Earlier I wrote a piece exploring my understanding of a photobook and how I wanted to start P4 with these principles in mind. The post can be found here and Gossage’s principles are as follows;

1. Should contain great work
2. That work should then function as a concise world within the book itself
3. The design of the book should complement what’s being dealt with
4. The book should deal with content that sustains an ongoing interest.

I was curious to see if I would agree with these qualities after I had produced my final photobook and in most ways I do.

1. Great work, while seemly subjective also makes sense for the scope of the photobook. Unlike a photo journal I believed that each photo has carry the same impact and weight as the last. Otherwise it will stick out like a sore thumb. Unlike a journal you are not telling a story from beginning to end, each photo should be able to communicate with one another, from anywhere in the book and a weak photo subtracts from this. In the future I hope to take even more photos when creating a photobook, because while piecing together the book at times it felt like I wanted more variety in a shot, for example a medium inside of a close up. Though I had taken a lot of photos, I didn’t allow myself to focus on a certain pose and try different angles, zoom and light something I will have to work on in the future if I really want the best shot of the “great work.”

2. It really was important that I kept everything returning back to that dark eerie theme. The consult with Bella was practically useful in this as she pointed out photos in my book that didn’t fit within the world. Example this image was flagged as being almost sexy; and therefore through a spanner in the the overall theme and feeling of the book.

I found that it having the extra set of eyes, really helped as I would not have picked up on this myself. I will work to continue to show others my work in the future giving them as little information as possible to what I’m trying to achieve so I can see what fits within the sequence and what doesn’t. This is something I wish I had be able to do with my first photo journal (PB3) as time management had not given me the chance to show off the work to unbiased parties looking to give constructive criticism of my work.

Another instance this occurred was when deciding on a title for the photobook as that also worked to add to the world. Brain suggested getting out a thesaurus and really try to find something that tied the whole book together. I had discussed how in pervious posts that the name was going to work to unite the book, even more so then the design or the sequencing and again, feedback was the key to finding the title Seize. To further help me in the future I’ll look to brainstorm ideas on paper, as I had only really played with words in my head. It wasn’t until i sat down and starting writing out the words I was able to find the right word.

3. 

Design played a huge roll in the piecing together of my photobook, it lost all it’s intensity and mood when I set the images on a white background rather than black. The idea that the design should complement the images was the quality I knew would matter from the start and something as simple as a fill colour change affected the overall mood. I will continue to design around my photos in the future. As for layout, this was something that just came from trail and error. Looking at the images getting them set how I wanted then asking for feedback. This again is really just a time practice and I will make sure to continue to leave enough time to play with my images in terms of layout.

4. This fourth quality was something I struggled with the most, as I wasn’t sure it would sustain a interest or if anyone would want to keep looking at my photobook. While I do think this is the case, your photobook should hold the viewers interest. I also think it’s not something you can always get on your first try. All you can do to overcome this, is produce your best work, as you can’t control how people will react to it. I picked a mood that I wanted to share with others through my photobook and if through my final feedback I am not successful I will take the critique and work to produce something better next time. As I feel all subject matters have interest it’s how you execute it that counts the most.

Overall I feel as if I tried to keep these qualities in the back of my mind when creating my photobook and wouldn’t have created a piece of work I was happy with, had I not keep seeking feedback based on each of these points.

Joanna Zylinska in citing Jai Mckenzie (2014) defines photo-mediations as “light based practices” (2016, p.11). By proposing that photography is studied through it’s mediation and movement rather than the technology attached to it, Zylinska is able to conclude that photography works to cut mediation, therefore works to edit and shape life it’s self (2o16, p.13).

This was practically important to me as I began to produce PB2. Realising that while I would have normally used photography to create memories, I was actively working to push sequencing and editing to forth the feelings and moods I wanted acknowledged. By detaching photography from only being an act of preservation (Zylinska, 2016, p.13) I was able to start unconsciously acting on how I wanted to use photography to communicate my ideas to others. Though back in week 4 this merely came out as; “I want people to feel something when they look at my work.”  However this was not feelings to do with remembering, no nostalgia or yearning for a childhood lost.  I wanted to bring out emotions I was feeling right now in this time and place – something I had considered impossible for me to perviously achieve.

The idea that photography wasn’t just for capturing the past,was something that hung over me as I first entered this course. My brainstorming all seemed to be imbedded in the past with me wanting to revisit old work I had down perviously and even exploring the type of fear linked to childhood. While knowing from the beginning photography’s ability to create the timelines (Zylinska, 2016, p.7), we traverse, it’s through this course and this practical reading that I was able to explore it’s other uses.

In the future I want to continue to use photography to communicate the present, to cut into life and pull out the  emotions and moods I want to convey – using photography as a tool to create new perspectives, rather than playing it safe to retell the old.

Reflections from Panel: 
When pitching my idea and original images, I was relived that straight away the mood I was trying to get across was picked up by the panel. Dark, eerie and an uncomfortableness brought on through absence of colour. The idea that you can create a photo book solely on a emotion is what I want to work towards. Dan brought up the point, what I would really need to look at my black points and white points, as not to completely wash out my images. When editing test shots I still feel as if I’m not getting a complete tonal range and will need to consider how I can overcome this. Brain suggested a tool that aids in creating black and white images that I will look at, as I want to achieve the best results for my final product. All and all I feel as if I’m confident in the direction I’m heading. In the following weeks I’ve have a photo shoot with my model, so I can focus on the body as I did in PB2, however I will still practice by taking every day photos and trying to capture that same dark mood I want to focus my photobook on.

Test Shots: Taken on Iphone 6S

When playing around in Photoshop, I found cropping this image helped remove elements that confused the atmosphere. For example, although the light adds some nice contrast it distracts from the ominous alley that stretches before the viewer.

The same goes for this image of pigeons. The picture on the left with the pigeon flying in gives the viewer reassurance the the birds are fine, it also mimics the symbol of a dove which is important to note when considering how one might read my photobook. The picture on the right however is much more successful in creating the mood, as the pigeons almost look lifeless.

Continuing with this photobook I will have to stop thinking about what makes a good photo and consider what works to progress my story, as I want this photobook to sit on the mood of uneasy/uncomfortable.

Moving toward I will need to download InDesign to start playing around with how I can position images and whether the contrasting of white and black images together ads to my overall theme.
I will also need to start brainstorming a title the more the photo book comes together. As Brian highlighted that a strong title will unify everything I put into the book if I want it to.