1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating  with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.

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.)

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.
• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.
• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.
• Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello
• Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.
• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
• 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.)

FINAL PRINTS

For my final prints I did not chose the images which displayed the most technical ability but more the pictures which are more in tune with my artist inspirations Sam Harris and Olivia Bee. I believe my images represent the notion of growing up as portrayed by Sam Harris and emphasise everyday life- as Olivia Bee’s images do.

VIRTUAL GALLERY

When creating my virtual gallery I realised when generating my images I did not have professional environments such as galleries in mind (i.e. artificial lighting, white walls etc) so when creating my virtual gallery in photoshop I chose a background which was less commercial as my images are more intimate and meant for a photobook.

Whilst creating my project, I chose to do the theme of youth culture that I captured in my work through documentation-style photography that highlighted the authenticity behind my images, as the photo-taking process for this project simply based on capturing candid moments with my friends to create an atmosphere revolving around the freedom and liberation of youth culture on an Island. I feel I worked to the best of my extent whilst working on this project – I did multiple photoshoots in several locations during different times of the day to show the activities myself and my friends got up to whist being stuck on a small Island with limited places to go. Out of all of my photoshoots, my favourite ones were the images I produced during my night photoshoots in forests, as I had to experiment a lot due to limited lighting, which in the end created many interesting images for example the one below – this is amongst my favourites due to the way the branches contrast with the dark background and the figure captured in motion.

Overall, I really enjoyed making this project as I felt Islandness was a personal theme therefore I could work with it in any way i wanted, and was satisfied with the outcome as i felt it incorporated my artist references and the insider/outsider perspective I had planned to include in my work, but still had my own take on it. However if I could redo the project, I would focus more on applying my artists references into my photobook, as I was really inspired by the layout of Raised by Wolves, yet my photobook displayed a completely different aesthetic, which I liked but was not satisfied with the outcome of the layout.