Overall I am happy with the design and I think it flows well. I went for a minimalistic approach using a similar design layout to the book ‘The Epilogue’ by Laia Abril. I chose to keep the paper white as it helps to lighten the mood of the book as the book is about happy memories rather than being sad. I wanted the order and layout of the images to try and tell the story without using words. The concept was that I had gone to see my Nan at her house where my Papa lived with her. We started looking through albums and memories started flooding back. I go to the garage where Papa’s mini used to be kept and where all his tools are. The book then moves on to the present day where I have my mini which I am fixing up so I can take out for a drive with my Papa’s mini. The book finishes with an image if me with both cars but I mention that the project car is not finished.
SECTIONS
For the beginning of each section I usually used a full bleed image on the right page with a short description at the top of the left page. I chose to do this a subtle way of separating the sections of the book. It is not consistent throughout the book but thee story flows well.
GRID/MULTIPLE IMAGE PAGES
I was happy with the grid layouts I ended up using to show multiple images
Using the colour filters in lightroom, I chose my best images and labelled them with the red colour. I then chose from them my 7 best images and exported them to a print folder.In Photoshop I imported the images and started to lay them out on an A2 size page. I made multiple layout designs that I liked. I started by positioning the biggest images then working from there to include the smaller images into a layout that flows well.
FINAL LAYOUTS
BEST IMAGES FOR PRINT
This is the best and largest image which will be A3.
This image will also be A3 as it is very effective and tells the story.
This is one of my favourite detail images so will be an A4 size.
This image will also be A4.
This set of 3 images I will print as A5 as they work well as a series of details.
WHAT: The plan for this shoot is to photograph different shots as my dad and I work on my classic mini. We will be working on the wheels and brakes so I will try get various angles working on the car.
WHERE/WHEN: The daytime would be best as I can use natural light but the evening would also work as I can bring a light with me. The car is currently kept at a friends garage not far from my house so that is where I will take the photos
EQUIPMENT: I will use my Sony a73 camera and my 35mm 1.4 lens and my 50mm 1.8 lens. I like using prime lenses as they often have a wide aperture which is good for low light conditions. I will use my godox sl60 constant light to light the images. I may use a tripod for some self portrait images.
CONTACT SHEET
This shoot went very well I spent a lot of time getting a lighting set up that I liked. I settled for using my godox SL60w as the main key light then a tungsten workshop light as the backlight. I was happy with the outcomes of the images as they have a lot of contrast and colour. I used a wide aperture of f1.4 – f2 for the most part because it was still quite dark.
WHAT: For this shoot I want to photograph and document driving my grandad’s car on the inside and then the outside of the car in nice locations.
WHERE/WHEN: I am looking to photograph the car at golden hour or just after sunset as the lighting is soft and warm. I want to shoot on the coast by the sea as this will make for nice backdrops.
EQUIPEMENT: I will use my a73 for this shoot. Using this camera will be very helpful as especially in raw there is high dynamic range meaning there will be a lot of details retained in both the sky and the shadows. I will use 2 lenses for most of this shoot. My sigma 35mm 1.4 for the inside shots while we are driving as this lens is quite wide on the full frame camera and produces nice bokeh. And I will use my 70-200 f2.8 for the exterior shots of the car as I want a lot of compression from the long zoom to isolate the car from the backdrop. I won’t use a tripod as I will be shooting outside so there will be enough light so I can have a fast shutter speed.
CONTACT SHEET
The shoot went well however it was cut short as the alternator on the car stopped working so the battery was no longer being charged. This meant that we had no lights and we had to get the car towed back to the house where it is kept. I did manage to get some good usable images of the car but I had to work fast.
BEST IMAGES
EDITING
The overall look I wanted with this edit was to make the shadow cold but the highlights warm because it was golden hours. I am happy with the look but I may alter the edit when I come to put it in the photobook to match the other images better.
I started by correcting the white balance as the image was very blue. I then corrected the exposure, decreased the highlights and increased the shadows. I added blue to the shadows and yellow to the highlights and changed balance so the blue wasn’t too overpowering. I added a small s curve to add some contrast to the image and decreased the saturation of the blues.
WHAT: For this shoot I want to capture the details inside my grandad’s Mini Cooper S. His car is the Sports pack model so has a lot of racing cooper details.
WHERE/WHEN: In my yard when it is cloudy so there is soft light. Shooting when it is cloudy means that the light is soft so it is easier to expose and the shadows won’t be as hard. The location doesn’t really matter because I will be photographing the inside of the car so I will take the photos in my yard outside my house as I have as much space as I need and can take as long as needed to get all the shots I want.
EQUIPMENT: I will use my sony a73 for all these photos as this is my main camera and has the best image quality. I have a selection of lenses I am going to use. I have a 16mm f2.8 lens for the wide shots of the inside where I want to capture more of inside the car. But for all the details I will use my 50mm f1.8 lens as the aperture is wide so it allows more light into the car as the car may be quite dark inside. The 50mm is more zoomed in which means there is more lens compression, this along with the wide aperture will help to isolate the subject from the background and there will be a nice amount of bokeh. I won’t need a tripod for this photoshoot as I want the flexibility to move around and there won’t be enough room in the car.
CONTACT SHEET
I actually did two photoshoots of this car in the same location. The first one was when we first picked up my grandad’s car. The sun was harsh and there were hard shadows. There was a big diagonal shadow on the car which I though looked good. I took one set of images while the shadows were hard then I went back a bit later when the car was completely covered in shadow so I could take some photos with nice soft lighting.
