You Can Never Step In The Same River Twice.

This is my complete photo book sequencing and layout for my book named ‘ You Can Never Step In the Same River Twice’. The title was influenced my philosopher Heraclitus who came up with the quote ‘no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same and he’s not the same man.’ This can be translated to a persons life and how its constantly changing and at no point is it ever the same.

Evaluation:

The book starts with images of my younger brothers hands which connects to the idea of children touching and feeling when they are young to explore the world around them. I continue with the ghost image to integrate the initial concept of lack of identity and how I felt lost and intimidated in my new extended family. The two blood images link to how my new family began to merge into my existing family and how I now had to call a random women my ‘step-mum.’ This whole arrangement went against my parents teachings of stranger danger. The tree branches are seen at the start, middle and end of my book to symbolise old hauntings coming back and how memories aren’t forgotten easily, the best and the worst are always remembered. I still remember life before I was introduced to my new family, when I lived in a one bedroom flat with my mum and a bungalow with my dad. The archival images with fingerprints for faces are next and represent a state of confusion and not belonging as a child I felt constantly in the middle. Next is the mirror which again signifies my lose of purpose by not having a relfection, i couldnt see myself fitting in to my family. The reason the mirrors outside is because I didn’t feel that I had a permanent home as I spend most of my time moving from house to house. The second colour image of my bloody hands was used to continue the dark and eerie theme of the book. On the next page I included an image of rippled water to go with the the title to represent the river I was floating in. The birth mark on my arm was included to create a personal feel to my book. After the second tree photo is another hand image which links to my idea of repetiton as well as change, my life at the time was unpreditable. When I was younger I used to suck my thumb and twiddle my fingers when I was anxious or tired, so my hands were a comfort blanket. I included another mirror image but this time it was leaning against my house, as if I was on the outside looking in. The next image was of my brother looking under his bed, which was a reinactment of me as a child and how I used to check for monsters under my bed before I would go to sleep. I included another hand image and archival fingerprint image then my heart birthmark as I feel it’s a big part of me physically and mental, it’s one thing I can’t change about myself and that I don’t want to change. Following from that I used an image of my handprint on a foogy mirror to mimic childish behaviour. Then I put in an image of my brother covering his ears, at some points my parents argued a lot and it was a signifcant memory that I thought I should include in my narrative. The empty box symbolised moving houses and how weird it is that you can fit all your worldly goods in a cardboard box. Another archive image, then a final lack of identity photo that is of my brother with a bucket on his head. I used a final tree image and finished as I started with a hand image.

Overall I am thorughly pleased with my final outcome, it connected to the theme of liberation and occupation in a contemporary way. The divorce was a time of change and struggle for me and my family, which in some elements is similar to the time of the occupation. At the start of my project I had worries as to how I was going to execute my images whilst keeping to the theme of lack of identity. I knew from the start I wanted my book to be engimatic, with images that were subjective yet minimal. When I first explored Chris McKenney’s work that gave me inspiration, so I could start the momentum of producing my own photos. I feel that I have displayed creativity within my book, using images which involved setting a scene like my blood photoshoot where I had my camera over my sink on self timer and poured red food colouring over my hands. Also my fingerprint images where I painted my tips and pressed them onto card, cut them out and put them on old archival family photos. My outcomes have provided evidence that I have the ability to experiment and explore different concept and ideas within my own work. I have created an aesthically pleasing photobook as well as outlining my ability to display a clear narrative through my sequencing. The essay was a well thought addition to my images as I discussed relevant themes such as identity and movements like surrealism, which I used throughout my book.

Overall, I find that my approach to occupation vs Liberation has gone very well. My project relates to that theme in the way the narrative of the book is women being subjected to unfeasible beauty expectations and liberating themselves. Furthermore, our society’s beauty expectations are an occupation. They damage people’s mental health and even leads to people’s death. In the beginning of the project, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about what I wanted to do. At first I was going to focus on politics, Dadaism and collage but after looking at Bright’s work I decided I wanted to do something more personal and feminist. I found that the photographers I studied and the people I took inspiration from were a good choice. Between Simmons and Bright I had the inspiration to create a variety of images and narratives within them and I’m really happy about the way the images came out after editing them. I am glad that I also took inspiration from Instagram photographer Trophy Wife Barbie because it shows that not everyone complies to stereotypes and that not all social media is bad. I managed to take some sharp and disturbing portraits in the style of Bright before adding my own twist with my editing styles which I’m really happy about. I am also happy about the tableaux images I took in the combination style of Trophy Wife Barbie and Simmons, the result being even more unsettling than I had planned. What I wanted through this project was to convey the feeling of what it’s like to be completely bombarded with the feeling that your not pretty enough, your not skinny enough through my images. I also wanted to expose how unrealistic beauty expectations are. I believe I have achieved this really well be my images have impact and meaning.

