Narrative – What is your story?

3 words – Grandparent’s work ethic

A sentence – This photobook will depict how my grandparents worked hard to make a better life for themselves and their family.

A paragraph – My photobook narrative will present the story of how my grandparents put their family first and worked hard to provide them with a comfortable life. This photobook will use both old and new photographic images to retell the stories that are often not mentioned in my family, such as the dedication of my grandma to help bring up my grandad’s siblings after their parents moved away, as well as my grandad’s tireless work ethic that persisted through various economic struggles. It will also touch on my family’s Mancunian roots and their move from there, for my grandad’s job. In essence, this photobook is a form of appreciation to the older generations in my family for the comfortable life and opportunities they have proved me with, as well as celebrating our strong bond and love for each other.

Design

How you want your book to look and feel – I would like the book to feel as if it were a family photo album compiled of both photographs and documents of the time.

Paper and ink – I will use the standard, classic paper for my photobook as I believe it will reflect the standard prints seen in normal family photo albums.

Format, size and orientation – My photobook will be a standard landscape size of 25×20 cm. This is as I think it will best accommodate the format of my images as well as being the same size as a normal photo album, in which many photos are attempted to feature over a single landscape page.

Binding and cover – I think that the best option for the cover of my photobook would be to make it as a hardcover, as it would produce a sturdy and professional appearance to the outside of the book, that could stand the test of time and be passed down through generations. For the binding of the photobook, I think that a standard binding would suit my layout best.

Design and layout – For the layout of my photobook I will place at least one image per page, with the exception of a few double page spreads. I would like my photobook to have a similar layout to that of a family photo album with some pages having two or more images on them, in a disjointed and collage like manner.

Editing and sequencing – The sequencing of my images will not be placed in chronological order due to the old photographs, but will instead be mixed together showing the contrast in my family then and now, showcasing how it came to be through my grandparents hard work.

Images and text – My images will be a combination of reworked archival photographs and new photographs featuring my family. With this, in my photobook I think it would aid the narrative to include small sections of writing next to some of the images, providing more context and in turn meaning to my work.

Mood Board

Here I created a mood board compiled of images showing different photographic books as well as some family photo albums. This will give me inspiration on how to layout my photobook, creating a strong narrative. In particular, I found that through producing this mood board, that I would like to incorporate sepia tones in my photobook, potentially through the colour of the pages to make the book feel as if it is more of a personal family album.