Migration – From Cupar to Comfortless Cove
For this project, we had to produce a book based on the idea of migration either international or internal. I chose to tell the story of my mother, a Scottish woman who was born in Singapore and travelled through her childhood life. In August 2016 my mother left our home in Stevenage and moved to Ascension Island, located in the heart of the South Atlantic Ocean, miles away from anything else. Because of the personal connection I have to the subject, I wanted to produce a scrapbook photo book. I felt that this would highlight the personal nature of the story and allow me to hand make much of it. This would mean I could have more visual materials to enhance my story and also make it stand out in the current market.
Julia pointed out that the book that we produce, while individual still had to be a professional publication. Therefore it would be better and more effective for me if I could somehow emulate this scrapbook aesthetic on the computer rather than handmade scrapbook that I could create the pages of the scrapbook and then scan these into the computer to produce an online book. However, when I started looking into doing this I came to realised that while my idea was good, scrapbook stickers were not a very professional tool. From this, I adapted my idea and decided to be a completely online publication. This would be easier for me to change and adapt throughout the process as well as being easier for me to distribute. In terms of marketing, it would sit much betting into the genre of photos books with a professional printed aesthetic.
Overall, I am happy with my finished book. I feel that I managed to keep the scrapbook/family album aesthetic via the placement of my images for one. Some of the images are layered on top of each other while others are smaller framed in the middle of the page. This un-uniform layout highlights the idea of the scrapbook and the unique nature of the story as a whole. I had bought decorative scrapbooking paper when I was I was going to make a physical scrapbook and used these in my online version. I scanned these into the computer and used them as backgrounds to framed image or writing. I think this helps me achieve a scrapbook aesthetic.
I tried to induce a change of pace throughout my book from when she was a child travelling to now she is living on a remote island. I think this is much more visible when looking at my publication on Issu. You can see that towards the end of the book there is a much more considerable amount of white space. I did this to imitate her pace of life now, she is much more relaxed and enjoying island life.
Given the chance to redo this project again, however, I feel that the final product would have benefitted if I have not been so timid to ask Alison to do more for me. There was a point during to project that I asked her to re-scan some stuff for me and she did seem quite blunt, I know she is an incredibly busy person, so this put me off asking more of her. Had we been able to sit down and talk more about the narrative I think the book could have been much more in-depth. I would have liked to have been told briefly about her children and then about her travels to America, Germany, Budapest and her settled home in Stevenage. Perhaps her returning visits to Cyprus and how the island has changed as I know you can still approach the area she was evacuated from and we have photographs somewhere.
Reflection:
I think that this book follows a certain type of niche aesthetic that is very popular these days but its very much a unique and personal touch. I don’t think techniques like this will be transferable to my publication for this project as mental health is a very serious subject and I am trying to raise serious points and ask serious questions about this.
From this, I am understanding how my book needs to be much more serious and professional that this previous product of mine. I think that the layout needs to be much more uniform to allow readers to look deeper into the images and the stories behind each one. With this publication, there I had no artistic control over the images. They are snapshots family images which have no deeper meaning and therefore were just visual aids for the story. In my new project, the images carry much more meaning and creativity that needs to be appreciated and read for the project to be successful.
Documentary Perspectives – Babel
My book, Babel, is based on the diversity of the people in London and aims to highlight just how many different kinds of people adore the City as much as I do. I am always amazed that no matter when I go to London it is full of people and I often look at people on the tube and think ‘I wonder why you are in London?’. I love walking around the city and hearing all the different languages and accents and I wanted to look deeper into this and see if I could finally answer my question and find out why some of these people come to London.
I had a list of places I wanted to go and sat in the area for a while scoping out the people who didn’t seem to be in any rush, who seemed friends and looked like they might help me. Once I had done this I tried to get polar opposites, if I took a photo of a young girl, I would then try and ask an older male and so on. I think this helped me get a ride range of people and personalities. I also asked for them to write something down for me, something about what they like about London or why they are in London. Most people wrote about the latter because it was quicker and less thought went into it. Some people said no as I had already taken up some of their time taking photos which is understandable. I have learnt that the key to these kinds of projects is not to get put off by people saying no. Take it in your stride and think that’s just another person you have to ask to replace them.
I used the writing alongside the images to inject some personality into my book. I really like the scrapbook aesthetic in photography books, I think that the personal touch makes a book stand out from the rest and makes you view it differently, more fondly, because someone has gone through the trouble of hand making something for you to enjoy. I ripped the quotes out of my notebook and scanned them into the computer to place them next to the photos. This works quite well in making the people more relatable. I wanted them to appear ripped around the edges so that this scrapbook theme was more evident but the scanner never showed these in print.
I used InDesign to produce my book. I have had a little experience with this software already and thought that it was quite easy to do. I really enjoyed playing around with different layout ideas and blogging my progress, I didn’t realise just how much thought goes into every little detail when producing a book. I originally had my book as an A4 publication but I later felt that I didn’t want my book to be this big. While it was a pain to resize all my images, I think that A5 works much better. It is much more fashionable as a publication, small enough to pick up and put on your bookshelf. Also, the Issu website would not let me upload any A4 layouts because the files were too big so I would have had to resize the publication anyway.
I paired my images based on colours, tones and orientation. Taking tips from successful photographers such as Martin Parr, I tried to place images that carried the same colours together. I also arrange my photos by composition and characteristics, for example, some of my images contain the subject’s body slightly facing away from the camera. I have tried to place these with their backs to the edge of the pages so that the photos flow better together. I also linked photo through things like hats and headdress.
