The images I have selected for my final prints contain a mixture of reworked archival and newly produced images. I believe that these pieces best capture the essence of my photobook and the narrative as a whole. This is to highlight the intent behind producing family photographs and memories, commenting on the fact that many of these images conceal or fail to express the reality of the people in the frame, and deconstructing the message behind them.
Virtual Gallery
With my final images, I used artsteps.com to create a virtual gallery in which it is possible to have a 360 view of the gallery space. Here, I used more of my images from my photobook that are not from my final prints to create a more full looking gallery space.
Using Adobe Lightroom, I imported all of my final images from my personal study project for my photobook. Here I uploaded the images onto different pages and experimented with the layout of them, seeing which images worked best on opposite pages and complimented each other. I adjusted the size of the photographs on these pages, working out which images worked best as full bleeds and which looked better with a white border. From this I found that a full bleed portrait image next to a portrait with a white border looked best for my layout, with some double page spread full bleeds for landscape images. Although, on some pages I tried placing a landscape and portrait alongside each other and found it looked best when the landscape overlapped to pages displaying the portrait, or with two landscapes stacked on top of one another on one page, opposite to the portrait. In addition to this, I also experimented with the order of the pages and their ability to aid the narrative, as well as presented a balanced feel to the book. With this I found that the double page spread of my stitched family portrait, was a good anchor for the central page of my photos.
Final Layout
Photobook final layout
This is my final layout for my photobook named ‘Manufactured memories’ which includes over thirty images comprised of a montages, archival images and newly produced images, as well as my essay at the back of the book. I believe that this project went well, as I think I have produced a good amount of images that relate to the task of a personal study, as it is about my family, specifically my grandparents. In addition, I am happy with my layout and proud of the photobook I have produced.
Front and back cover
For my front and back cover I used an image wrap of the photograph that will be central in my photobook. However for the cover I made the rest of my family, except from my grandparents, into silhouettes in Photoshop. I did this by using the quick select tool as well as the paintbrush tool to carefully fill in the areas I had stitched in white around. I believe this best represents the contents of my books as it displays the method of reworking images that will be presented throughout my book as well as highlighting who the book is focused on, this being my grandparents. The title manufactured memories was inspired from a quote by Joerg Colberg, featured in my essay, and describes the nature of most family photography and how my photobook aims to deconstruct this.
Pages 1-11
For these first pages, I decided to leave one page at the start of the book blank, allowing for my photographs to start on a double page and be equally distributed throughout the rest of the book. The first double page showcases two simple portraits of my grandparents, which were taken separately however work well together as it appears that they are looking at one another. The following page contains a candid image of my grandad taken at a family Christmas dinner, alongside a digitally edited archive image of him in his former workplace, with everyone’s but his face covered. On the third page I decided to place a close up of my grandparents hands and their rings next to a full bleed of an image of them both, in which I have stitched into and around them. The next pages display two landscape images overlapping, one being one of my own newly produced images, with county outlines stitched into them, and the other an archive image of my mum and my aunt taken during their moving of house. The 10th and 11th page are taken up by a full bleed, double page spread of a digital collage made featuring images and text relating to my grandad, on a bold red background.
Pages 12-23
The pages after this present a full bleed, digitally altered image of my great-grandparents, concealing the upper halves of their bodies, next to one of my own images of my mum and step-dad. Following this is a digitally altered archive image of my grandad at his former workplace, surrounded by multiple emails regarding his retirement. The next two pages feature three images, two being candids from Christmas dinner, and the other a digitally edited archive image of my grandparents, with hexagons and the Manchester worker bee surrounding them. The central page of my photographs contains a full bleed, double page spread of a family portrait I have stitched into. After this is another three image page with two landscapes on one side, one being a stitched into family portrait and another a Christmas dinner candid, alongside a newly produced portrait of my grandparents, also with hexagons and the Manchester worker bee surrounding them, however this time stitched in. Following these pages are a digitally altered image of my grandma with text in her own handwriting surrounding her, with her old college ID and certificate for her nursery course next to it.
