in and demonstrate the parts of London I personally hate and show my thoughts through my photos of the city which has the so called "Gold paved" streets.
This photobook is very similar to the idea I have therefore I want to take photographs inspired by this as well as try to add my own twist on them such as make the photographs a little brighter and colourful while getting Patrick's point across. I also want to take photographs in places I haven't been to before in London to have a fresh start and it might actually change my view on London entirely which would be surprising if this does actually happens.
Another reason why I have such a interest with this photo book is that some of these pictures have the same style of what I am trying to convey which is a very negative look at the city which I have grown up in and demonstrate the parts of London I personally hate and show my thoughts through my photos of the city which has the so called "Gold paved" streets.
This photobook is very similar to the idea I have therefore I want to take photographs inspired by this as well as try to add my own twist on them such as make the photographs a little brighter and colourful while getting Patrick's point across. I also want to take photographs in places I haven't been to before in London to have a fresh start and it might actually change my view on London entirely which would be surprising if this does actually happens.
Exploring and investigating a photo book from the Digital bookcase.
Blickfang by Jürgen Holstein.
Blickfang is made up of posters and adverts from Germany during 1919 to 1933 what is interesting about this is the use of colour and design of each poster is like part of an photograph since even though they don't show the environment at the time they show us detailed information on the radical left and right wing of Germany at the time and how ordered everything seemed to be, this even makes the photo book seem extremely chaotic since everything on each page has major similarities but it ends up not fitting in with any other pages in the book, for example you might look through a page of army recruitment posters with very little/ no colour whatsoever only to turn the page and end up with posters advertising the music at the time with many vivid colours.
Compare and contrast between Jürgen's work and the other artists I have looked at: One key difference between Jürgen's work and people's work such as Stephen Shore is that Jürgen's work is mainly made up of documented adverts and articles which aren't nessasily their own work as well as Jürgen photo book has little to no photographs within it therefore it makes me question whether it even is a photo book or whether it is just scrapbook however it is still interesting to look at and I might get some ideas from it later when actually arranging my photo book.
Compare and contrast between Jürgen's work and the other artists I have looked at: One key difference between Jürgen's work and people's work such as Stephen Shore is that Jürgen's work is mainly made up of documented adverts and articles which aren't nessasily their own work as well as Jürgen photo book has little to no photographs within it therefore it makes me question whether it even is a photo book or whether it is just scrapbook however it is still interesting to look at and I might get some ideas from it later when actually arranging my photo book.
My photo book plan
The idea I have for my photo book is having pictures which have nothing to do with the title they are given as well as pictures with the meaning hidden within them, I also want to play with the idea of every book having a title by mine being untitled with the title being open for discussion so it's different for everyone who looks through it. As well as this I want to show the aspect of a large city like London where "The streets are paved with gold" in a true to life light by taking photos of the places left to rot under the large urban empire which is London.
Display strategies
For my photo book I would like to display the photos above their titles although the titles have nothing to do with the image or just does not simply make sense I would then place it in a shelf in a library where it would seem out of place E.G somewhere with smaller books than my photo book.
First draft Photo book (Almost Normal)
Almost normal is a hand made draft photo book I made inside school as much as I like some of the pictures I still feel like there is room for improvement within the pictures although I like the concept I came up with which is making one half of the photo book upside-down which means you have to rotate the photo book once you reach the end and then look back through it. I hope to make my final photo book gimmicky as well although I would like something a little more unusual with better pictures.
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Edited photo slideshow
This slideshow is the animation I made influenced by work to make this I took several photos of the object is was using and my hand seemingly rolling the object along the table you might notice the object jumps about at the middle of the animation but this was on purpose since edited his animation in near enough the same way with parts of it jumping about or looping, I am very happy on how this turned out although I would prefer more drastic object movements and possibly in video form next time.
Photos to be edited for my photo book.