The whole project on a whole has gone really well. I believe I choose two really interesting photographers who are very relevant. Women have unrealistic beauty standards that have really damaging effect. To me it’s gotten to a point where people are no longer being an individual. Everyone is trying to look trendy and post it on social media. Also, patriarchal creations such as the male gaze is still very relevant. We see it almost every time we turn on a TV but we don’t notice it because we are used to it.

Throughout my project I have been extremely experimental about my editing. I have used adjustments on Light room with tools in Photoshop to create images that have impact when you look at them. I have used a combination of tools like the clone stamp tool, the spot healing brush and the content-aware fill tool to remove doll’s faces. I have also liquidized Barbie’s make up with the liquid filter. i have also experimented with how I’ve set up my images, always pushing the envelope and trying to take it one step further by creating frighting tableaux narratives.

My Work Compared to Bright’s

There are many similarities to my images and Bright’s image because her portraits of Barbie dolls inspired mine. They are both close ups where the focal points of the images are on the face. However, Bright has used more of a chiaroscuro effect on her image and has edited it so the doll’s eyes are actually human eyes . Furthermore, Bright has chosen and African American Barbie in order to show the lack of and inaccurate and unrealistic representation of African american women in dolls. I, on the other hand, chose that specific Barbie because the stereotype of beauty that Barbie represents to me was perfectly represented in that Barbie. To me Barbie has always been that blonde skinny doll in pink. I wanted to show a lack of true female identity by removing features of her face to be symbolic.

My work compared to Simmons

My image is similar to Simmons in the way that I took inspirations off of the domestic mise-en-scene. They both have a disturbing look to them but Simmons is more subtle than mine. They are both similar in the way that Simmons also incorporates shadows to create the sinister edge to her images. The messages behind both images are different. Simmon’s used the setting of a kitchen to get across her message about women’s roles in the society. However, I used it along with the gory scene with Ken to show how 21st century women brake these domestic role and beauty expectations.

Ideas for Mounting..

I’ve printed two of the images I made but did include in my book. I didn’t include them because they didn’t fit in with the rest of the images I was using. This is because I edited them to make cultural art references to pop art and Andy Warhol which didn’t fit in with my narrative. I also printed a couple of images that gives a full head to two of Barbie. I plan on backing the two art reference ones simply because I don’t want to take away from the images but I want to frame them a tiny bit. I plan on mounting the barbie images one after the over in an order so it gives a full body barbie but with my edited images. I plan to back that simply too for the same reason.

(image of mounted work to go here)

For my photo book, I have decided to focus on a simple, minimalistic layout aimed at truly emphasizing the images. I will be laying my images in a square format in the centre of the page, leaving a large area of blank page between the image and the edges of the sheet as shown in the image below

I am incorporating archival images alongside images I have recreated myself as well as original written text extracted from the back of my grandfathers photos. Originally, The archival images were yellowed due to age and I for one didn’t like this effect, and I also realised that it would be harder to replicate the yellowing on my reproduced images so I took the decision to convert all images to black and white for the project. With regards to the handwritten text, as the text was written on the rear of the images there were a lot of blemishes and marking on the paper due to the age of the images so I therefore had to go through a process to elinminate these markings and extract the whole text. I set the whites to positive 100 and the blacks to negative 100 after desaturating the image, this then made the blacks of the written text stand out from the image and gave the image a whole white background meaning that only the text was visible when incorporated into the photo book

I have decided to use a landscape shot of the RAF base my grandfather was stationed at as a front and back cover for my photo book as I find that using portrait images would straight away give away aspects of the book, as well as the fact that I feel using the landscape can act as a metaphor as in the images were taken within the landscape, so therefore the landscape image covers the book and it contains the images taken from within that landscape. I desaturated the image and adjusted the colour filters to create an aesthetically pleasing black and white image as the cover. I then used one of the original images of written text to add to the top right hand corner of the front cover to act as a title for the book, with the book being titled as ‘Myself’. I find this is quite a fitting title as using both images of me and my grandfather within the book helps create a sense of identity, as well as the fact that my grandfather was a huge role model to me, so in many ways, I see elements of him in myself and my personality.