Pages 24-35
Next is a full bleed, archival portrait of my grandparents, mum and aunt, with an outline of my grandparents stitched in, alongside a Christmas dinner candid. Following this is another full bleed, double spread collage, this time featuring images, text and documents about my grandma. After this is a digitally edited, archival image of my families old house they moved into after my grandad’s new job, next to an archival image of my mum and aunt standing in the doorway of the house they were moving out of. The next pages display another close up of my grandparents hands, this time featuring another ring my grandad gifted to her, with a full bleed, stitched into portrait I have taken next to it. Following this is a landscape image of my aunt and her son (my cousin), next to an archive image of my grandma, mum, aunt and my sister as a child. The final photographic pages in my book showcase a full bleed, digitally altered, archival image of my grandma who is surrounded by a repeated sentence in her own handwriting, followed by a new portrait taken of my grandma, aunt and mum.
After all of my images, I have included my essay regarding this project, with my influences, analysis’ and intentions. This piece of text is also supported by images from other artists and quotes from other literary sources, which are referenced within my bibliography. I added this in by copying and pasting my essay in paragraphs, fitting the images it references around the text.
Once completing the layout and design for my photobook I then uploaded it to the website blurb which will allow me to order the photobook and print it for me.
Animation is a technique during which pictures are manipulated to look as moving pictures. In ancient animation, pictures were drawn or hand-painted on clear celluloid sheets to be photographed and shown on film. Today, most animations are created with Computer-generated images (CGI).
Fewocious
Fewocious is an NFT artists. He specialises in drawing his own story and life experiences. He states that this new era has opened a lot of doors for young people to be able to be creative in their own way and get recognition.
His new series series of NFT woks, paintings and ephemera have gone on sale in June to witch he says he feels like his in a “dream or something”
Known as one amongst the world’ greatest digital artists, the 18-year-old has staged many winning solo releases, additionally as 2 ground-breaking collaborations within the NFT area – with digital fashion whole RTFKT Studios and its collaborators Odius, Parrot_ism and Jonathan Wolfe – resulting in sales in the millions. His latest project, Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and this is My Life, offers 5 distinctive works that detail his adolescent journey so far, growing up as a transgender man in an abusive family. on sale at Christie’ from June 25.
In order to create my photobook I went to Adobe Lightroom and went to my catalogue and pressed the book feature:
In there I was able to see and further develop my images as well as figure out a narrative for the book:
As we can see above, once you press the Book method in Lightroom it takes you to this screen where you can drag and drop the photos from the bottom in to the book.
While figuring out a narrative which talks about my personal life, relationship experiences as well as addiction and religion, I did find it quite difficult as I thought, “How will I mix all these 4 themes in to one photobook without it looking disorganised?” However, as I started experimententing I started to figure out the narrative as we can see below:
Here we can clearly see how the book starts with what appears to be a happy couple; portrays them as really happy and having fun, then there’s a break where I’m thinking of adding my first essay.
The book then goes to show the couple on dates with messages from a gay dating application called Grindr. The messages reveal a kind of example of the type of messages I get daily. I have ordered them along with the couple on dates images in an attempt to show how people always get in the way of some relationships which is clearly shown from the oxymoron of the two images. This can be clearly seen in the following:
Here we can powerfully see a happy couple on one side and the other side a text message from a Grindr guy trying to make me feel or look bad. This oxymoron may make the viewer feel like there are some issues in the relationship which indeed is true.
However, I soon found out that the Grindr texts were a bit too colourful and ruined the aesthetic of the photobook.
So, to combat this issue, I followed Broomberg & Chanarin’s inspiration with the Holy Bible and created something similar; overlayed the text messages over the bible texts. For example:
We can clearly see the correlation between Broomberg & Chanarin’s Holy Bible project since they overlapped photos over Bible texts and I over lapped text messages over the passages which creates a sort of controversy since the passages talk against homosexuality and the messages reveal a few of my same sex experiences.