I gave myself a task to take some photos under a theme of reflections since the school building has several places I know have good reflections. These 47 photographs were taken with the idea of my photo book in mind since I wanted photographs that could be put together with a clear theme in mind however however not all of the photographs came out looking completely unique but the ones that did stand out which is what I was aiming for overall and in the end I am happy with them.
David Niddrie
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David Niddrie is an photographer I researched, I noticed that his work relates closely to the photos I have been trying to take although they seem very ordered and seems slightly repetitive with the same patterns being repeated throughout each image, I plan to get the same urban atmosphere but to also have something that disrupts the image to make it disorderly.
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More photographs to edit or use for my photo book
This 14 photographs are on my flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/140631324@N04/
These photographs were taken when I was looking around the town for things that people commonly overlook such as slight change and things that fade away and are forgotten. I want people to notice and embrace the world today so we can see the area around us change slightly day by day while remembering what yesterday looked like so we can move on knowing what the past looked like. (These photos are also mixed together with my V&A and Science museum exhibition work)
These photographs were taken when I was looking around the town for things that people commonly overlook such as slight change and things that fade away and are forgotten. I want people to notice and embrace the world today so we can see the area around us change slightly day by day while remembering what yesterday looked like so we can move on knowing what the past looked like. (These photos are also mixed together with my V&A and Science museum exhibition work)
I later took another 23 photographs on the way to a concert, as well as this the venue was near where I used to live so it brought back some nostalgia despite changing a lot since then. One thing I noticed was how messy and unorganised the streets had become with litter everywhere and run down buildings next to modern clean buildings, this just added more to my curiosity since it was rather unusual to see this in the streets of London. (These are also on my flickr account)
I then took several photographs in places that I had never been to or seen before to get a more unique first impression feel to my photographs I did this by taking the bus to two places I saw as interesting just from the look of them then wandered around the roads nearby looking for things to catch my attention, one thing I noticed in particular was how tucked away these locations were since one was a back ally down behind several houses which split off in several directions however I do live around the area and it surprised me that there was like a completely different world hidden down a normal alleyway which was so close to were I live. The other place was a housing estate by a church which seemed to split off from normal roads with everyday houses to a pedestrianised labyrinth hidden down a small footpath which was between two houses, what really was strange about this was the fact that the streets I was exploring before finding this footpath seemed similar to where I live and also slightly ran down, however down the footpath was a brand new estate with very few roads all connected with more footpaths, I also noticed that the entire atmosphere seemed to change as well since it felt much more peaceful and quiet down in this area that back down the footpath. I also took photographs next to a large shopping centre because I noticed that there was a really strange transition between the large industrial estate the shopping centre was on and the park like path that lead away from there, what was really strange about this was the park look nearly touched apart from the single path and a small bridge crossing the river.
Photographs I have selected to use in my photo book
These 30 photographs are the photos I have chosen to use in my photo book, this is because I feel like each and everyone of them link together with another photograph creating a pair however I am not to sure how this will turn out within my photo book, however I am excited to see whether this will work or not and I am interested in the end result since this has taken a lot of time and effort to reach and this is also the first time I have tried making a photo book apart from the early draft. I also want to see how the different elements of the photographs will impact my photo book especially since I have noticed that most of my photographs tend to have the same colours repeated in them such as brown, grey, white and green and I am wondering whether this will impact the photo book negatively, if this is the case then I might need to search for more colourful and eye-catching photos as well as trying to keep the certain theme of the photo book, however this might also impact the photo book positively since it might get my point across about the dull blankness of the streets of London.
