A big part of my project is going to be formatting my photo book, with the mixture of old photos, my photos and scans of writing im hoping to include.

In order to do this in the best way possible I am going to look at some different ways of formatting photo books, and different ways of intergrating old and new images.

First i’m looking at Lydia Goldblatt, and her photo book, Still Here.

“In the series Still Here by Lydia Goldblatt (*1978 in London), the artist immerses her intimate photographs in sublime extremes of light and shade, tracing the fleeting shadow of personal existence onto enduring human narratives.” Source

Goldblatt’s book, similarly to my project, focuses on family, specifically her elderly parents, and they record three years in her parent’s lives.

“I didn’t want something observational, something with critical distance, and I never thought of taking the photographs as work; I don’t quite know what it was.” Lydia Goldblatt

These are a couple sample pages from her book Still Here, the layout is very simple, with her square format images being placed in the centre of each page. The images she has placed on each double spread compliment each other, having similar light levels, colours and/or subject matter. The images each focus on a singular thing, which I like because it highlights that one aspect object and brings it to the viewers attention, helping to build a story within the book.

“while the images depict the physical decay, indignities and vulnerabilities of old age without sentimentality, they also reveal the perverse beauty in wrinkled, mottled flesh and grey hair, making visual poetry out of a mole, a scar or even the stain of bodily fluid.” Source