Maurice Selden is a well-known and very prolific rally photographer, whose career spanned 45 years from 1973 to 2018. Selden first started out capturing WRC events working for various publications, slowly working his way up through the ranks, and by 1982 had become the chief photographer for the motorsport publication LAT, covering rally and Formula 1 events all over the world. His photographs made waves through media at the time, and many were used for brand advertisements such as Ford.

Here are two incredible photos by Maurice Selden, of the same driver, Ari Vatenen, in two different rallies 10 years apart. These two photos share very similar attributes that make the photos striking, demonstrating Maurice Selden’s method and style, and showing exactly how Selden finds the ‘decisive moment’ in rally photography. In my opinion, the root of his method begins with an obstacle (i.e. a corner, a jump), and how the car must act to manoeuvre this obstacle. On the left is an image of Ari Vatanen in a Peugout 205 T16, an all-wheel drive rally car made for Group B. For this photo, Selden stands on the outside of the exit to a hairpin corner, where the cars will be powering out of the corner sideways, creating a big dust cloud behind them. This perspective is perfect for two reasons; the obstacle is clear, you can see where the car came from and where it is going, and the car is all-wheel drive, meaning that the driver will perform the corner sideways before regaining grip and exiting the corner straight. Maurice Selden captures the image right before the car straightens up, and in turn, captures the car mid-slide, catching the velocity of the car in the shot. The same principle appears in the photo on the right, except in this one, Maurice Selden is standing on the inside of the corner. This shot only works because the car is rear-wheel drive, and Ari Vatanen has had to swing the back of the car out in order to make the corner without crashing into the ditch on the outside. Additionally, in comparison to the photo on the left, Selden is much closer to the corner, and has to follow the car fast, resulting in a very prominent motion blur in the background, which consequently captures much more velocity overall. But it is this velocity that ultimately makes these photos striking, it enables the viewer to feel the motion of the car and, overall, captures the raw soul of these machines.

Rally photography is a very raw form of photography. The sheer speed of these cars requires fast shutter speeds, and the utilisation of whatever lighting the photographer can find to make these photos pop, which essentially boils down to either; a low hanging sun, or a camera flash. These are not controlled environments, and photographers will resort to using whatever elements possible to capture these beastly machines. This photo is a good example of how Maurice Selden does this while also catching the velocity of the car in the same shot. It is clear that Selden stood at this perspective understanding that the misty conditions create these god rays that majestically light up the snowy forest. But also, Selden considers that the cars will be hurdling through the air after hitting the jump to the left that is out of shot. It is the combination of these two factors that make up this photo; all Selden must focus on doing is capturing the car mid-air to catch its velocity. In this photo, the car is just about to hit the ground, a pivotal moment that captures anticipation and fear. The car is nearly sideways, and possibly didn’t even land the jump, but it is this specific decisive moment that Selden knew to capture because of its intensity and suspense. And it is this understanding of where the decisive moment is that ultimately makes Maurice Selden such a great photographer.

Helge Skodvin is a Norwegian photographer, who predominantly focuses on documenting the many aspects of Norway in his own juxtaposed style. In 2015, he created 240 Landscapes, a collection of images that all feature the Volvo 240, a staple car of the Nordic regions.

In these photos, Helge Skodvin experiments with the colour of the environment, and focuses on isolating the Volvo 240s in a way that captures the loneliness and grandiosity of Norway, using empty car parks or mountain landscapes to create distance and size. It is unclear if Skodvin puts the cars there himself, or simply finds them in the right places and takes his photo, it may well be a mixture of both. However, the most important aspect of the Volvo 240s in these photos is what they represent.

Volvo is a Swedish car brand, very well known for its safety and its boxy style, which was developed from the early 1960s to the late 90s. Many iconic Volvos came from this era, of which you can still see on the streets today because of how reliable these cars were made to be. Before this time, Volvo hadn’t settled on any specific style for its brand, they mostly just copied the curvy big block V8 American cars that were popular in the 40s and 50s. However, by the mid-60s Volvo’s engineers and designers had worked hard to develop their own style, which came in the form of the Volvo 144.