Contact sheets and experimentations
During my experimentation with these images I attempted to not only show a same sex couple having fun with each other while attempting to portray this relationship as some sort of dream. This was powerfully achieved through the use of blur and gloss on some images. This is clearly shown in the following:
My idea with the blur and gloss was to get the reader to feel or see a sort of fantasy or dream; something that is not quite real. This idea originated from the song lyrics, “painted a picture, I thought I knew you well. I got a habit, of seeing what isn’t there. Caught in the moment, tangled up in your sheets. When you broke my heart I said you only wanted half of me. My imagination is too creative, they see Cain and I see Abel…” (In my head, Ariana Grande). What these song lyrics mean to me is basically, for me it talks about having a habit of seeing, creating and falling “in love with the version of a person that you’ve created in your head, that you are trying to but cannot fix…” Therefore, this is what I attempted to achieve with the glossy/blurry images.
On the other hand, with the hi-res images I attempted to portray a feeling of reality because the experiences were real and true. This creates an oxymoron which successfully shows how relationships can be beautiful but negative events happen all the time meaning this “love” becomes nothing but a memory.
Sequencing
I have chosen these to be my back and front cover. The Front cover image has my model looking straight at the reader which could be interpreted as the reader diving into this same sex relationship since there’s a saying that “the eyes are the window to the soul.”
The back cover portrays the couple cuddling / comforting one another which makes sense after the reader has been through the whole book.
The book then goes to show the couple having cute intimate moments which makes the reader feel like they are diving into their story which is exactly the aim.
The black and white images with high contrast are there to show how there are negative moments even during intimate moments.
The colourful images however mimic the happiness in relationships.
Similarly, I attempted to create the same effects as shown above but included extracts from both the bible and text messages/experiences I’ve had with guys to attempt and tell my own story.
I went onto Artsteps to design my final gallery display of my images. I wanted to do a walk in gallery.
I selected my template and began to import my images and displaying them onto the walls.
Once I placed the images I wanted on the walls I could walk around the gallery and see all my photos.
I did a walk in gallery instead of just placing them all on on wall as I wanted it to seem more real and included my top picks.
I then started to think about how I would like my final prints to look like once I frame them so I decided to go on photoshop and create a small design for them. I used my favourite images from my photobook.
I want my images to be presented on a black canvas or paper and here is the layout I would like to have them in;
Overall, I think I presented my ideas and topic very well through using many editing processes to achieve my final outcome and showing mental health through photographs.
Here are some images of how my final photobook design turned out to look like;
I used about 2-3 different template designs and tried to keep them consistent throughout my book and change the order of them around to create a good contrast of layouts going in my book. I mostly stuck with using full bleed spreads, photo being in the centre or photo being slightly to the right of the double page. As well as changing the layouts I also changed the page colour to black on some images that I thought the image would contrast well with if being placed onto a black page. I did this to show how some days can be better or worse with using coloured pages and the colour black is there to represent sadness and a dark atmosphere.
I kept changing my images around to avoid having the same ones on the same pages or on the next spread. I used photos I thought either went really well together or images that contrast with each other to create juxtaposition in my book. However I did repeat some of my images to create the illusion of how everyday can feel the same when struggling with your mental state as you do the same things everyday just experience different emotions
Comparing my work to my chosen photographers;
Overall, I achieved my first photo shoot by taking inspiration from Edward. It gave me ideas on how to edit my images and edit them in a way that presents my topic – mental health. It allowed me to use the blur tool as well as the wrap tool and select certain features such as the face to crop it out or blur it out. I was inspired by the photos of looking at yourself into the mirror as I think it shows how you’re looking at your own reflection and you dont even know who you are anymore as well as there being two sides of you- one looking into the mirror and the blurry reflection of yourself.
Here are some examples of my images that I took being inspired by Edward.
