Beyond Here Is Nothing:

Who is the photographer? The book is made by Laura El-tantawy

• Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

The book is created in a very unique way and has a a very different way of opening it. The cover of the book smells like a normal hardback book with the pages having a slight odd smell.

• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

The images contained in the book are all displayed in colour with many different vibrant reds / oranges.

• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

Most of the images are presented on small pieces of squared paper in a portraiture layout. Each section of the book contains 30 pages adding up to a total of 90 pages.

• Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello

The book is a hardcover that folds over to create a unique style and divide the 3 sections of images

• Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping

The images throughout seem to be printed rather than any other methods

• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

The book seems to portray a poetic style through the use of images not having much meaning but rather shown aesthetically

• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

The story involved is told through the different range of distorted images. Also, in each section there is a few pages stating the topic of images with a poetic story on the other side

• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.

The design of the book constructs a narrative of different weather moods throughout each section

• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

All images in the book are spread out to cover a full single page on each side. It involves inserts of 30 images in different sections of the book that fold-out to be displayed

• Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

The book is edited in a way to make the viewer want to carry on scrolling due to the unique style of images and layout

• Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.)

The book displays around 3 pages in each section giving a 1 word description of what is coming up next and a poetic story that doesn’t have too much meaning

UNDERSTANDING PHOTOBOOKS: