For my first shoot I decided to focus on more modern buildings and an odd couple old ones that I found. All of these images are out east between Gorey and and Fauvic. I have imported them into Lightroom Classis and I am going to make a selection of my best ones and adjust them to get the perfect lighting and make sure they are all straight. Once I have done that I am going to begin to think about the layout for my photobook. and start placing images where I want them.
contact sheets:
I then made my first selection using X and P to pick or reject my image that I liked or thought that were my best ones as I had lots of similar images to ensure I made the perfect one.
second selection
final selection:
I then began to adjust my images that I selected until I was happy with themfinally I began having a look at what layout I might put the images in, however, I do have multiple other shoots to adjust and add in too.
In this page you can see a blank page with a portrait image, in this portrait image you can see me auntie and grandad cooking in the kitchen, which sets the scene in the photobook. The kitchen holds many memories so this image at the start of the book can be described as an establishing shot for the photobook. Having these images in black and white further reinforces this idea of nostalgia and memories, furthermore having people from an older generation in this image works with the images of black and white since most of their images during that time would be in black and white.
In this image you can see the pattern of alternating portraits and landscapes, since this is the next image in the photobook sequence. In this image you are able to see two sisters and one of her daughters (the middle and the right) which also shows this idea of two generations in one photo. This image has a good composition with girls in the middle and all smiling, even though this photograph was staged it gives a really authentic emotion to the image. All of the girls smiling shows the happy atmosphere during the party which connotes the idea that family can bring happiness during a big family celebration.
In this image further in the boom starts to show the second topic in the photobook, typologies with houses. This typology are photos of all the house I’ve lived in, total of 13, which later in the book will be shown in a typology grid. This singular black and white images hold lots of memories, and houses hold many memories for lots of people. You are able to feel the sense of nostalgia when looking at these images as you reminisce over the memories you hold in that particular house.
In this double page you can see a typology grid, presenting houses. These pages can be found in the middle of the book which highlights core memories. These pages are possibly the most important images within the photobook as it shows my life through houses. The placement of the images is also important as it shows a timeline of houses in the order I lived in them.
Documenting my duel-nationality, in the form of typologies.
A paragraph
The documentation of my duel-nationality through the juxtaposition of my family in Poland and Jersey. By documenting my personal emotion of nostalgia through my memories of landscape’s I will present my images in the form of typologies. Furthermore, by taking images of my family members, I can express my identity through the portraitures of my family and how it influences my sense of nostalgia.
Design: Consider the following
How you want your book to look and feel
Paper and ink
Format, size and orientation
Binding and cover
Title
Structure and architecture
Design and layout
Editing and sequencing
Images and text
DESIGN OF PHOTOBOOK:
I want my book to look organised and have a calm aesthetic. I will achieve this by editing all my images in black and white with the same adjustments. In order of the layout I will leave the left page blank and right page with an image, this will keep the photobook well structed and less chaotic with a number of images. However in the middle of my book I will create a typology grid, inspired by the Becher’s, with images of houses. The structure of this images will be the same with it either being a straight mid shot, or a slight angle shot of the houses, this is so that in the grid the sequence works. For the title of my book I will name it ‘Untitled’ this is so it can challenge the stereotypical idea of naming a book something cliché, however it also suggests the photobook can be interpreted however the reader might understand it which gives this sense of ambiguity. The cover of my book will not be an image included in the book, it will be a simple oat coloured material that binds it together, this will further create mystery while also keeping the aesthetic of the book. Since most of my images are landscape the orientation of the book will be landscape however to add some shape into the book, I will be alternating between landscape and portrait images.
SCREENGRABS OF A FEW PAGES OF PHOTOBOOK; UNFINISHED:
3 words – Displacement, maturing, self-exploration
Sentence – Following my personal growth as I search for a place and people that I can call home, whilst figuring out my own place in the world.
Paragraph – A narrated account of my own search for a place to call home and the people that I met whilst doing so. It’s a documentation of my own travels contrasted with the dullness of being stuck living in one very small place, and my desire to be anywhere else.
Design
– Photobook Press
For the book itself I want to use a hardcover with some kind of imagery that’s used as a motif. I want the book to feel more like a personal album than anything else, although it might be difficult to replicate that.
I’m not too sure on the type of paper or ink that I want to use, but I think a matte finish on the pages would suit it better as opposed to something glossier.