I tried to keep the overall images simple and natural as I wanted to create an everyday life effect apart from the studio photos. I got my model to face a mirror and then lay on her bed and face a mirror as well. I though that these images would be perfect for my topic as I can work with them and edit with them. I also got my model to sit on chairs and stairs to create everyday natural settings. I also edited most of these images in black and white to create a sad atmosphere and show the mood of the images.
The other photographer that inspired me with my photo shoot and editing process was Isaak. I was very intrigued by his editing style and when you read more about his work you realise how his story matches his images and how he presents his experience with mental health through photography. This helped me to understand how you can show mental health in a visual way and inspired me for my second and third photoshoot. He created individual silhouettes and shadows to represent himself and his mental state through loneliness and using cold colours such as blue which creates a sad atmosphere. This helped me to use many photoshop tools and transform my images and creating a different meaning which presented my topic very clearly.
my photos;
I also decided that I wanted to add my essay onto the end of my photobook as I think my essay links really closely into my photobook and explains a lot about the topic I chose to portray- mental health.
I then realised that it would be better to have my essay in columns instead of a big text as it looked more clear and was easier to read , I also included the images that I used in my essay to give some examples of the work I was looking at and my photographers work examples.
The last thing I did was adding a front and back cover, I wanted it to be all black like I have planned from the beginning as my topic is quite dark and serious I wanted my book to look the theme. I then thought of a title and named it “mind.” as mental issues happen inside someone’s mind and its about what goes inside everyone’s head.
Evaluation- overall, I think I presented my topic very clearly in my photobook and achieved the final outcome that I wanted. I used a mix of simple portrait photos as well as many editing processes such as blurring, selection tool, cutting out images and filling them in as well as the quick selection tool. All of this helped me to present mental health visually which I took inspiration from my two chosen photographers. As Edward focuses on simple , black&white ,self portraits and blurring out his face, whereas Isaak uses editing software’s and creates an abstract representation of mental health.
For my first photoshoot in my photobook project, I took photographs of old baby and childhood images of myself from my family albums. I also took photographs of some childhood objects, including my hospital and Christening bracelets, and my first stuffed animal. Additionally, I chose some objects from later on in my life, such as an 18th birthday card I received from a friend, and an 18th birthday badge. I decided to include these images and objects as a way to show my transition from baby, to child, to adult, and to add another interesting layer to my photobook by combining old images with new ones, which I think will be more engaging for the reader.
PROCESS
To start my shoot, I set up a tripod attached with two lights on either side on a table so that the lighting would be clear and even. I then placed a plain piece of white paper underneath where the camera would sit so that the background of my images would be clean and bright. I then attached my camera to the tripod with the lens facing downwards, and placed each of my physical photographs onto the paper and captured them accordingly. I made sure that the photographs were positioned as straight as possible to save myself further editing later in the process. I also took care to ensure that the two lights on either side of my camera did not reflect on the glossy surface of the photographs, as this would ruin the effect. Additionally, I also tried to eliminate any shadows that the photographs made on the paper. I then imported all my images onto my computer and into Lightroom, where I began to edit and adjust them as needed.
After I had imported all of my new images into Lightroom, I made a new collection called ‘Photobook’, with another collection set inside which I called ‘Shoot 1’, which I imported all of my images into. Usually after this I would go through a selection process, however since I only had a few images and I was happy with them all, I decided to keep them all.
When editing my photographs, I mainly adjusted the exposure and contrast in order to make my images appear older than they actually are, as a way to further emphasise my transition through the different stages of life. By increasing the contrast, I could also add more colour and life to the more worn images, so that the detail within them could still be seen. Additionally, the old look of these photographs would juxtapose the new images, which would be bright and full of bold colours, adding another interesting visual layer to my photobook
SHOOT 2
For my second photoshoot in my photobook, I aimed to capture as many candid and staged photographs of me and my friends when we were all together. I found that the best times to do this was on special occasions, such as friend’s birthdays or parties, or when we were all on nights out together. I tried to incorporate as much colour and life as possible, which would later juxtapose the old, much more muted feel of my baby pictures. I also aimed to keep the images as unfiltered as possible, as a way of allowing my audience to gain a real and raw insight into our lives.
