“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.

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.

“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

A Completely True Work of Fiction: Jim Goldberg’s Raised by Wolves – Magnum Photos, May 5 2018 – https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/art/jim-goldberg-raised-by-wolves/ [Accessed 20/01/2024]

Drug Misuse in England and Wales: Year Ending March 2023 – Office for National Statistics, December 14 2023 – https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/drugmisuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2023#:~:text=In%20the%20year%20ending%20March,(around%201.1%20million%20people). [Accessed 18/01/2024]

‘I am the witness and the subject’: Magnum Photographer Jim Goldberg on telling his own story – Sean O’Hagan, The Guardian, October 1 2023 – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/01/jim-goldberg-magnum-photographer-coming-and-going-book-raised-by-wolves-interview [Accessed 11/01/2024]

Interview with Mike Brodie – Katherine Oktober Matthews, oktoberNIGHT, February 28 2015 – https://oktobernight.com/2015/02/interview-mike-brodie/ [Accessed 11/01/2024]

Mike Brodie’s “A Period of Juvenile Prosperity” – Jessie Wender, The New Yorker, January 28 2013 – https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/mike-brodies-a-period-of-juvenile-prosperity#:~:text=His%20images—of%20trains%20with,TBW%20Books%2C%20on%20March%201st. [Accessed 20/01/2024]

Raised by Wolves: A Conversation with Jim Goldberg – Fellowship, January 7 2023 – https://fellowship.xyz/journal/raised-by-wolves-a-conversation-with-jim-goldberg/ [Accessed 11/01/2024]

Q&A with Mike Brodie – Blake Andrews, BlogSpot, October 26 2023 – https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2023/10/q-with-mike-brodie.html [Accessed 16/01/2024]

Statutory Homelessness in England: April to June 2023 – Gov UK, November 30 2023 – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-april-to-june-2023 [Accessed 18/01/2024]

Contact sheet

Unedited images

PHOTOBOOK: ART FORMS IN NATURE – KARL BLOSSFELDT

RESEARCHING THE PHOTOBOOK:

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.

NEW OBJECTIVITY –

was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism.

SURREALISM –

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- Carolle Bénitah

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.

Task

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.)

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.

Mitch Epstein

Bio

Mitchell Epstein (born 1952) is an American photographer. His books include Vietnam: A Book of Changes (1997); Family Business (2003), which won the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award; Recreation: American Photographs 1973–1988 (2005); Mitch Epstein: Work (2006); American Power (2009); Berlin (2011); New York Arbor (2013); Rocks and Clouds (2018); Sunshine Hotel (2019); In India (2021); and Property Rights (2021). By the mid-1970s, Epstein had abandoned his academic studies and begun to travel, embarking on a photographic exploration of the United States. Ten of the photographs he made during this period were in a 1977 group exhibition at Light Gallery in New York. In 1999, Epstein returned to his hometown of Holyoke, Massachusetts, to record the demise of his father’s two businesses—a retail furniture store and a low-rent real estate empire. The resulting project assembled large-format photographs, video, archival materials, interviews and writing by Epstein, the book, Family Business, combined all of these elements.

His Work

As I can’t go over all of his projects, I will go through my personal favourites:

1. Family Business

In the summer of 1999 a couple of bored teenagers set fire to a disused building in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Epstein’s father was the owner and was ruined in the ensuing law suits. Mitch has recreated his father’s universe before it was destroyed in a series of images, both electronic and book-based.

I will be using this book as my main form of inspiration, Epstein discusses his father’s family business and what he does, using stills from interviews, archival material and more. I would like to involve all of these things but if not all then most as I myself am talking about a family business.

2. The City

Having lived and travelled beyond the United States for over a decade, Epstein began to spend more time in New York City. His 1999 series The City investigated the relationship between public and private life in New York. 

I am not planning to use this project during my personal study but I like how he explores and photographs normal people in their everyday lives.

This is my first photoshoot for the ‘Nostalgia’ project. My plan for this photoshoot was to document my grandparents’ home in Madeira. This was mostly pictures of objects around the house, landscapes inside the house and views from the balcony, as well as a couple portraits of my nana.