I don’t want the book to be too big either, but I want it to be more landscape-oriented as I will then have room to place some double page spreads with landscape images and space for a few diptychs or triptychs with portrait images, and maybe some negative space to write around or even on the photographs.
For my book’s title, I have a few ideas, but it’s something I’ll have to decide as the book develops. The first title I thought of is “Days Gone By“, as it reflects the nostalgic element of the book and the growing struggles within my own life. Secondly, my other title idea is “Finding Home“, as I feel that that is my goal within the self-searching and displacement within the book, and it feels more topical.
– Jim Goldberg, Raised by Wolves
I want the editing of my photos to follow a more linear narrative, presenting my movements back and forth from place to place, as I also feel it might show more development in my technical skills within each image, as some date back to as early as 2021. Additionally, like Jim Goldberg’s “Raised by Wolves“, I want to insert handwritten text onto most of the pages and imagery, that provides context to push the narrative forward, without giving every detail. To do this, I want to write in an extremely blunt manner, using only lowercase letters and relatively short sentences.
This is a second photoshoot I did in Madeira. This was loosely planned as I just intended on capturing photographs of whatever caught my eye/I thought was significant, opposed to having a set idea of what to photograph. I took pictures of the area around my grandparents’ house on walks, the town nearby, also some touristy spots like the pools of Porto Moniz.
SELECTION PROCESS
RATING CODE:
RED – Bad quality images
YELLOW – Average images
GREEN – Good images
BLUE – Best outcomes which I can use for the photobook
“My only agenda is to bring attention to otherwise ignored and shunned lives.” -Jim Goldberg
Young people are the future of our societies, and our world. Before they can fully thrive and grow to both replace and exceed the work their ancestors dedicated their lives to, positive, nurturing environments must first be fostered. In order for this to happen, countless laws have been established across the world to protect and support young children, but, try as they might, plenty still fall through the cracks and are left to fend for themselves. As a result of this, general ideologies and attitudes toward young people shift among older generations, garnering them a negative reputation that can sometimes stop them from looking for the help that they need, and only worsening the problem. Photographers such as Jim Goldberg and Mike Brodie challenge this representation, providing them with a platform to where they can tell their own stories and be represented more fairly, and so that they can be understood. In this essay, I will discuss how both these artists portray young people, and how I find myself relating to it from my own experiences.
Jim Goldberg’s 1995 photobook, “Raised by Wolves”, is a compilation of various mixed media, including handwritten notes, transcripts of conversations, drawings, and photographs composed over the course of a decade. Through these different mediums, Goldberg builds a collage of fragments of his subject’s lives and experiences, revealing their dreams, behaviours and struggles piece by piece. A particular narrative focus of the book is the relationship between “Tweeky Dave” and “Echo”, two runaways living on the streets of California, which Goldberg intimately captures through each page. Despite this, Goldberg himself considers the project a “work of narrative fiction” as opposed to photojournalism, as he often had found that some of the people he’d met had lied about their backgrounds or lives in some way or another, dubbing them more as “half-truths”. He portrays the unforgiving reality of mental health and drug abuse in these characters lives, a global issue that is still growing today even in the UK, with a reported approximately 3.1 million people using some form of banned substance in the last twelve months (March 2023), and roughly 1.1 million people using class A drugs.
Jim Goldberg – Raised by Wolves
In the above image, a page taken from Goldberg’s photobook, two images of a young man’s teeth and his stomach with his shirt lifted up are shown, with some handwritten text in the negative space. The man’s teeth look to be jagged and in poor health, his stomach bears a large scar rising from below his jeans to his lower chest, and his clothing resembles that of the punk subculture, from the denim jacket, the jeans, the effigy of a middle finger attached to his belt loop, and what little can be seen of his t-shirt, that seems to represent a band. The writing can be assumed to belong to the man depicted in the imagery, stating, “I’m Dave who the fuck are you” and “You need me 2 feel superior I need you 2 laugh at”. Immediately from these given context clues, it’s understood that Dave has grown up in poor circumstances that seem to have left him both physically and mentally scarred, suggested by his cynical attitude in the provided text and the accompanying imagery. In the photographs themselves, the composition is entirely focused on the man. In the image of his teeth, Dave can be seen grinning, whilst the background is completely unfocused and unintelligible. His lips have black marks on them, potentially from a habit of picking them or as a result of a fight on the streets. His skin appears dry and flaky, which could result from both poor skin care and sun overexposure, and his teeth are chipped and seem to be decaying heavily. Dave’s mouth is centred in the composition, taken from a 45-degree angle, creating more shadows and adding depth to his features. In the second image, he stands with his hands on his hips, suggesting his confidence as a person despite his struggles, proudly displaying his scar almost like a badge of honour. This displays the brutal abuse and neglect Dave has faced over the course of his life, but also suggests that he takes pride in his ability to survive these horrors. His excessive use of personal language – such as “I’m” “me” “I” – in his handwriting featured on the page hints to his feeling alone in his survival, feeling ostracised and isolated by others for one reason or another; despite knowing and being around others in similar situations.
