-A photo zine is a self-made, printed issue built of photos and captions. The term comes from the word “magazine”, as zines follow the style of magazines with headings, text, and illustrations put on a grid. An important feature of a photo zine is visual storytelling.

-A photography zine is a tool that photographers can use to tell a visual story, to inform an audience about a specific topic or issue, to showcase and advertise a new idea or simply create a preview of an ongoing project. 

Inspiration

Cover:

I like the idea of a colour theme (except I was thinking about using black and white. I also like the border to add detail and how it draws attention the small photograph in the middle. The small photograph causes the cover to be minimalistic and give a taste of the zine without revealing too much. I think this is something I will do for my own zine, however I would like to include a title.

Inside:

I like the use of blank space and how the photos don’t use up the entire page. However, I might use writing like quotes to slightly fill up the space without making it too crowded.

I think this is also a successful layout option as the slightly different image sizes look very effective.

Photos that fill up the entire page also look very good, the white border left around it drawing attention to the image in the middle. I will use this layout technique for some of my favourite images. Instead of the white background however, I will make it black.

I want my zine to be quite minimalistic and simple, with some bits of writing and pages with various layouts. I want my layout to be quite meaningful, arranging the photos using the composition of the photo itself (for example, positioning a photo of a person walking to the left of the image on the left side of the page). I want the reader to notice these small yet meaningful choices and how it ties all the photos together.

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words- People in St. Malo

• A sentence- Exploring the citizens of St. Malo and the tourists, as well as their environments

• A paragraph- The year 1960 marked the end of the 12 years it took to rebuild St. Malo, and ever since it has been a place overflowing with people- tourists and residents wondering its streets. St. Malo is a place for everyone, this was clear as soon as I walked in through the town’s entrance. The warm weather invited a lot of activity, the air filled with a welcoming atmosphere. People were everywhere, eating in restaurants, shopping, exploring the old town. It was difficult to focus on singular individuals, however, after supressing the initial excitement, I began to break the crowds of people up, noticing details. It was a fascinating experience, seeing how both couples and individuals enjoy themselves within the walls of St. Malo. I wanted my photos to be an exploration of people, taking into account the different moods that each person experienced. The idea of loneliness seems to be forgotten about within these walls, the contrast between groups of people, families, couples and individuals being interesting, especially since everyone appeared to be content, whether in others company or just their own.

What is a NARRATIVE?

A narrative is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional or fictional. Narratives can be presented through a sequence of written or spoken words, through still or moving images, or through any combination of these. Some see it as a recount of events, in a more artistic manner.

The word derives from the Latin verb narrare (to tell), which is derived from the adjective gnarus (knowing or skilled).

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

For my zine, I have selected photos that explore people and their surroundings. I think my photos are most effective in black and white, which is why I based my entire zine of these two shades. I will include some typography in my zine, using quotes from Henri Cartier- Bresson (my inspiration) and a short paragraph explaining my reasoning for my theme of photos, and the though that went in. Although most of the photos include people, I have also used a photo of graffiti, as I think it can be be a portrayal of the thoughts that people have. I will only be using real images of St. Malo, as for me AI generated images don’t provoke any feelings of nostalgia.

My zine is about the people, buildings, and history of St. Malo. I noticed after editing this images how the people were behaving, exploring together and learning about the history of the town as we were, peeking into small rooms inside the towers placed around the castle walls, looking over the wall at the vast ocean in front of them, fascinated by the views and exploring the maze of cobbled streets around them. I wanted to present the people as they were, going about their daily lives in the street, sat in a park with their dogs and children. As my inspiration for this trip was Cartier-Bresson’s street photography, I didn’t want to interrupt a single moment by stopping someone to ask for their photo or standing in the middle of the road; I wanted to blend in and catch people in a moment that portrays them naturally and uniquely. One of the subjects from my photographs that I’ve become primarily interested in was the man sat on the side of the street with his dog, a man I assume to be homeless. I feel that those images perfectly represent selfless behaviours that people often have whilst struggling for money or food – something that I relate to on a deeply personal level – these people don’t believe, or want to believe, that they’re suffering enough to not help another person or animal, especially one that they love and care for, much like the dog. I’ve noticed quite a lot that with homeless people or people on lower or no incomes that they truly give their all to support and provide for their loved ones over themselves, like how a parent should for their children, and it’s something that really strikes me when I see it.