I imported all of my images into Lightroom into a folder I titled ‘Photobook’. I then began the selection process, whereby I filtered out any repetitive images, images of poor quality, or images which I thought didn’t fit in with the rest. By the end of the selection process, I was left with around 60 of my best photographs.
When editing my photographs, I aimed to emphasise all the bright colours already present, so as to make the images full of fun and life, in order to reflect how we were feeling. Additionally, I wanted to create a contrast to my baby photos, which I edited to appear older and more worn out. To do this, I mainly adjusted the vibrance, saturation, and contrast. For the most part I left the contrast the same way it was, as the images were already bright to begin with. I continued to adjust the different settings and features until I had a result that I was happy with for all of my images.
PHOTOBOOK
In order to begin the process of creating my photobook, the first thing I had to do was to decide to do either a portrait book or a landscape one. I decided to work with a standard portrait orientation, as most of the images I chose to include were portraits, and with the landscape photographs I could easily place them in the centre of the page without the book looking too messy or too disorganised.
I then experimented with different types of layouts for my photobook, such as full bleed pages and double page spreads. I wanted to incorporate a range of different photograph sizes and layouts in order to keep my photobook interesting and engaging for the reader.
For the cover of my photobook, I decided to use two juxtaposing images; one of me when I was younger on the front cover, and then another of me when I was older for the back cover. I then had to decide on a title for my photobook. I wanted to use a title that would tell the readers what the book is about, but at the same time without being too explicit. I eventually settled on ‘growing pains‘. I chose to keep the title in all lower case letters as I think that it looks more aesthetically pleasing and it also references the younger versions of myself present in the book. In addition, most people my age now prefer to type this way on their phones and laptops, which again references another version of me in the book. I experimented with different text sizes and fonts until I found one that I was happy with; I chose to use the font ‘Javanese Text‘ throughout my photobook.
Towards the end of my design process, I also decided to add small captions underneath each of my images in order to help the reader understand more clearly what is happening in each photograph. I think that it adds another interesting layer to my photobook, making it appear more like a personal album rather than a photobook.
On the side of out Identity and Community project, we have been given the opportunity to submit our work to be printed and presented in the JEP. In preparation for this, we have been asked to gather our strongest pieces from year 13 and present them in different ways: a full bleed, a collage/montage, a sequence and a juxtaposition spread.
Collage
For my collage piece, I have decided to input my collage that i made during the NFT project, this was made by hand using printed images and a canvas sheet displaying same sex models , however due to the paper material, I don’t think that the quality of the print will be suitable for the newspaper.
Sequence
These photos surrounding the middle image consists of close up images of the same models arms. This is my sequence spread as all the images have a common theme. I feel like this spread is the only one out of my project that can work as a sequence due to all the tattoos being so diverse and personalised to each individual.
Full bleed
I chose this image as a potential full bleed as this is my favourite photo aesthetics wise, this image shows a symmetric full chest and neck tattoo. This photo is what I used for my front and back covers as the image wrap will be perfectly symmetrical with the eye in the middle, on the spine of the book.
My next full bleed is a coloured image showing a variety of tattoos, with the main piece being the roman philosopher, Marcus Aurelius. I found the same broken statue as the tattoo and decided to line it up, showing the tattoo and statue together.
Juxtaposition
Here we can we can see two photos both displaying hands, however bring different essences to the photobook. the photo on the left shows an open hand with a tattoo of a day of the dead skull, this give the image a powerful and imitating demeanour. This is strange to see that an open hand gives this feel when you see more intimidating images, they include closed hand. However, the closed hand on the right has a sense of delicacy and remembrance, supported by the background writing.
