Personal Investigation Part 1
Montage Theory
Montage theory is the understanding and creating of cinema that relies heavily on editing pieces of film. In the 1920s Soviet filmmakers would have many different interpretations on how to exactly view montage, examples of different ways of montage would become very evident during this time period with filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein. Sergei Eisenstein would use montage to evoke emotion and deeper meanings to just what's on the surface, for example in The Battleship Potemkin would show the struggles of that society. Montage would be also used for very different purposes, like showing people in a certain place in films when they really aren't there, or to show a fast moving part to a story and advancements in the story.
"The essence of cinema does not lie in the images, but in the relation between the images" - Sergei Eisenstein
Diptychs
Diptychs in photography are a set of two photos displayed directly next to each other. They can evoke an emotion or create a story, this can be done by the photos being in the same place however of different subjects, or can just be completely different photos to create tension and contrast between them. They are especially impactful in storytelling as they do not just carry one direct message and instead carry multiple due to the obvious reason of there being another photo, but also what the two photos represent together or even in contrast to each other. This idea can relate to montage theory, in the way tensions and emotions can be created simply by putting a thesis (one of the images) next to an antithesis (another image) to create another image and meaning all together. To put this into other terms instead of it being 1+1=2 it is 1+1=3, as it is now a completely different thing rather than it being a combination of the two images. I look to explore this through half frame cameras (cameras that only use half of the film slot, allowing twice the amount of photos to be taken), photoshop and apps.
John Maclean
Two and Two
In Two and Two John Maclean shows us as viewers that there are two ways to take photos. He would show this by taking a photo of an object or landscape, them he would come back to that same location another time to take a photo in the same place, or he would move a little bit to show that no matter the photo, there are many different perspectives to the process of thinking what to shoot and how to shoot the image itself. He described the way of him taking the photos in Two and Two as him already having the second photo in mind before even taking the first photo, and he would have the first photo in mind when taking the second photo. This is interesting as it can subconsciously create a flow to the photos, in how they are related to each other. This is one example of his diptychs. Here we can see in the first photo multiple people in it and the bus, and the tree. The second photo shows remnants of the last photo, by there obviously being a tree and the bus behind the other bus. This can give off multiple interpretations, emotions and reactions, my understanding of this diptych is it is showing the movement of the place, how nothing stays in one place for long and that the camera can pick up something different to what we see, in terms of our intentions of what we want the photo to look like.
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Martine Stig
Noir
The layout of the photos in Noir makes the book very interesting and different in comparison to other, more conventional photography books. The first page includes a photo of a woman leaning on her hand (bottom left) the next page then follows with a photo of a coffee cup and there is a repetition of the photo earlier. This same layout is continued throughout the book, some photos may be taken in the same place or some almost interacting with the photos around it. One example would include a photo of light in water and the photo below it being people covering their eyes from the sun. The unique experience of the book makes viewers attempt to create patterns within each page of the book, this actively engages the viewer which again, makes the book ever more interesting. Due to the bareness of the book, it leaves the interpretations to whoever has chosen to open it, people can create links that are completely different to others.
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TJ Tambellini & Lark Foord
Same Page
This is a very different method of creating diptychs, as this involves two people. Conventionally, photo books would only be of one person's photography and even if it had others in it, it would be more of a compilation piece showing a certain genre of photography or a certain movement. What Tambellini and Foord do here is interesting as in Same Page they would set out to take photos in the same locations as each other, and let each other take photos of whatever they wanted in that location. This can create a fluctuation of conflicts and complements within the book. As due to their nature and methods of taking the photos, some can end up being completely different, or almost the exact same. This shows the viewers a comparison in how the both photographers work as it shows directly what they think is substantial to take photos of, and how they would frame, light, express themselves through these pieces.