I also focus on the architecture, both new and old, in the town, as I find the older-fashioned buildings to be something that seems quite reliable, created from stronger, longer-lasting materials that outlives the cheap, mass-produced materials often used in construction today. I captured images of the structures that really took my interest, such as the hotel in one of the photos I plan to use. I felt attracted to the building’s personality, it was something that felt quite homely to me as a welcoming place to stay that had stood the test of time, playing a small part in the lives of every guest that entered, providing them with a place to stay, eat, and recover from their day of travelling and exploration. Among my other images I found myself engrossed in the strong, geometric architecture created from thick stone bricks, encasing St. Malo and protecting it from the outside world. I’ve researched the town and learned about some of it’s history as practically a home base for privateers, government-sanctioned pirates that were permitted to plunder from foreign governments and ships they found on the seas, before sailing back to their safe haven, the small port town. The way the buildings are placed creates a sense of this, that it was a hideout for a lot of criminal activity, with cramped alleyways and large clumps of houses stuck together on every street. St. Malo was known for its incredible defense against attackers with its thick walls and battlements at various vantage points around the walls, which is a key reason for its destruction in WWII, when planes were commonly in use, and an easy bypass over the looming walls to bomb the town, taking a powerful stronghold from the French and allied troops.

I plan to create this narrative by starting with the architecture for a 400~ word segment before moving onto a two separate segments about tourists and the relationships between people and their loved ones.

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words
• People’s everyday lives.

• A sentence
• Documenting people’s lives in St Malo, whether that’s tourists or locals.

• A paragraph
• Documenting people’s lives in St Malo, whether that’s tourists or locals. Also documenting the streets of St Malo and what it’s like on a weekday, how busy the restaurants are, how many people are spending time in the IntraMuras and what people are doing, especially around lunchtime.

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

• Images > I will be using the images from our day trip to St Malo, including the ones I have edited using AI generators.

• Texts > Typography, words, street signs, graffiti..
• Lots of my images have some sort of graffiti on them, a name of a restaurant or bar or a street sign. The zine will have a title page and possibly some sub-headings throughout the zine, describing what the next part of it may be about.

‘I believe the photographic book is the best medium for photography. The ability to create impact by pairing, juxtaposing and sorting pictures into a flow in order to tell a story or instill an emotion in the viewer is unsurpassed by any other photographic medium. Having something tactile in your hands that you can keep and look at on your own terms is also very important. A zine is an accessible way for someone to create this object and they can take on many different forms – from a very DIY aesthetic to high end magazine print quality.‘ – James Moreton

How do I want my design to look and feel?

I want my photo zine to look well put together and interesting, I want the reader to feel like its been made with detail and with purpose. Rather than a random mix of photos put together with no meaning or concept.

Format, size and orientation

My zine will be a normal size, however the photos will be different sizes depending on what suits it most.

Narrative and Visual concept

The narrative is that my zine shows different people/ tourists in St Malo, and the pictures capture what they are doing and how they are using their time. It ranges from pictures of families, single parents with their children, couples, the elderly and just people on their own as well. I think its interesting to see and observe these type of things especially as St Malo is known for its tourists, and considering I went there as a tourist to photograph the town I thought this particular concept/ narrative suited most. Also after looking and organising through all my images it came clear that this was the best option instead of randomly putting together some pictures with absolutely no story or coordination at all.

What is a narrative?