Jim Goldberg – Raised by Wolves
“I wasn’t satisfied with just being this young punk kid roaming aimlessly taking pretty pictures.” – Mike Brodie
Mike Brodie’s 2013 photobook, “A Period of Juvenile Prosperity”, follows his own raw experience of train-hopping across the United States in his youth, meeting other runaways that had a similar burning desire to find themselves and be free. Brodie’s execution of this focuses almost entirely on brief moments of intense emotion and intimacy that are entirely up to the viewer’s own interpretation. The rawness that emanates from his imagery derives from his then-inexperienced eye for photography; Brodie had no concern for composition, just a need to capture his experiences as they were, a factor often missing from professional photography.
Brodie captures a first-hand desire for freedom that presents itself unmatched to other photographers; his experience was his life, not just a small part of it that he could leave behind – his representation of youth was also a representation of himself. Brodie states himself in his photobook that he was a victim of neglect and childhood abuse, which is what aligns him with these people who themselves feel outcasted. In the above photograph, Brodie presents an intimate scene of two young people sleeping together on a pile of cardboard, inside sleeping bags. The right-hand side of the composition behaves as the focal point, where the two people lie in the sleeping bags and a pile of clothes, whilst the left-hand side shows loose electrical wires, some sort of electrical appliance, a pair of shoes and various other junk, and a dirty floor peering from the cardboard. The people depicted bear resemblance to cosmetic features from the punk subculture, particularly through their short hairstyles and jewellery. The composition leaves a large central portion of the image as negative space where the cardboard sits, bringing attention to the outer thirds of the image, which then brings a viewer’s eyes toward the right-hand side where the people lie through the more diverse colour palette as opposed to the left side. Overall, the image holds a moving sense of humanity as it displays a tender moment between two people that society often look over and ignore, whether it’s a beggar on the street or a younger person acting out as a result of poor living conditions, which is something that I feel could be the cause for the level of attention that was brought to Brodie’s photobook when it was first published.
Whilst the two photographers represent these ignored youths similarly, their methods of doing so differ. Goldberg takes more of a perspective of an ‘outsider’, despite being involved with some of his subjects’ lives – it’s a world he hasn’t personally been part of, although he’s witnessed and become intertwined with it, ‘Raised by Wolves’ doesn’t capture the essence of being a runaway in the same way, being an ‘insider’ that Brodie does through his close behavioural relation to the people he photographs. From my own experience, I find myself more associated with the attitude of transience presented in ‘A Period of Juvenile Prosperity’, simply because its more representative of how I saw the world at the time and how my situation was; it felt more as though I was looking for something somewhere. Goldberg’s use of an established narrative works to create deep connections between his audience and his subjects using different forms of media, whereas Brodie’s approach of an open-ended catalogue of memories leaves it to a viewer to develop both their own story and connection to each image, whilst truly showing the humanity behind most of his subjects.
In conclusion, both photographers establish a sense of empathy between the audience and the troubled youths that they photograph, and both attempt to reveal the humanity behind the people that are often shunned and outcasted for their poor circumstances and inability to properly respond in ways that others can easily interpret and understand.
Bibliography
Goldberg, J. (2016), Raised by Wolves. Zurich: Scalo
Brodie, M. (2013), A Period of Juvenile Prosperity. Santa Fe: Twin Palms Publishers
Using innovative techniques, photographer Blossfeldt produced arresting images of seed pods, buds, stems, and other botanical items. This spectacular collection features scores of his remarkable photographs of plant life, offering artists and craftspeople a treasury of royalty-free pictures and design inspirations.
Blossfeldt became fascinated with nature and nature object. He became interested in the structure behind beautiful forms, this led to his ground breaking collection of thousands of photographs of natural forms, which then he created the book ‘Art forms in Nature‘.
