Photo book chosen- “The Middle of Somewhere”– Sam Harris

Researching the Photo Book

Researching the photo book by Sam Harris, it is seen to be a visual book which showcases a family diary revolving around his two daughters growing up. I learned that Harris is used a focused lens to show his daughters childhood in a place where it is seen if very free and allows experience. There are naturalistic elements throughout the book such as trees and sunlight which are also shown through shadows and sunlight faces, representing ‘suggestive photography’. In a similar element, it has also been noted that most of these images took place in India, a location the family moved to in order for their children to grow up around culture, freedom and overall living in a simpler existance. The twelve year span the book was taken over is showing the families life day to day, supporting this it was seen that a travelogue was included in the families book, showing life on the road in Australia and villages in India where they birthed their second daughter.

Harris’s approach to this book is seen to be expressing meanings on love, growing up, family, landscape and sisterhood, all of which are personal parts to the family and show a certain type of intimacy while still creating memorable memories, creating an inspiring collection of images, all having a sense of feeling.

Related Quote- “My work is a celebration of childhood, family life, love and our simplistic lifestyle which intertwines with out environment.”

Harris’s Intentions

Harris is an American author and podcast host who is known for his work focusing on topics such as neuroscience, terrorism and free will, helping his development in creating development images, leading me to research into why he’s chosen to create a photo-book when not having previous experience. Looking into Harris’s photo book, I personally think that his intentions when making the book was to show his fresh start living on the road in Australia with his daughters who were growing up quickly. This could also be a physical memory he wanted to look back on as well as show his daughters once grown up. This therefore shows his intended audience being for mainly his family who can relive memories. An active way of allowing the family to look back on memories is by including text in the book which represents dates and locations of where they were which is represented towards the beginning of the book.

Although the book has not gained any major awards, It is well known by other photographers and inspired people to create their own imagery to create personal images to book back on.

Deconstructing the book… Narrative, Concept and Design

-Book in hand- When holding the book in hand, it was clear that this has a soft, flexible cover with small texture to it on both the front and back on the cover (paperback). There seems to be no visible binder. The book is also quite heavy.

-Paper and ink- The images in the book can be seen to be presented in either black and white or colour on matt white paper which is smooth in texture. Their are post- it notes and written text inside the book which adds a feel of it being a scrapbook.

-Format, Size and Orientation- This is a portrait styled book which is larger then an A5 size however not A4. There are smooth corners on the book which is in a rectangle shape and includes 2 inserts inside as well as post-it notes and 94 images.

-Title- The title to the book has. an element of mystery to it in coordination to the green background which can be interpreted as nature. This title could represent many different elements such as a relationship between nature and the author. Due to this sense of mystery this could draw in people to buy it as it has a metaphorical meaning.

-Narrative- The story is about him and his families travel through Australia and is a ‘family diary’ of moments they shared with their two daughters. It is said that he used this book in order to create physical memories which the family could look back on as a group. It is also said that they’re reason for taking the daughters away from the city is because they wanted them to experience nature for what it was and wanted them to live in a simplistic environment.

-Structure and Architecture- There are not many repetition motif’s going on in this phonebook, however it is seen that they include either written work such as dates/ locations where they traveled or hand written aspects on posit notes that their daughters had written to add a more personal feel to the book. There are also a lot of noticeable naturalistic images such as clouds, trees and roads which are included to separate the images taken of his children, adding to the feel of a journey and again showing where they were at the time the images of their daughters were taken.

-Design and Layout- The photographer used a wide variety of techniques when displaying him images. Some are shown in a landscape form, some a portrait. Adding to this, some of the landscape ones are portrayed on a double spread where as others are shown to be on single pages etc. There are no fold outs in the book, only small elements such as posit notes which I personally feel as if adds the element of evidence it needed while not making it confusing. This allows all focus to be on the images taken.

-Images and Text- Throughout the phonebook there are pages which include text, mostly typed but also written. The typed text is used to show poems and location/dates as said beforehand which gives the book the separation that it needs from images. The use of this text also allows for the audience to understand the story of the book as well as appreciate the sentimental values which lies within the book.

YU The Lost Country- Dragana Jurisie

Initial thoughts: From reading the title I assumed it was a documentary photo book about an unknown country. The image on the front page and the colours give a gloomy impression.