Narrative photography is the idea that photographs can be used to tell a story. Allen Feldman stated that “the event is not what happens. The event is that which can be narrated”.

Linking this to the St Malo trip I am creating a photo zine which I hope gives a narrative of the trip.

THREE WORDS

My zine will be called: St Malo Tourists

This is because all my images will show a story and selection of different tourists all different ages and what activities they have been captured doing whilst we were on the day trip. This can also link to nostalgia as i have captured certain moments in my pictures which would be nostalgic for the people in the pictures… as I’m photographing a ‘memory’.

HOW WILL I TELL MY STORY?

To easily lead my story i will have sentences/ titles on most pages to show the clear separation in which tourists are doing what. For example all the images of old tourists/ people will be on one page, this goes the same for children, teenagers etc..

Narrative is constructed when you begin to create relationships between images (and/or text) and present more than two images together. Your selection of images (editing) and the order of how these images appear on the pages (sequencing) contributes significantly to the construction of the narrative. So too, does the structure and design of the photo-zine. However, it is essential that you identity what your story is first before considering how you wish to tell it.

MOODBOARD:

SIZE OF ZINE:

InDesign
Create new document
width: 148mm
height: 210
pages: 16
orientation: portrait
columns:2
column gutter: 5mm
margins: top, bottom, inside, outside: 10mm
bleed: top, bottom, inside, outside: 3mm

RESEARCH:

FURTHER READING: Something Tactile: Why Photographers Should Create Zines

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO MAKE A ZINE?

Creating a zine allows you to express your photography in a different way. The ability to create something so impactful by the composition, juxtaposition, and sorting of images to allow the flow of the story creates a different emotion and understanding in the photographer and the audience. A zine also allows something that is hand-held and physically in your hand that you are able to see; and not through a computer or electronic device. A zine allows people to engage socially and express feelings about their opinions with each other.

WHAT’S THE CREATION PROCESS LIKE? WHAT BIG QUESTIONS GO THROUGH YOUR HEAD AS YOU’RE EDITING AND PUTTING STUFF TOGETHER?

The creation process, personally is the most stressful. While you are placing your images you are trying to create a zine that looks aesthetic and the pairing of images and the flow images in a sequence is crucial. This is because if two images do not work together then the message and the flow is broken; however if you put two good images together is can make a powerful combination and transform the whole page. During the creation process I tried to create a well place, clean zine as far as I created a sequence in pages for it to flow smoothly.

DO YOU FEEL THE EFFORT IS WORTH IT? HOW DO YOU MAKE IT WORTH IT?

You make it worth it by creating a zine you are 100% happy with and proud of. By putting in the effort you are able to create something that is worth it; you need to put both aspects in otherwise then it will be pointless and you wont be happy with the result.

Editions Bessard is a paris-based independent publishing house created by pierre bessard in 2011. Focusing on working with artists, writers and curators to realise intellectually challenging projects in book form:

ANALYSIS:

• How you want your design to look and feel
• Format, size and orientation
• Narrative and visual concept
• Design and layout
• Rhythm and sequencing
• Images and text
• Title and captions

WHEN YOU THOUGHT ABOUT MAKING ONE, WHAT WAS MOSTLY IN YOUR HEAD FOR HOW YOU ENVISIONED IT AND WANTED IT TO LOOK, FEEL, ETC? WHAT DID YOU WANT IT TO BE ABOUT? – Question taken from ‘Why photographers should create zines’

When created the zine I already had an idea of the title which was ‘Bonjour St Malo.’ This title was inspired when I was making my double page spread for a different magazine; however I believe it fits with the requirements for this current zine as using the French language gives further connotations of the St Malo trip. By using the French exclamation ‘Bonjour’ it gives a sense of nostalgia to my zine bringing back the native language. My main idea for this zine was to use images which best describe the tourism of St. Malo; therefore instead of adding text I used images that showed in a visual format what I would be expressing in words. The sizing of images are all the same as I kept the style of the layout sequenced through my zine as I was trying to created a clean polished look. By using a clean design and layout is keeps the magazine more composed and organised. In the design of my zine I used a range of different orientations of my images (portrait and landscape) this so my zine would have more of a diverse image range and create different formats in the zine. I decided not to add any text or captions, this is so the images can speak for themselves.