Initial Design Process

In the initial stages of my photo book design I wanted to ensure I maintained simplicity while also representing a narrative of a dance journey which is to be presented clearly. I first started by experimenting with sequencing of imagery with also combining archival, costuming and still life images in order to represent a relation between the three, helping to show the series of dance elements included in performance. I decided to have two archival images together with the ballet shoes which were worn on the following page, this created a sequence adding to a sense of pace. Although I liked the way this looked I felt as if the sequencing was off as the intended narrative was not clear, therefore edging me to change the sequence. Carrying on from this, in this first section of the book, as well as throughout I will be using a lot of archival imagery allowing comparison between the beginning and the end of the book, showcasing lifestyle, change and development in both dance wear, accessories, costuming etc. I feel as if this is going to help my book have a sense of pace and clearly show that this is a documentation. However, I felt as if using two archival images at the beginning was too much and therefore decided to exclude one and move around the images to fit in with this edit.

Second Design

Taking from the first experimentation I took away the landscape archival image and instead added a costuming image which can be seen as the smallest of all the costumes photographed and the costume is there first one I ever wore for competition. As mentioned in my book specificiattion I wanted the book to start with an archival image as a sense of entering into my journey and creating the narrative. I then want a mixture of all three photoshoots in order to carry on the narrative in different ways which works in my initial design. I do want double page spreads displayed throughout the book to add a sense of contrast between all the images. These double page spreads will be still-life object images as I feel as If they are going to fit in better as a double however this is not included in the first section of my book as I feel as if it doesn’t fit in. Carrying on, with the next section of my book, I intend to carry on the narrative of my dance journey. This is where double page spreads and costumes images will be introduced as a development. These images are both sectioned together to reperesent a group of images around the same subject, ie archival, object and costume images are shown to again show development of the dance when it was first performed and now when the costume lays in my wardrobe. I believe this is a successful way of showing the development as it adds fluidity and showcases a new way of looking into the subject. Furthermore, the sequencing of the images is seen as being very simplistic, with plain white backgrounds as I intended to show cheese photographs and then on the following page a post relating to the subject. This adds to the aesthetic of the book and supports my book specification where I stated I wanted a simple book with no distractions away from images. In tis version, I have intended to layout my essay within the book and have a combination of text and images to show a visual aspect. I used a combination of block text, columns as well as break ups within text to adds to the aesthetic as it is visually easier to read. To evaluate, I believe this design has a good concept however could be manipulated on my final try to showcase my intended narrative more. I would each section to have more separation to allow for the different times in life to be seen more so, therefore I will be adding in blank pages.

Fine Tuning My Design

After creating my second design, I am happy with the overall narrative as well as some of the sequencing of the images which add tot her narrative. However, I will be changing some of the images and replacing them with others in order to add to the narrative. I am deciding to focus on fine tuning some of the spreads to make the images more effective in presenting my narrative as well as improving the aesthetic further. In order to show development I have displayed one of the edits below.

In the first fine tuning of my design I looked into the way I presented my double page spreads as I felt as if these could me manipulated slightly to allow for the narrative to run more smoothly. I first started my adding a white boarder so it did not touch the edges of the page. I feel as if this shows that nothing has been cut out, therefore making my images more truthful. I then went on to position this to the middle of the page instead of slightly to the left as I felt it added more of a impact. I decided to do this for most my other double page spreads as it meant they were all the same and added to the simplicity aesthetic, I did however leave the ones which looked good spread onto the full page as I didn’t want to ruin the image overall. Both the old and new designs are placed below.

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Evaluation

To evaluate, I believe that I have been able to successfully sequence my images in order to show my intended narrative. This has been done through much experimentation and I think that this has helped me to create successful images, allowing intended impact and allowing it to have fluidity to the book. Adding on to this, I think I have been able to show my thought process and decision making as to why I have done my actions. Overall this development process have been a long one which has taken a lot of thought process and experimentation, I do now feel that I have made successful changes to each individual section. I aim to make minor changes to images and book from now to the final product and will discuss final element in my last layout plan.