SELECTION PROCESS

RATING CODE:

RED – Bad quality images

YELLOW – Average images

GREEN – Good images

BLUE – Best outcomes which I can use for the photobook

EDITING PROCESS

These are some screen grabs of my editing process in Lightroom. It shows the before vs. after of some images from the photoshoot.

PHOTOSHOOT OUTCOMES

1. Research a photo-book –

‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’ – Julian Germain

Overview

In a series of photographs made over eight years, Julian Germain captured the quiet, contemplative existence of an old man living alone in a small house in a city on the south coast of England.

‘I met Charles Albert Lucien Snelling on a Saturday in April, 1992. He lived in a typical two up two down terraced house amongst many other two up two down terraced houses… It was yellow and orange. In that respect it was totally different from every other house on the street. Charlie was a simple, gentle, man. He loved flowers and the names of flowers. He loved colour and surrounded himself with colour. He loved his wife. Without ever trying or intending to, he showed me that the most important things in life cost nothing at all. He was my antidote to modern living.’ – Julian Germain

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness was first published in 2005, selling out soon after its release; Germain’s affectionate portrait of Charles is now in its third edition, the success of this photobook is evident, genuine and unique image making may be the cause of this success. Elements of tableaux/documentary photography are seen throughout, along with the use of family archives in the form of a photobook as seen below.

2. Who is the photographer?

Julian Germain was born in London in 1962. He studied at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham and the Royal College of Art, London.

As a photographer, Germain is interested in the documentation of diverse social groups and in the notion of the amateur. He often utilises vernacular photographs, collected from archives, catalogues and family albums, lending his work an anthropological quality and indeed it can be seen to reflect on photography’s place in society as well as record the passage of time.

3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design –

• Book in hand: how does it feel? Cover has a rough texture, inside pages are smooth/glossy

• Paper and ink: Use of coloured Images throughout along with grainy/vintage style archived images

• Format, size and orientation: Portrait/235 × 280 mm 80 pages 42 colour plates

• Cover: Hard cover/graphic

• Title: Poetic/quote – For Every Minute You Are Angry, You Lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Narrative: A series of photographs made over eight years, Julian Germain captured the quiet, contemplative existence of an old man living alone in a small house in a city on the south coast of England.

• Design and layout: Pages consist of single image/page layout, minimalistic. Double-spread/archive images

• Editing and sequencing: Effective selection of images/tell us a story

• Images and text: Imagery/ text are linked, text gives us deeper understanding of the narrative –

“I met Charles Albert Lucien Snelling on a Saturday in April, 1992. He lived in a typical two up two down terraced house amongst many other typical two up two down terraced houses, close to Fratton Park, the Portsmouth football ground. I was on my way there to photograph the Portsmouth v Nottingham Forest cup – tie, when I noticed Charlie’s house. It was yellow and orange. In that respect it was totally different from every other house on the street.

Mildly interested and with plenty of time to spare, I crossed the road to have a closer look and discovered that this was actually a kind of shop. In the large front bay window there were a few plants on sale for unusual prices; for example 57p or 34p or 83p. I went inside and there I found some more plants and fiowers sitting in plastic pots on a table covered with newspaper. The bottom half of the walls were wood panelled and painted bright yellow; above that they were decorated, probably in the 1970’s, with a bold paisley / floral style wallpaper.

Charlie appeared; quietly spoken, elderly, polite. He told me what the various flora were and said that yes, he would be happy to put some to one side for me until after the match. We talked for a while and then I asked if he would mind looking after my camera tripod, since I had decided I wouldn’t be using it at the game. He took me through to his living room and showed me where he would put it, ‘just to be safe’

On the walls of this equally brightly decorated room there were numerous photographs of a lady I immediately understood was his wife. I said I thought they were lovely pictures and he told me that Betty had died, ‘a few years ago now.

After the match Charlie gave me tea, a sandwich and some biscuits. He showed me some more photo’s in an album and said he wouldn’t mind when I asked if I could take his picture. A week or so later I sent him the prints and a letter asking if it would be alright to come and visit him again. That is how our friendship started.