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Examples of diptychs
For these diptychs I used photoshop, which I find much better than the app as explained above. This is due to the fact that I could have more creative freedom on how I could edit the photos before placing them next to each other. So I could tweak each photo to suit the next photo, in terms of brightness and colour as some were warmer than others, this helps as it makes the photos seem like i just took them straight after each other (in some cases I did this). Unlike the app, with photoshop I could add the black line in between the two photos, this makes it seem like the photos were taken on half frame film cameras. I would use this again as i had not had any real challenges once i learnt how to actually make the diptychs themselves.
With these I had the help of my friend Marton for each of these diptychs, he took photos in Blackheath, and I used older photos of mine and took a few new ones to match one of the photos he sent me. I matched them by either colour, or what objects are in the photos. I believe this was an interesting way of creating diptychs as it forced me to see links between photos that someone else took with my own photos, even if they are almost completely unrelated in colour or objects. So it felt more like a game, in how I had to find similar features in each photo. I used photoshop again for the actual creation of the diptychs as it found it simple. I would do this again due the interesting nature of it feeling more like a game than anything else. However, I would also like to attempt going to a certain location with someone and taking photos there, and comparing how they differ from each other.
Zines
Zines are small circulation of self published works of usually original texts and images. In this case images. They are usually made through photocopiers. Usually a product of one or a small group of people’s creation, they are photocopied into a physical object so then they can be circulated. Many zines are only in circulation of 1,000 or fewer. In photography they are used to exclaim a photographer’s skill set as there can only be a limited amount of images, therefore making it more of a challenge to show their intentions of storytelling or anything else.
Peckham Gothic
Lewis Bush
This zine is Lewis Bush making a middle class family look like sharecroppers from the depression era in Peckham. Sharecroppers being a tenant farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent. He does this by having the photos in back and white, this creates a sense of bleakness within each photo, hence the title Peckham Gothic. As well as this he had the paper that each photo was printed on to be black, this allows the lighter tones of the photos to almost seem like an anomaly to the darker tones which seep into the zine itself. Each photo is off centre and goes over the fold of the paper, this creates some sort of an uncomfortable feeling that something is off, which could've been done to represent what the people felt like during the depression. The zine itself is minimal, with only 10 words 3 of them being part of his website promoted on the back, this allows the viewer to gain their own interpretation of the zine, rather than guiding and telling them exactly what it is of.
Glasgow
Phoebe Kiely
This zine is fairly interesting and different to the other two zines here as it almost fits as a book and a zine. This is due to the fact that the paper is of a higher quality than what would usually be used for a zine. The paper is almost like card compared to Peckham Gothic. The presentation is more formal than usual too, A4 with white background which contrasts the images and the theme of the zine. The theme contrasts the physical zine itself as it is demonstrating the struggles of living in Glasgow that many people have the burden of carrying, whereas, the zine itself is formal with minimal writing and distractions from the images themselves.
No foursomes allowed at peak periods, in Scarborough
Craig Atkinson
This zine is different to the other zines presented above as Craig Atkinson is perceived to look at the humour in the everyday life of a seaside town. Rather than displaying a narrative or meaning as the other two do, this zine allows the viewer to create their own interpretations of the images and how they are somewhat connected together. It could be argued that Atkinson is making fun of the lives that these people live and is mocking them, however I believe that he is only showing little details that only that town own and displaying the absurdity. For examples sign saying "Soup of the day. Vodka!" or a photo of a claw machine with minions in it next to a photo of a woman smoking holding a minion. The zine itself is small and landscape which is different to the other two and also uses cheaper, glossy paper, the photos themselves also take up the whole page rather than it being smaller and creating a border.