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

3 WORDS:

St Malo Streets.

A SENTENCE:

A school trip to St Malo exploring the walled city.

A PARAGRAPH:

The story behind my zine is based on our school trip to St Malo, France. We too the boat to France in the morning where we walked into the walled city of St Malo and explored the area while experiencing and embracing the French culture. The images picked out for the zine, I believe have captured the French culture really well.

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

I am going to lay my images out in a way which creates a sequence so every image next to each other will have a similarity or be linked to one another.

What is a narrative?

A narrative, is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional or fictional. Narratives can be presented through a sequence of written or spoken words, through still or moving images, or through any combination of these.

To create more nostalgia, I was going to add in one archival image into my zine however, while experimenting in InDesign i decided not to include the archival image as it did not fit in with the rest of my images and it looked quite random.

Focus and Depth of Field: The focus is used to direct and prioritise elements in a shot and therefore prioritising certain information. It will determine who the audience should look at (even if we are not listening to them). It may switch the focus (known as a pull focus / rack focus / follow focus) between one element and another. Remember that the elements may not be people, but could be objects, spaces, shapes or colours, which may represent an idea, theme, belief etc.

Editing is the process of manipulating and adapting separate images into a continuous piece of moving image. This is used to develop the characters, themes, spaces and ideas through a series of events, interactions and occurrences. It is often linear and sequential and moving image products usually position the audience into a particular moment to leave them at an equally unresolved moment.

One of the basic rules in editing is not showing everything literally and just enough information to provide ideas and suggestions for your audience to develop empathy and a sense of involvement with the characters, themes, setting, plot. What you leave out known as ellipsis and is just as important as what you put in. The ideas of space/size/scale are really important, because it is necessary to frame your shots with appropriate SIZE AND SCALE and also trim shots so that they are not too long e.g. creating the appropriate SPACE for ideas, characters, themes, the plot etc to develop.

The Shot / Reverse Shot. The basic sequence runs from a wide angle master shot that is at a 90′ angle to two characters. This sets up the visual space for filming separate close-ups, that facing each other having a conversation. The shots are usually over the shoulder. Firstly, they include both characters – which are called EXTERNAL REVERSES. As the drama increases, the framing of each shot then excludes the back of the head of the other character and moves in to a much closer over the shoulder shot – which are called INTERNAL REVERSES.

Looking directly at the camera creates a very different relationship between the characters and the audience and is a technique that is only used for specific techniques / genres / film-makers.

Shot progression usually involves the following shots. The use of these shots allow the audience to understand SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS between locations, people, movements etc. The length of shot will determine the drama, empathy, theme etc. The choice of how to sequence each shot will determine the AESTHETIC QUALITY of the product. The next sequence will then follow a similar pattern, which again allows the audience to understand concepts such as SPACE, TIME, DISTANCE, MOVEMENT, MOTIVATION, PLOT, THEME etc.

• establishing shot / ES, moving to
• wide shot / WS,
• to medium shot / MS,
• to close up / CU,
• to big close up / BCU;
• and then back out again

• parallel editing: two events editing together – so that they may be happening at the same time, or not?
• flashback / flash-forward – allowing time to shift
• montage – a series of independent and perhaps unconnected shots to be edited together

Continuity editing can be seen as the opposite of montage editing as the main aim is to create a sense of realism or ‘believability’ known as verisimilitude and has it’s own structure of rules where shots are edited together at particular times or on particular shots. For example:

• match on action
• eye-line match
• graphic match
• sound bridge
• 30′ rule
• 180′ rule