I was very keen to use symmetry throughout my book. There are many studies that show the more symmetrical a person’s features are, the more desirable they are to the people, this is particularly important when finding a mate. My theory was that this could be transferred to compositions and layouts took. The more symmetrical my layout was, the more aesthetically pleasing and desirable it would be to the people who read it. White space was important to me when I was creating my book. I was very aware that having white space is a very fashionable thing in photography books and I wanted to keep mine as relevant as possible. As well being a style choice, white space is also key to ensuring that a book is easy to read. I didn’t want my book to be too overwhelming like some that I have looked at before. I wanted it to be neatly spaced so there was room for the readers to breath and take in what they have seen. While editing I could see that big chunks of paper full of portraits was just not effective.
Another thing that is featured in many other photography books is varied layouts. Most photography books don’t have the same layout over and over again from start to finish. They interject their layout with slightly different styles which keeps the book interesting and makes it more enjoyable to read. I wanted to do this also so I included full-page spreads and some single page spreads in order to enhance this. It’s important that viewers want to flick through the rest of my book and don’t lose interest, without this my book would not be successful as a publication at all.
If I were to do this project again I would like to take more time with the people that I photograph. I needed to spend a bit more time checking the quality of my shots before letting the subject walk away from me. Another way to tackle this would have been to pre-set the camera, however as I was constantly moving through the city through different lights, I was forever changing my settings, something that I wouldn’t have been able to do if I had preset the camera. I didn’t want to take up any more of the peoples time because I had already pulled them away from their day. I think that there is a balance between too much and just enough time, a balance that both photographer and subject are happy with, it will just take some experimenting and practising to find this.
Reflection:
I think that the idea behind my use of symmetry was a useful way of thinking and layout in a professional publication. The full-page images make the publication less repetitive, however, in my mental health book, this repetition may work in my favour. I love the use of white space in this publication. It certainly slows down the pace of the book, also reflected in my migration module book, and means that there is more time to read people faces and expressions.
In this evaluation, I have discussed how I have linked the images together through colours which meant that they eye flows more easily from one image to the other. I need to consider the layout of my book and the way in which I will lay out my images. They will be taken in various different environments, from green land to woodland and urban areas. I think it may look good to intertwine these rather than having all wooded areas together in one clump. This is something I will need to experiment with overall.
In terms of my current project, looking back at this has reminded me how important it is to try various layouts so that the white space is an equal balance between clean and precise and empty. I also will take a bit more time with the people I am photographing, not only for photographic reasons, I want to cover all bases and make sure I have the right images in my book, but also in terms of building a rapport with them. This will benefit my project overall as they will feel more open and comfortable in front of the camera and within their writing.
Reflections on The Real – Artefact
For this module we were able to pick one of four themes to document, comparison and classification, caught in the lens, industry and consumerism and close to home. I chose to photograph students of Gloucestershire University’s bedrooms and then get them to choose what object from their room reminds them most of home. I would then take this object and place it in the studio environment with a contextualising quote in order to demonstrate how you may not recognise the value of an object until it is explained.
I wanted to do this because I wanted the idea to be simple so that the message would be clear and precise. While my idea did not change over the course of this project, my understanding of it did. The more research I did the more of a theoretical understanding I gained. This, in turn, meant that I enjoyed the subject much more when I wrote my proposal I was very concerned about it boring to myself and therefore to the viewer. when you enjoy a subject it is reflected in the photography and overall standard of the imagery. Rather than being quite basic and simple, I feel the project has become quite in-depth and complex in its message.
I was very concern with the outcome of my project being too simple. However, the more images I complied and the more it started to come together, I realised that it is this simplicity that makes my project powerful. The repetition means that the viewer is able to read the images more clearly. On top of this, and the fact that I have chosen to light my images natural and refrain from excessive editing means that the real is being continuously represented.
During the editing, I had a few issues with the colour cast on some images because I used natural light and tungsten light together which meant that the two sources of light were fighting to be seen creating a purple hue. This was able to be corrected in photoshop, however, has compromised some of the quality of my images. If I were to do the project again I would be more careful with my lighting and consider my timing, perhaps conduct the project in the summer so that I could get up earlier and the flight would be stronger and clearer for longer meaning I wouldn’t have to use tungsten light at all.
In my proposal, I outlined that I wanted the publication to contain at least 20 images which would mean I needed 10 different subjects. However, when reviewing my book I decided to take more photographs because I felt that the pattern I was creating ended too soon. Overall, I am happy with my project and feel that it successfully separates objects from their meaning and detaches the emotion that the owner has given to them, contrasting their natural environment with the clinical and evidential studio. It shows how people attach sentiment to realism in times of uncertainty as a coping mechanism for the unknown. If I was going to continue this project I feel that more rooms and object would help just to produce a bigger body of work and demonstrate my point further. I would like to include more male rooms as I only have two included in the book at the moment. This would present more of a dynamic range of object as well as room environment as a few of them are much more feminine and dainty.
Reflection:
In this current project, I will pay more attention to the setting of my camera before and during the shoots that I do. During Artefact, I struggled with the colour cast around the images, somewhere colder than others and therefore I need to make sure that my white balance is correct before taking the images. This will mean that the white balance will need less altering in post-production. I think in this project I have proved that I am capable of separating a meaning from an image and will work to emulate this in my current work creating images which highlight my meaning.
This publication helps to show how uniformity and pattern can help to highlight a message. I used a good amount of white space between the images to break the layout up but kept the images in the same position throughout the book so that the message would be clearer in the long run.
Final Major Project 