The 144 was a near-perfect car. The Volvo engineers’ focus on safety was pivotal to the overall design, and launched Volvo far ahead of its competitors when it came to safety. The car had disk brakes all around, which were 30% more effective than the drum brakes which mostly everyone else used. The design of the car also heavily utilised crumple zones, something that the majority of cars had previously failed to do resulting in more volatile crashes and a higher fatality rate. It is obvious to see why this car was so well-recepted in Scandinavia, a place full winding and icy roads, which pathed the way for Volvo’s reputation in later years.

The 70s was an amazing decade for Volvo. It became the largest car manufacturer in Scandinavia, and continued to improve its safety features with every new car they designed. First came the Volvo 140, an improvement on the 144, most notably in the extended front bumper, providing an extended crumple zone, and a new headlight design. Volvo started 1970 with 600,000 cars produced total, and ended that same year with over 2 million total cars produced.

This was when the Volvo became a staple of the Nordic regions. Everyone had a Volvo, from taxi drivers and police, to families and their next door neighbours. This car was perfect, and for the next 4 years Volvo was hard at work trying to make it even better. Development of a new car was in the works, named the VESC for ‘Volvo Experimental Safety Car’. In these developments, new technology could be tested, such as antilocking brakes and airbags. The car was constantly tested and refined, every detail was carefully constructed to ensure the highest safety standard possible.

Then in 1974, Volvo released the 240 series.

The 240 series came in a variety of iterations, a 2-door, 4-door and Estate, and later the headlights were changed, and different trim levels would be added over the course of its 19 year run. However, a 240 is always a 240, these cars were the safest as they came, and everyone started buying them up once again. The 240 became the iconic, boxy, ‘Volvo’ look, and the car appealed to nearly every major car market at the time; UK, US, Europe, everyone wanted a taste.

As the 240 grew older, the car became a nostalgia piece for families all over the world, most notably in Scandinavia, including Norway where Helge Skodvin grew up admiring these beauties of mechanical defiance in places of such serenity and emptiness.

This is essentially what this book is filled with, it is in the name, ‘240 Landscapes’. But it is the combination of the 240 and all of its history, nostalgia and iconicness, combined with the beautiful mountainous, snowy and empty landscapes of Norway that incited Helge Skodvin to take these photos.

This is the first image that appears in 240 landscapes. Taken in the early morning, indicated by the low light level, this photo consists of a colourful home hidden somewhere in valleys of Norway. The most striking element of this photo is the framing, every entity has its own part in the frame; the bushes are in the bottom right, the driveway is in the bottom left leading to the house in the middle with a lovely green garden to the right, and in the background at the top of the image stand the grandiose, tall peaks of Norway. However, it is the placement of the Volvo that is most important. It sits outside of this very homely house next to this nostalgic looking garden with a trampoline that entails that a family owns the Volvo. From this, the viewer is presented with a glimpse into the memories that this family holds; although the family is not there, it still feels as though we are experiencing a memory of this house from the perspective of a family member, looking back on the serenity and simplicity of life as it was living here. The Volvo is a very significant part of this, as many families can relate to this type of memory when thinking about, for example, a roadtrip they once had, where the car becomes cemented in this feeling of nostalgia. It is this link to a personal emotion that Helge Skodvin is trying to get at with the Volvo’s throughout this book, one that many Scandinavian people can relate to when so many families owned a Volvo 240.

The book also explores personality in cars too. Here is a customised 240, probably owned by a car enthusiast. The photo overall is not particularly spectacular, however it is the car that is the main focus. This Volvo is yellow, with aftermarket wheels, lowered suspension and a spoiler; it is clear that the owner has modified this 240 in their own, personalised way, and in turn has transformed the soul of this Volvo. This is something I talk about in my essay; when a person customises their own car, the car transforms into something new, in a way that is personalised to the driver. This ultimately means that the car’s soul becomes a reflection of its driver, and this is what we see here in this photo. Overall, the shot is not about the snowy, urban landscape, rather it is about representing the soul of this car that has been changed in its own, unique way. It is also representative of all of the 240s in the book, in the way that they are not all the same, but each have their own soul, in the form of; colour, model, trim, modifications, scratches. Even a cars imperfections are what make up its soul.

In summary, 240 Landscapes is a photobook made to represent what the Volvo 240 truly is; a staple of the Nordic regions, a family car, a nostalgic piece of memorabilia that will never be forgotten by the generations of people who experienced the pleasure of owning a 240. This book is about Norway, its beautiful landscapes and isolated surroundings, and how the 240 perfectly slots into its environment everywhere it goes. In my opinion, the book explores many aspects of the soul of the Volvo 240,

for the entirety of my project, I will need multiple photoshoots to gather all the photographs I may need for all topics I wish to include. Focusing in on topics of relationships, upbringing, family, and teenage life overall. Harnessing the ins and outs of life as a girl, the love and enjoyment but also the difficulties too, whether that is insecurity, or hurdles they may face along the way. All of this is girlhood and growing up so I want to capture all of it as best that I can.

Photoshoot 1 –

For the first photoshoot, I wanted to focus in on relationships, in more depth, ‘teenage love’. Using myself and a friend to show this through ambient lighting and coloured spotlighted lights. I focused on gaze and touch to show affection and red and blue light to focus in on lust, the red symbolising almost the ‘rose tinted glasses’ saying more deeply.

Photoshoot 2 –

For my second photoshoot I focused on capturing teenage life, the good, bad, drunk and sober, anything I can think of that may not be normal for a teenager to experience, but has been normalised. It not just shows the messy aspect of partying, but the friendship and love that young adults have to give. I wanted to include milestones and downsides these special years that each teenager goes through ( I’m aware not all teenagers live like this ). However since I want this project to reflect on me and my growth not just through my actions but as a person, the raw and unfiltered reality would be really important to include.

Teenage life is full of love and whether that is hard to see sometimes, its always around. The love and respect I have for all my friends is a very big part of me and I don’t want to keep that out of my project and my life in general. The raw natural light photographs show the bare truth of how life is behind the cover of parents and guardians and the touch and comfort you will find in this photoshoot really embrace that.

Photoshoot 3 –

For my third photoshoot, I wanted to focus solely of collecting photos that show woman’s hardship. Since I want to show both sides of girlhood, one being the fun, exciting side that you see all over social media, and second being the issues and difficulties that woman and girls face on the day to day. I want to use these photos (after editing) to place along side not only photos I’ve taken from these photoshoots but archived photos of my childhood. This is to show contrast and almost what’s behind the wall of personality that girls not just my age but of all ages may put up.

For example, along side an archived photo of maybe my parents and siblings, I could put an edited photo of a younger girl with bruises, evidence of domestic violence. I want to include this in my Personal project because it is raw, it is something people don’t talk about or see very often and it is definitely something I want to bring awareness too. Too many people can understand and relate to this kind of experience, especially from a young age and that makes me want to showcase my story even more.

Archived photoshoots –

Obviously, I did not take these photos myself, they are a collection my parents have been growing for my entire childhood. Capturing memory after memory and depicting the innocence and love that filled my childhood. Showing a happy family with loads of friends and endless support.

Photoshoot 1 –

Photoshoot 2 –

Photoshoot 6 –

I wanted the cover to make sense from both sides to follow both narratives. I choose this image because it is hazy and soft and somewhat dream like.

I put both mist images together so that the narrative would start light and outside while still being somewhat mysterious. I then interspaced with peeling wallpaper because its like peeling back a brave face. I put both images of birds together, starting with the further and honing inwards. I interspaced with another coloured one this time the sofa because its still peaceful and quite close. Following birds that can fly I choose the moth to contrast as its flightless.

I wanted to interrupt the cats and dog because the images have shifted from peaceful to somewhat aggressive with the dog, broken car and higher contrast. The cats I made sure to start with the more peaceful one and put the second more mysterious one next.

Following the more aggressive images I put together the more eerie images which continued the high contrast sequence.

To round off I choose the most abstract dark ones.

For the final layout I shrunk down all the blurry images so that they would print best and made sure that the black and white images were arranged differently to the coloured ones. I liked how the contrast between the human coloured images and natural black and white images looked when separated within the book. I put the essay at the back of the book instead of the front so that I could start right away with images which I thought was the most effective layout. I also had most of the lighter images at the front, staring off with soft and light images and gradually becoming much darker with harsher lines compared to the effect of mist.

1. Write a book specification and describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design with reference to the same elements of bookmaking as above.

Narrative: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words

Athlete, Difficulties, Passion

• A sentence

It will be about a passionate basketball player who strives to be the best.

• A paragraph

This story is about a player called tony who is a passionate basketball player. His room is filled with basketball items, and he’s always trying to be better than his teammates. He doesn’t participate in activities with his teammates as he’s worried he wont live up to them.

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

How has the evolution of fashion photography, from controlled studio setting to dynamic street environments, reflected a shift towards the aesthetic and principle of documentary photography? 

“To collect photographs is to collect the world”, said critic and writer Susan Sontag in her influential book, On Photography. The main question is; which world do you want to capture. My main focus is to explore why photographers use a type of documentary photograph to express themselves, and why the documentary photography style has become more popular over the years. Each photographer has a different desire to capture different images, whether it’s to tell the truth or portray a lie. Looking at the influential photographer William Klein, a photographer, film maker, painter, writer, graphic designer and a maker of books. William Klein turned fashion photography into something much bigger than it was worshipped as, he took his ideas and made them alive, more vigorous. Fashion photography has always reflected social and artistic trends, creating an idealised, unblemished photograph, it was a way of expressing the ‘perfect’ truth. Fashion photography was out there to capture something beautiful but after the growth of street photography, the truth began to shift, and the crudeness of the world was starting to show. William Klein combined the two elements of fashion and street photography together to stay away from the controlled studio and conventional poses used by his models, he liked the idea of a chaotic environment interrupting his photographs. While looking at another photographer, Vivian Maier, she took candid images of people on the streets, no matter the circumstance. Maier was known to be very secretive and private and didn’t actually publish her photographs herself. Maier took her opportunity in life and made the most of it by capturing the world around her. ‘Well, I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.’ ( Vivian Maier), presenting herself as a selfless individual. Maier shows that she has a good eye on the essence of people’s everyday lives. Her photographs were more based on documenting social life rather than creating a fashion narrative. The evolution of fashion photography, from controlled studio settings to dynamic street environments, reflected a shift towards the aesthetic and principle of documentary photography through a cultural shift towards the real state of the world. Artists like Klein and Maier clasp the documentary aesthetic, challenging the norms of the world and making it bigger and more diverse for a wider community to use and understand . 

Documentary Photography:

‘Documentary photography is a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events’ (Tate, 2017)

A documentary is meant to tell a story, show a narrative or a certain point of view. Documentary photography is almost a type of proof or sign that something happened, it’s a guidance to evidence. ‘The simultaneous “it was there’ (the pro-photographic event) and ‘I was there (the photographer) effect of the photographic record of people and circumstances contributes to the authority of the photographic image.’ (Wells 1998) This was stated by Liz Wells in her third edition book ‘Photography: The critical introduction’, Liz Wells explains in very great detail the importance of documentary photograph as it tells a deeper story than a painting, it hold more information and more detail, its seen as a bigger deal and provides a higher deal of accuracy.

Danielle Macinnes, 2024

While searching for a definition of documentary photography I came across a short power point called Documentary photography, visual storytelling, one quote that I saw was ‘documentary photography gave the idea a new life and social function. Neither art nor advertising, documentary drew on the idea of information as a creative education about actuality, life itself’, this is a perfect definition of what documentary photography is, it’s telling a story without words, just by looking at one image, you can see a whole story. I was also able to acquire some cultural and historical facts on documentary photography thanks to this power point, for example the reason for the documentary photography to been develop was thanks to the development of print technology, it also started in 1920-30s when magazines and publications such as Life Magazine in the USA, Picture Post in Britain, Vu in France, and many others, these magazines used photos to tell story and help grow markets. Researching on documentary photography, the ‘Photography: A critical Introduction by Liz Wells book was very influential and helped me understand the motive of documentary photography. ‘Photography is not so much concerned with the development of a new aesthetic as with the construction of new kinds of knowledge as the ‘carrier’ of facts.’ (Wells 1998) A documentary photograph is not always meant to look aesthetically pleasing, it can look more like an urgent cry, it’s a way of spreading information fast, however it doesn’t always tell the truth. Some people can exaggerate the truth and make it look worse than it is. thought documentary images can inform an audience about the hidden corners of contemporary life and even become part of the historical record. That is why it is cherished upon; it holds a great amount of value. 

William Klein:

Dorothy and Light Face, by William Klein, 1962

William Klein is a fashion photographer who exceeds with real talent, he is an American-born French photography who has an approach to both media and an extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography. William Klein’s techniques reach out to different surroundings, he doesn’t tend to stay in the studio while doing photoshoots, he explores the world, he has already been to New York, Tokyo, Paris and Rome, as he documented his surroundings, he has collected a range of images and has shown the cultural shift of the world. For example, how fashion has changed, it’s degraded, fashion is seen as a trend whereas Klein made it more of a desire. Although Klein’s photographs were staged, they still had factors of the environment and how it affected each country differently. Most of his fashion photoshoots used female models which could be part of the photographic gaze. Liz Wells, it describes the idea that women are put on show for male validation and enjoyment. ‘Images of women on screen are constructed for gratification for the male spectator’ (Wells 1998), it’s the idea of women being referred to as the pray, people admired women more on Vogue magazines and on display, they were the primary attention. This may be a reason William Klein used women in his fashion photography. Wells also states, ‘in patriarchal cultures the male I/eye is central within discourse and women is ‘other’; in psychoanalytic terms she is complexly constructed simultaneously the object of desire and a source of fears and insecurities’ (Wells 1998), women were more socially accepted as the cover of vogue, they represented the eye of fashion. It’s proven that women have historically made up the majority of the front-facing workforce at Vogue. Although they were never at the top of the market despite their efforts, they were always behind men. I don’t personally believe that William Klein meant to objectify women, but it could be seen as that problem. While looking more closely at Klein’s work I noticed that his work is very well linked with Henri Cartier Bresson theory of the decisive moment. Henri Cartier Bresson was known to be a humanist photographer, he more or less invented street photography and believes that there is a thing such as ‘decisive moment’, the perfect time to capture an image. Cartier Bresson described photography as a sense of hunting without killing, he is seeking to find the right people, place or time to capture an image that holds power. ‘His photographs may be summed up through a phrase of his own: “the decisive moment,’ the magical instant when the world falls into apparent order and meaning, and may be apprehended by a gifted photographer’ (reference source), while reading his bibliography, he stated that the world will fall into place to create an image that makes sense almost like putting all the pieces together to generate a meaning. Though some would say that these two artists are quite homogeneous, William Klein’s photographs are staged and don’t necessarily use the theory of the ‘decisive moment’. William tends to direct his own photos and knows what he is hunting for whereas Henri Cartier Bresson is hunting for whatever he is able to reach. William Klein does tend to use the streets when doing a documentary on fashion and achieves a great aesthetic of the dynamic street environment compared to the controlled studio settings. Klein showed to have an abstract background in art which helped to influence his fashion photography for vogue, he would experiment with light exposure, firstly he would capture photos of the model while the model holds a pose, then they would turn the lights off in the studio and someone would use flashlights to draw shapes in the air around the models body William Klein himself stated, ‘the result was terrific—it brought my early abstract experiments into my fashion work.’ (Klein) Overall, William Klein’s work was very successful and influenced a lot of people, he managed to collect raw, gritty, blurred, intensely emotional portraits of humanity that portrayed a side of America never seen on film and therefore became very important due to the documentary’s he had produced. 