Dragana Jurisie: She was born in Slavonski Brod, Croatia which was then known as Yugoslavia. Now she lives in Dublin as a photographer. In 1991 her family home burnt down, this is when she said her journey as a photographer began, the day that thousands of prints and negatives her father made were destroyed. Jurisie realised that day the power photography has over memory, after the fire her father never took a photograph other then a snapshot to record the damage for the insurance company. In the 1990 census she was denied the right to be a Yugoslav despite her Croatian father and Siberian mother. The reason for her exile was because “Yugoslavia does not exist. It is a heterogeneous conglomerate that you cobbled together in Paris.”

The Book: is A5 size and is portrait. It has a linen material stuck over the hard cover, which has an image printed on it in blue and white, the material gives it a pixelated filter.

The title of the book can be seen on the spine alongside the authors name. On the front cover it can be seen in the bottom right hand corner. The title ‘YU’ stands for Yugoslavia, ‘the lost country’ is situated in the middle of the ‘YU’, giving initial connotations that Yugoslavia is currently unknown, I personally had never heard of it.The title is fairly literal because Yugoslavia I now know was a state formed in 1918 that composed to six socialist republics before breaking off into five countries.

The story behind the book is about the extinction of Yugoslavia, Jurisie uses documentary photography to create this narrative, by travelling to the current countries that used to made up ‘the lost country’. The first page of the book is of another book which is all about Yugoslavia, she uses this book as a navigation for her travels.

The majority of the book follows an image on the right and text on the left but there is an odd double page spread of image on the left and text on the right. Some pages have quotes were from Rebecca West the British writer, who was in a similar situation to Jurisie, so they hold a sentimental value and hold a similar opinion to herself. None of the images fill a full page, which gives is a scrap book feel like a traveler would make of their holidays. Under the text for each page their is a note of what city in what country the image was taken.

The juxtaposition between the old maps and the new images of Yugoslavia it adds a sense of time and how much things can change. Places that used to be meaningful to you are now unknown and foreign. In literal meaning it is contrasting the past and present, for Jurisie it creates nostalgia but for me its a new story.

The text and the images create anchorage, the two elements together make the narrative, without the text the images could have any meaning and be in any country. This concept of text and images works for me as a reader, it adds structure to the chain of images especially with the name of the country, its as if I am on the journey with her. The minimalist design works in harmony with the age of Yugoslavia and how at the time the majority of photography was influenced by realism which is the pinnacle of simplicity and lack of hidden meaning.

This photobook links in many ways to my concept as its all about identity. After her exile she felt lost and unwanted so she went on a journey to reignite that feeling of comfort and belonging, but instead she felt confused as her once foreign home of Ireland was now more familiar than her real home. She used photography as a way to feel closer to her father and her home but realised like the photos she lost in the fire that she also lost her memories of her homeland. Her absence from physically being in Yugoslavia caused her to forget her time there, much like her forgetting the times in the photos that were burnt. Without being and seeing, the memory ceases to exist.

I was influenced by Joanna Piotrowska for this image and her staged family portraits. This is meant to mimic a child looking under their bed for monsters before they go to sleep. As a child I did this and some of my brothers still do.

The bucket is significant as it continues my theme of lack of identity.

Photo-book Chosen – The Epilogue by Laia Abril

What the story is about?

For me I think that the story portrays a family struggles and how they deal with losing a love one to a disease.

What the photographer made it for?

The photographer made this book to focus on the indirect realities that are based around feminism, therefore tells the story of how a family loses their daughter to bulimia.

Audience?

Girls – Woman- families

• Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

When I looked at the book

• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

The photo book uses a Matt paper however uses inserts with normal printing paper with either letters, and official documents.

• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

Portrait

• Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello

Hard cover with a image wrap, glued stitching for binding.

• Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.

Has got a printed image on the cover, with a blue card covering the girls face

• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

The title can be found to be intriguing to the audience as it doesn’t give us an explanation into whats in the book

• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

The story is about a family who lost their daughter to bulimia, the book includes flashback before the event – testimonies – objects – letters

• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.

The structure of this book allows the reader to understand what is going on, the book is split in mini chapter specified by the date on a single page.

• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

This photo book uses a lot of double page spreads, however in some pages uses tipin to add more information that the reader can read or look at

• Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

• Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.)

The are a mixture of this used in the photo book, all the text in this book relates to the image beside, this could be done by the photographer explaining what is happening in image, which gives more context to the reader.