EDITED IMAGES
I was really happy with the outcome of these photos. I like the way the harsh shadows fall on some of the images. When taking the photos I used manual focus at times to make sure I got perfect focus on the things I wanted. Because there were a lot of logos I wanted to make sure that the whole logo was in focus, this meant sometimes stopping down the aperture from 1.8 to 2.8 or even smaller.
EDITING
RAW
Edited
This was one of my favourite images. I wanted to make the image feel cold and have contrast. First I adjusted the basics like exposure, highlights and shadows to correct the overall exposure. Then I added an S Curve to add some contrast but raised the blacks to give it a more filmic look. I added blue into the shadows and a little yellow into the highlights. The blue in the shadows really makes the image feel cold. I then desaturated the blues and greens so the blues were not overpowering the image. I added a vignette to add focus to the handle.
I didn’t edit every image the same as some of the photos didn’t work as well with the edit. I made some black and white to show variety and because they looked better in black and white.
Realism and straight photography was a movement of photography that came around in the early to mid 1900’s. Pictorialism was phasing out of popularity and photographers had begun a new style of photography. Paul Strand was a pioneer of the realism and straight photography genre of image making. In the early 1900’s pictorialism was still popular, artists and photographers would use techniques such as putting vasaline on the lenses to make the images soft and and scratch the negatives to make the images look like painting. The emphasis on pictorialism is to make the images not look like photographs and look more like art, pictorial images soften featured stage scenes or actors posing for the camera rather than documenting. Paul Strand wanted to get back to the true meaning of photography and the roots of why image fixing was invented. He wanted to document the world exactly as he saw it. This meant not post processing the images in the darkroom and not affecting the image making process in any way.
Key characteristics/ conventions: Go back to the qualities of photography as it recreates accurate and sharp images. They wanted to take photos of what they actually saw. They took things the way they were and not manipulated in the darkroom. Trying to emphasise and focus on shape. The art came from the skill of the photographer
Artists associated: Paul Strand transitioned into and pioneered straight photography. Walker Evans, Ansel Adams. Group f.64 – A group that were interested in capturing the amazing natural landscapes.
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Photographers interested in the genre of straight photography would use a very small aperture to get everything in focus. A group was formed called group f.64. This represents the smallest aperture a large format camera can go to on the lens. This became a trademark and a common feature of photographers like Paul Strand and Ansel Adams
1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.
The book is about the way the Robinson family and how they remember and grieve about the passing of the 26 year old daughter ‘Cammy’ in 2005. The book features a series of images from and pieces from various mediums. The book includes letters from family member and letters to and from friends and church leaders. There are also extracts from newspapers and hospital reports. All these documents help to tell the story of the struggles and issues that led up and after the death of Cammy Robinson.
2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)
Laia Abril is the photographer who produce this book. She created this book because she wanted to give a voice to the suffering and grief of the family as they remember their daughter. The book highlights how the mothers day and fathers day can be a very sad and sombre time for Cammy’s parents Wujen and Jan Robinson.
3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:
Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.
The book is hardback with a scaly texture on the front and back cover.
Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.
Photopaper was used for the images and thin paper for the photocopied letters and texts. Colour images were used throughout.
Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.
Portrait, 160 pages, roughly a4, spine is on the left
The book has a hard cover with the images printed on the front and back covers of the book instead of using a dust jacket. The pages are bound by a perfect binding method.
Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
The title is intriguing but fitting to the book.
Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
The story is about a 26 year old woman who died of Bulimia. The book follows a family as they celebrate fathers day while mourning and remembering their daughter who passed away at such a young age.
Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
The use of other material such as archival pieces like newspaper cuttings or old photographs is repeating throughout helping to build the story futher.
Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
The book includes some fold out pieces added into the book. Most of the pages are either 1 photo per page or 1 photo as a double page spread.
Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
The book does not include a lot of juxtaposing images rather just showing the progression of Cammy’s illness.
Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others. Use of captions (if any.)
Short captions are use to explain who is in the image and what they are doing.
In my personal investigation I am going to be exploring the life that my papa, Terry Batho, lived and documenting the legacy he left behind. I was ten years old when my papa died. I was close with both my gran parents but at that age I didn’t have the same sort of relationship with him than I would now. By looking into the life that my grandad lived and what kind of man he was, it gives me the opportunity to get to know him more and get a sense of closeness to him even though he has passed away. By speaking with my nan, my mum, my aunty and his close friends I can begin to paint a picture of the kind of man my grandad was. I can start to feel like I knew him and by speaking with his friends I can start to see the unique character that my papa had. I am going to be focusing on one of Terry’s biggest passion was Mini’s. He owned multiple over the years, buying them, fixing them and selling them. His garage has tools that he used to work on his cars, he also had specialist tools that were designed certain task to do with classic mini’s. He also had a very special car that was superior above all the rest. When his father died he used his inheritance money to by the millennium edition Mini Cooper S John Cooper works edition. This car was one of the small batch of Cooper S models that were the last of the classic British design to roll of the production line before BMW introduced the new shape mini in 2000. His legacy lives on and has influenced me. When he died in 2010, many members of the Jersey Mini Club did a drive by and an escort to the cemetery. My dad drove his special edition car in the escort with my uncle in the passenger seat and I sat in the back. I can vividly remember sitting on the red leather seats in the small back of the car. I thought to my self this is the coolest car I have ever been in, the metal dashboard and the cooper S details stood out to me and since that day I have always wanted one. And now I own one.