my examples:

Vivian Maier:

Vivian Maier was known as a street photographer but sadly was only discovered after her death. A Chicago collector, John Maloof oversaw Vivian’s photos, and his mission was to promote the work of Vivian Maier, and to safeguard the archive for the benefit of future generations. Maier also kept every negative she had ever shot; she believed that they were important and could be useful in the future. As Maier had passed away, her photographs were later published, her images were found at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest side in 2007, where John Maloof had visited and found a box of negatives depicting Chicago on the 60’s. Maier’s tended to go out in big cities and capture random people in the streets, it was stated by Maloof that, ‘from what I know, she never had a love life. Photography was the only thing she had. And if you expose your only emotional outlet, it’s vulnerable’ (Maloof), which suggests that Maier wasn’t taking these photographs for fame, she has a passion for street photography and discovering the truth behind the world, she seemed to have a real big belief on sonder, that everyone has a different life and is going through something, everyone is different. Vivian Maier’s photographs have included the theory of Henri Cartier-Bresson as she tends to take photos of the moment. She creates these images to have a strong significant meaning without using any words, it’s like a story but only through the use of photos, which can be quite hard to narrate. Vivian Maier also used the black and white effect to her images that exhibit a rich tonal range and a strong sense of contrast. The monochromatic approach lends a timeless quality to her photographs, allowing the viewers to focus on the subject matter and composition. While learning about documentary photography I came across a book called ‘Photography’ by Stephen Bull which stated, ‘in 1861 the British critic Jabez Hughes noticed that photography was generally used as a document, asking ‘may it not aspire to delineate beauty too?’ (Bull) Documentary photography is generally used to capture a certain idea, something that can represent itself as history, not something we see every day, which is like what Maier did, she took quite basic pictures of people’s everyday life, but these people aren’t necessarily going to be see again, they are people who pass you and don’t tend to come back, it’s a sign of history. I like the way Maier took her photos, she used a Rolleiflix twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera which was very small and always held by Maier’s waist, this helped to make Maier’s photos more candid as nobody was paying attention to the camera and forcing a smile or pose, everyone was natural. Maier never got rid of her images and saw potential in every single one, her photos expressed things that she couldn’t do, the camera is almost like a mask, it covers her identity and only reveals what she wants herself to be revealed as. Maier quoted, ‘if you really have something to say better to be behind the camera than in front of it.’ (Maier) It helps to show that Vivian Maier was very curious, she wanted to know the world. She also described herself as a spy, which is quite true due to the fact that she hides behind a camera, observing people not wanting anything from them, this is very relevant to Henri Cartier-Bresson work, he didn’t go out to capture anything specific but he sue did want to find an answer to his questions and that is why a camera is great for documenting, Vivian’s photos evaluate how differently everyone dresses and how it has changed since then, how the ‘snowflake’ generation is changing and criticising the old fashion, it’s almost like the world is put in the wrong hands and everything is decaying. Maier managed to influence many people with the way she displayed her images, Maier used reflections, layering, and sophisticated composition in her images which lead to you discovering new layers of characters and emotions. Overall, I really like Vivian’s concept of street photography and how her work has influenced documentary photography. 

Vivian Maier’s examples:

Conclusion:

Overall, both artists use a different approach to examine fashion photography and how it can be transformed into a documentary. Both artists have presented fashion photography as a well-known and successful theme used by Vogue and many other well-known companies. It could be quite hard for people to publish certain fashion categories as everyone has different taste in fashion and certain people may react differently if they see something that is not considered the norm but the way William Klein has presented his work shows that he isn’t bothered by how people present him to be. Whereas Vivian seems to be more hidden and doesn’t seem to be a fan of public appearances, she had never published her own work and if it wasn’t for Maloof, Vivian wouldn’t be a well-known photographer. I really like how fashion photography has been mixed with documentary photography as it really shows how fashion has evolved over the years and how the background of each photoshoot has changed. The background of each photoshoot has widened, a busy background is seen more and more in fashion photographs and a plain background could be considered boring. Willian Klein’s photographs portray the banality of everyday life and the mundane actions undertaken by the people walking in the streets around the world, he tries to be a participant of the photo. Vivian Maier’s photos portrayed marginalised people, including racial minorities and the socially deprived, showing that everyone is different and they shouldn’t be judged for it, both artists took a very different approach towards fashion photography as Vivian is embracing people that are considered as ‘different’ in today’s society whereas William Klein is searching to find something’ perfect’ an idealised representation that the world admires. Klein took photos for vogue which only wants to display something that is exquisite. While doing my photoshoots inspired by Willian Klein, I realised that the photos I was capturing weren’t normal photographs, they had elements of fashion, with the clothes my model was wearing and is showed a side of documentary photography with the people in the background, what I found difficult was when I was capturing these images in the streets most people would avoid going past the camera as they thought they would be disturbing the photograph, that has changed through generation as in William Klein’s and Vivian Maier’s photos most people wouldn’t be bothered by the camera and would carry on with their normal lives. 

Bibliography:

Sontag, S. (1977). In Plato’s Cave. [online] Available at: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/chengphotoarth1100f2019/files/2018/02/Susan-Sontag-In-Platos-Cave.pdf.

Victoria and Albert Museum. (2021). 100 years of fashion photography · V&A. [online] Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/100-years-of-fashion-photography?

Miralles, N.-S. (2021). Inside Vogue, where women have the top jobs but men still rule. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/mar/21/inside-vogue-where-women-have-the-top-jobs-but-men-still-rule

Hackelbury Fine Art. (2025). William Klein – Works. [online] Available at: https://hackelbury.co.uk/artists/35-william-klein/works/18-fashion-light/

Wells L. (1998). ‘The Photographic Gaze’ in Photography: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.

Soccio, L. (2020). Henri Cartier-Bresson. [online] International Center of Photography. Available at: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/henri-cartier-bresson?all/all/all/all/0.

A short PPT on Documentary Photography

Wells L. (1998). ‘The Photograph as Document’ in Photography: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.

Vivian Maier Photographer. (n.d.). About Vivian Maier. [online] Available at: https://www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/.

Bull, S. (2009), ‘The Photograph as Art’ in Photography. London: Routledge.

Matt, W. (2022). Influences of Vivian Maier – Wendi Matt. [online] Wendi Matt. Available at: https://wendimatt.com/influences-of-vivian-maier/.

Aesthetica Magazine. (2020). Aesthetica Magazine – Aesthetica Archives:Documentary Photography. [online] Available at: https://aestheticamagazine.com/aesthetica-archivesdocumentary-photography/ 

In this blog post I am going to be comparing the old images to the new images which I have created inspired by Irina Werning.

1: For this first image I took I photographed my grandmother in a red jacket similar to the original image which was taken when she was 16, and in the new image she is aged 71.

I think this image is successful as I was able to achieve some similar colours such as the red jacket and the handbag. I may try editing the new one to match the tone in the old one.

2:

3: To recreate this image I made sure to have the model wear dark clothes similar to the original image. She also pulled a similar face to the original one as well as crossing her arms.

4: This is one of my favourite images which I have recreated as I managed to capture the same purple/ pink tone of the old image using lightroom and adjusting the tint of the image.

5.

6:

This is my photobook layout where I have carefully chosen the order of the images so that they help tell the story of the photos. I then added my essay into the back three pages of the book and added images to show the work of the artists.

This is my front and back cover which suggests that the sun is my grandad looking out for us and has symbolic meaning which sets the narrative for the rest of the book. I wanted these images to be the front and back cover because they look the most aesthetic and make the book more eye catching for people to want to look through the book.