Charlie was a simple, gentle, man. He loved flowers and the names of flowers. He loved colour and surrounded himself with colour. He loved his wife. He seemed totally unambitious; all he wanted was for his children to be happy.

Occasionally he would ask if I’d like to listen to some music and then he might play, for example, just three songs from a Nat King Cole LP; but we would really listen to them. Music was never something to have on in the background. He loved words and had the most well thumbed dictionary I have ever seen. He did the Daily Mirror crossword every day. He was not a thinker, but he wondered. I bought him an atlas and he studied it in such detail, amazed by the world. Without ever trying or intending to, he showed me that the most important things in life cost nothing at all. He was my antidote to modern living.”

Sans Limites- Theo Gosselin

 ‘Theo Gosselin presents a glimpse of a life beyond boundaries’

The photobook is am deconstructing is Sans Limites. The book by Theo Gosselin explores the free world of runaway people in mostly landscape forms. 

 The result of the photographer´s most recent road trips across the US, Spain, Scotland and native France, Sans Limites presents a significant evolution of Gosselin´s long term project; photography sur le motif (“of the object(s) or what the eye actually sees”) and his attempt to communicate the actual visual conditions seen at the time of the photographing.

Throughout the book we are exposed to images mostly from midday to dusk; this may signify the freedom to adventure anywhere and everywhere. Deliberately cinematic, Gosselin’s photography reveals friends in the act of escaping from their regular lives into newly enticing and perilous modes of existence, ever in search of the persistent though elusive idea of freedom.

As the viewer you can see this from the mixture of staged and candid photos of people in environments like the woods, lakes forests, in nature in general. Images of people being playful in lakes, running around; also images from inside cars. This implies running away, being on a journey. The Genre is documentary, recording real life events with photos. Freedom is a flowing motive throughout the book, as within the runaways in these images, they seem to have a sense of happiness and excitement in them.

Sans Limites is a portrait shaped book with landscape images in it. Some of the images spread across a whole two pages, others just using the one. I like this as it adds some contrast to the book, not all the pages are the same, its creative and more interesting to look at as the viewer.

I want to focus my project on isolation and the disconnection with my life on jersey as I have a lot of nostalgia for places I lived before. After moving from Scotland where I had lived my entire life, I found it difficult to adjust to the smaller space with sufficiently more people. Nostalgia to me has always been attached to places and people, and the memories I have from them, this project is focused on the loss of home and comfortable space and the small joys from having something familiar. I want to make a photobook that focuses on this theme of isolation and nostalgia by creating landscapes, still life, and self portrait.

Compiling all of my images into a Photobook would allow the viewer to have something physical to hold and look through, it would also allow me to place my images in an intended order to create a loose through narrative. I want to use different photomanipulation techniques such as stitching inspired by the work of Carolle Benitah who uses it to show estrangement and isolation in her family throughout her childhood. I also admire the aesthetic value that Laura Letinski achieves in her work especially the way she photographs still life and colour grades her images it gives them an almost clinical feeling which I think would hand itself well to my project based around isolating experiences. A main inspiration for this project is Francesca Woodman. specifically herself portraits. I wanted to lean into self portraits for this project as I think being photographed typically makes me uncomfortable, self portraiture seems the best way to convey this discomfort I’ve had with changes to the environment around me.

I plan to shoot mostly outside as I want to capture the natural landscape specifically the ocean as with Jersey being an island you can not easily leave without a boat or flying, I plan to take these images early in the morning to get a slightly subdued light on a more overcast day. For objectivity and self-portrait I want to stage the images for the best result, I want to create self portraits from both the way Francesca Woodman would use a slow shutter speed to obscure her images and Carolle Benitah’s addition of stitching and lettering to create a more unconventional image. I want attempt to collage some images and draw over the top of them using both physical paints and photoshop. Within the book intend to have the images with little accompanying text as I think it better shifts attention to the images which I intend to have merged and manipulated with letters from family and other meaningful items.