1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.

Deep Springs – Sam Contis

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.)

Sam Contis was a female who lives in California and her story book was made in a remote valley, just east of the Sierra Nevada and north of Death Valley. The work shows the masculinity and focuses on all-male people and based on cowboys.

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.
  The outside cover is hard with a smooth feel to it, it’s made out of card with the paper smelling like standard card.
• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both. Card for the paper with images on, some images in colour, some in B&W
• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages. Some photos in A3 Landscape, some in A4 portrait and landscape, and a few in A5 portrait and landscape, 30 Pages total.
• Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello. Hard cover with image wrap for cover and back images.
• Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping. Printed image on card.
• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing. Literal Realism.
• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told? The work shows the masculinity and focuses on all-male people and based on cowboys. It is told very towards the viewer’s perspective and asks mindful questions throughout the book.
• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative. The book images and design layout matches the aesthetic of the story she tells throughout it.
• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts. Mainly A4 on single pages with text around the images and on the other side of the double spread.
• Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process. Uses grain and some colour saturation on some images and rule of thirds throughout taking them and editing/cropping the photos to direct the focus point on to the fields/canyon/cowboys and their day to day lifestyle.
• Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.) Big titles allowing the viewer to understand the story throughout the story with use of introductions, headings and subheadings describing where she took the photograph and what of.

UNDERSTANDING PHOTOBOOKS:
NARRATIVE, EDITING, SEQUENCING, DESIGN, FORM, FUNCTION