I really like the way the images are set out, I focused on capturing cute girly moments. I used to colour pink colour to show the ‘stereotypical’ girl type. There are different tones and settings, like the beach and a car where the girls are singing and eating food which I think captures the scene of girlhood, the girls are giggling and enjoying spending time together with no boys there. The images are set out in a certain way to try and capture this element of girlhood which adds value to the images.

The lighting is natural with a warm colour temperature and the arrangement of the images is specific to try and capture each image by itself so nothing blends in. There is a sense of repetition within the images as they are all interlinked and are very similar. The idea behind this work is that Gen-Z have a very different lifestyle when growing up, therefore I’m trying to capture this within my images. The essay provides a detailed text of what my project is really about and its very important for my photograph’s and photobook.

Here is my final photobook.

1. Write a book specification and describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design with reference to the same elements of bookmaking as above.

Narrative: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words: exploration of fears
• A sentence: I want to explore my own fears and how they can be presented in different ways.
• A paragraph: Fear isn’t limited to one particular set of imagery. I want to explore the different ways to present the same few fears with both natural and urban backdrops.

Design: Consider the following

• How you want your book to look and feel: I want my book to look like an old library book with a plain/basic hardcover.
• Paper and ink: I will use plain white paper instead of black for the colour images.
• Format, size and orientation: To create a library book I would have wanted an A5 portrait. Portrait would let me create full bleeds with any landscape images while also keeping some smaller images for variety.
• Binding and cover: I want a plain cover either with a basic pattern and title or like the slip has been removed without much going on at all.
• Title: I decided on ‘Guillemot’ like the bird black guillemot. I choose this because not only do I find large birds freaky but also because birds fly and rise above any difficulties. The black guillemot is a black and white bird which matches my black and white images too.
• Design and layout: I will have two different sequences going at once so I will need to differentiate between the two by size or where they’re laid out on the page.
• Editing and sequencing: The images will be arranged quite sporadically. I was contemplating arranging each image by photoshoot or if they’re all black and white in a gradient however I didn’t want to make a comforting sequence. I will either arrange each image in a random order or start mostly in some sequence and change it every few pages. Additionally most images are in black and white however I will make sure to place a few coloured ones in between.
• Images and text: I don’t plan on having many bodies of text except for the essay at the end which will be arranged in columns with uniform text type and size.

In terms of sequencing I sequenced all my black and white images and coloured ones separately before interspacing them. The black and white ones I tried matching with the one before going from a park outside through a street and into a dark room like walls gradually closing in on the viewer.

The coloured ones I did the opposite. I started closer and worked outwards from wallpaper and being inside to being isolated and left outside.

Then I interspaced the two different sequences.

I tried two different sequences. The first where I used the coloured images to split between images when they changed for instance birds > moth. While this made more sense I didn’t want to create any sense of comfort in predictability and tried one when the images are more sporadically spaced out:

I liked how in particular the dog looks as though its trying to eat the cat since I find it quite funny. The beginning of the first one and the ending of the second one and decided to combine the two.

All the coloured images were laid out on the right side as its what’s seen second in either of these templates:

The black and white images were aligned on the left side as its what’s seen first in these 2 templates:

My initial layout looked like the following:

I knew I wanted the essay to fit in separate as a newspaper clipping attached separately to the back so I didn’t need the blank pages at the end. I wanted to add some blank pages throuhg out also which would be a good way to loose all the pages at the end.

In terms of the cover I was unsure wether to put an image on the back or not.

I think that the double looks better so I compared two different images on the cover. Since the book has a sequence going in both directions the same cover inverted like a mirror makes sense.

The single tree works best as portrait while the landscape looks better landscape or open. I decided on the landscape image instead.

I will insert my essay as a newspaper clipping between pages 68/69.

I tried with black pages and grey pages too.

Black pages create a much darker overall appearance. I like how this looks for the darker pictures like these^ however for lighter images like these I’m not so sure on the black pages:

Additionally i tried multiple shades of grey:

I think that the lighter grey works best because it matches with he cover as well as being darker than bright white for the dark images and light enough for the lighter images. I added the essay at the end in columns and added the title and name to the cover.