Photo book Evaluation
My photo book's theme was Urban diversity which I changed from my original theme which was Urban decay, the reason for the change in theme was down to the fact that decay was harder to find than was originally expected plus the diversity of London was very intriguing to me ever since I did the 100 photos project since the same street can have refurbished flats next to a run down pub. Artists I was mainly influenced by was Patrick Dalton and David Niddrie this was due to Patrick's feel of showing the streets of London raw and David's vivid colour of Urban environments and I wanted to combine both concepts to show London as a colourful but dirty city. The threshold concepts that I mainly focused on was 7 and 10 this is due to my work having a strong running theme with chance since you have to hope that nothing has blocked the picture and changed it in someway this means most pictures can only be taken once since every time you go back something will of changed and it's the chance that something has moved into the picture that I want there such as the cat with the skip photo I took, and this threshold concept is the same with all of my work. While threshold concept 10 I also had strong feelings towards since the idea of change and Memento Mori plays a key part in my photo book since I show things being moved, worn away, remade and withstanding time this adds a somber feel to the book since half the things I took photographs of will not be there in a few years time and this shows me how easy it is to forget something that has never been found by many people and probably will never be seen by many people thus being lost in time.
I have tried many different techniques with my photographs to edit them such as photoshop since some of my photos I wanted to look slightly different or wanted to crop something out of them but in the end I decided to stick to mostly original photographs since I felt like if I edited them I would be corrupting the photograph into something not real, while at first I thought it might be interesting to look at but in the end I felt like if I did that I would be hiding the truth and not showing what I wanted to show. The ways that I refined and developed my work was by taking lots of photographs and then selecting only 30 of the ones I took to go in my photo book this meant I would only use the best of my photographs overall or my personal favourites which resulted with some I think would go well in the photo book being left out. What went well and what was challenging was during taking the photos for my photo book I found it really hard to get inspiration for my photographs although after a while I managed to take enough photographs and make a high quality photo book out of them, although this project has been fun and interesting to work on, there is no doubt that it's had it's ups and downs along the way.
My final outcome in this project was a 30 paged photo book which is high quality with a unique style on each page, originally I wanted the theme of the photo book to be decay although that later changed to Urban diversity due to all of my photos being taken at mainly urban areas and all looking drastically different from each other despite being all taken within London. I feel like I achieved what I set out to do although it was a lot harder than I originally thought since my style of photography kept taking different turns and I ended up experimenting with my style as a whole during this project. I hope viewers of my photo book will see the change of style from my original clean open space work to the disorganised messy photographs I went for in the end, I in fact found this interesting while looking through my Flickr photographs. If I had more time I would take more photos in other built up areas of London other than the areas I did such as near the River Thames and central London although I feel like the photographs I took have their own style to them which I would also like to try to replicate further.
I have tried many different techniques with my photographs to edit them such as photoshop since some of my photos I wanted to look slightly different or wanted to crop something out of them but in the end I decided to stick to mostly original photographs since I felt like if I edited them I would be corrupting the photograph into something not real, while at first I thought it might be interesting to look at but in the end I felt like if I did that I would be hiding the truth and not showing what I wanted to show. The ways that I refined and developed my work was by taking lots of photographs and then selecting only 30 of the ones I took to go in my photo book this meant I would only use the best of my photographs overall or my personal favourites which resulted with some I think would go well in the photo book being left out. What went well and what was challenging was during taking the photos for my photo book I found it really hard to get inspiration for my photographs although after a while I managed to take enough photographs and make a high quality photo book out of them, although this project has been fun and interesting to work on, there is no doubt that it's had it's ups and downs along the way.
My final outcome in this project was a 30 paged photo book which is high quality with a unique style on each page, originally I wanted the theme of the photo book to be decay although that later changed to Urban diversity due to all of my photos being taken at mainly urban areas and all looking drastically different from each other despite being all taken within London. I feel like I achieved what I set out to do although it was a lot harder than I originally thought since my style of photography kept taking different turns and I ended up experimenting with my style as a whole during this project. I hope viewers of my photo book will see the change of style from my original clean open space work to the disorganised messy photographs I went for in the end, I in fact found this interesting while looking through my Flickr photographs. If I had more time I would take more photos in other built up areas of London other than the areas I did such as near the River Thames and central London although I feel like the photographs I took have their own style to them which I would also like to try to replicate further.