‘Art forms in Nature’ can be described as nature writing. Since Blossfeldt’s photography consists of some 6,000 photographs of plants and segments it shows that his intention and main aspect in the book is about nature. Through his nature photography he is able to document natures structures, and create abstract art. The aesthetics of Blossfeld’s photos, lies between New Objectivity and Surrealism, especially while reviewing over their historical context.
1. aims to revolutionise human experience. It balances a rational vision of life with one that asserts the power of the unconscious and dreams. The movement’s artists find magic and strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny, the disregarded and the unconventional.
2. is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas.
IMAGES INCLUDED IN THE BOOK:
HOW DID BLOSSFELDT MAKE HIS IMAGES:
Blossfeldt chose to depict natural objects in extreme close ups. Using his homemade camera he could zoom in so close to a plant’s leaves and stem that, unlike any photographs of natural objects seen before, they became new beings entirely. Blossfeldt developed a series of home-made camera lenses that allowed him to magnify his plant subjects by thirty times, producing unprecedented detail.
Blossfeldt was one of the first photographers to manufacture his own unique camera. His camera was made of wood and had one metre long bellows. In the 1930s the photographs he produced with it were just as unique as the homemade contraption itself. Blossfeldt chose to depict natural objects in extreme close ups
Photos Souvenirs is an exploration of Bénitah’s memories from her childhood in Morocco and was worked on between 2009 and 2014. This series is made up of old family achieves, which she manipulates by threading beads and embroidering designs relating to her feelings towards each photographic memories. She calls the photos she finds “excavations”, and she starts by transposing them onto new paper. She mostly uses red thread and beads, but some of her pieces also include gold and black coloured material. They add a shine to her photos, and each design holds significance. She sometimes even manipulates the photos in a more destructive way, cutting out individuals and placing them elsewhere.
Growing up in a traditional Moroccan household, Bénitah was expected to do many typically- feminine tasks. The embroidery she adds to the achieves hold a lot of significance, portraying how she was taught to sew as a girl, and was expected to continue the activity for her entire life. She uses this to portray her distaste of being a good girl, a good wife and a loving mother. Embroidery in itself is a calm activity, however, Bénitah uses it to show her anger and other strong emotions. I think she made it to deal with her past but also to show others how not every picture is truthful.
The Design
The book is around the size of an A4 (21cm x 24cm), with thick coloured paper. The start and end pages of the book are yellow black and red, however the rest of the pages are white, the only colour being the pictures. The outside of the book is a hardcover and shows a snapshot of Benitah’s past with red glitter appearing to slide down the page. It has 112 pages and 53 photos featured inside. The title is quite literal and relevant to her project, Photos Souvenirs indicating quite literally what the photos inside feature. The is one photo per page, in different positions around the two pages, some being directly printed across both pages. There is not much writing in the book except at the end, the photos telling the entire story of her life. The photos are all in chronological order, from when she was very young to her and her family as adults/ elders. Most of the pictures are embroidered with red, gold or black thread (some also including other media), the designs adding a new meaning to each photograph. The photos don’t have captions, however a glossary at the back provides the viewer with the name of each photo both in English and French. A short statement, written by Benitah in English and French, is on one of the last pages of the photobook, printed in white on a black page. It gives a short insight on the production of the book, and her thoughts behind it. There are 250 copies of the special edition that includes 6 embroidered prints.
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.
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.)
On this site
On this site is a photobook which references historical events in America, showing us what they look like now as well as a small information panel beside it, telling us what precisely happened. I would describe the genre of this photobook as more landscape photography as Sternfeld’s images are all of locations, excluding any people.
The book feels smooth, with the inside of the cover having a cardboard texture, while some of the images have a rougher texture to them. The writing within the book is all done in black while the cover is all done in white. Majority of the images within are kept in colour, allowing the viewer to see more details that could otherwise be missed. The binding is a dust jacket, showcasing a sage almost army green making it link to important events.
The title ‘on this site’ is more literal than poetic due to the entire photobook being about different sites/ locations where tragedies occurred. In my opinion, the text size is purposefully kept small as to not draw too much attention away from the photograph, similarly, I think this is the same reason that Sternfeld decided to keep the text to the bottom of a blank page.
I think that the images were not edited and if they were it would only be to increase the contrast to make them more dramatic. The images are most definitely linked to the text as the text is more so information about the images themselves.