The History of the Photobook
As shown below, the first few photobooks were not intended to create an artistic impact on culture. Many of the first photobooks, or what can be considered one now, were intended to document certain topics or a certain subject as shown in Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, which of course focuses on algae, and also American Photographs which Walker Evans focuses on the depression of the public in terms or their economic status and showing what America truly is like. Many of the first photobooks too almost acted as encyclopaedias of that specific focus, only showing the photo with a caption simply giving an explanation, as well with vast amounts of photos as seen in Photographs of British Algae. Other uses for photobooks began to appear as seen in The Pencil of Nature, which is of Talbot's interests as the whole idea for the book came from his lack of talent in drawing, so he resulted in photography. This could be considered as an artistic endeavour as he frames photos as would a fine arts painter would draw them. In the 1930s photography books were moving into something to not only document but to also have a running theme that is apparent in the sequencing as shown in Moi Ver's Paris (1931) which shows the importance of the images together rather than an example of just one singular image. This is explored through the Dutch photography critic Ralph Prins, "A photobook is an autonomous art form, comparable with a piece of sculpture, a play or a film. The photographs lose their own photographic character as things 'in themeselves' and become parts, translated into printing ink, of a dramatic event called a book." I agree with his interpretation of a photobook, that the whole idea of the book should be represented through multiple images that create a coherent theme after each page is turned over to reveal the next part of the puzzle. This is even evident through many different books with many different coherent ideas such as Lenineu (1925) which is a collection of images that consists of wreaths to Lenin's funeral to books such as Alfred Ehrhardt's Das Watt which consists of close-ups of mud.
Photobook: my definition
There are of course many ways of viewing and interpreting a photobook. A simple answer is a book of photos curated by a photographer/photographers. However if looked into more detail, almost all photobooks of the modern era follows a pattern of there being an overall theme, anything from fruit to the moon landing conspiracies. This theme is then translated into multiple images, and translates this theme well and coherently, and also that the design of the book itself should support this theme by either the cover, colour of paper to even the font of the title and any captions that are included.
The Pencil of Nature
The Pencil of Nature is commonly known to be one of the first photobooks created, in general and as a somewhat artistic endeavour, compared to photobooks in similar time such as the Anna Atkin's book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. Talbot, the author of The Pencil of Nature, first began to explore photography when he attempted to draw an Italian landscape but came to the conclusion that he hadn't possessed the talent to draw it well enough to his standard, he then resulted in trying to find another means of wanting to record and express landscapes and other interests if his. He states in his introduction that to draw the artist would already have to have background skill in that particular area, by this he implies that to take a good photo, the person taking it doesn't have to have years and years of experience and practice and that it is a task do-able by the ordinary person. As the introduction carries on, he describes his trial and errors in trying to develop each photo. This book is somewhat revolutionary in its attempt, which in modern times has been deemed as successful. This is due to the fact that Talbot was the first to attempt to not use photography, or any other techniques of making photographs, in a scientific endeavour and more of an artistic or even representative mission in showing that photography doesn't have to be just strictly for professional uses such as documenting different types of seaweed.
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Photographs of British Algae:
Cyanotype Impressions
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions by Anna Atkin is found to be the very first photobook. Very different to photobooks now, it is strictly about presenting her field of science which is the study of algae, as suggested by the title. The book has multiple volumes each with hundreds of cyanotypes of unique and somewhat intriguing seaweed, even if the viewer isn't interested in that specific field there is a certain delicacy within each photogram that the person viewing would notice. Each of the cyanotypes are only of the seaweed, with minimal writing or anything that separates the viewers eyesight from the subject, the only thing to study really is the subjects. With only a limited amount of books produced, mainly due to the fact that they are made by her without the help of any company, this separates this specific book from many books now. Most photobooks now are produced in higher quantities, and are for the consumer to behold and own, whereas Atkin had a limited amount made so we can suggest that they aren't for the average consumer of that time of even now. At the time this book was to represent each specific subject accurately and was produced to help science rather than the art of photography.
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American Photographs
Walker Evans for this book used a 35mm film camera. This allowed him to explore different types of photography such as, what could be considered the first of street photography as some of the photos are of the poverty of America during this time. Many of the photos were taken during the 1930s, during the Great Depression, this led to a very realistic insight into the state of America and how much people were suffering. This photobook was the first to really use sequencing and for a set of images to be seen in that specific sequence, also, this book was to show what the state of America was like at the time and how American values are attempted to be rooted into everyday life but aren't cared for. For example, he would take photos of buildings and streets with classic architecture with clearly people who have been suffering. The book has also been interpreted into many different exhibitions, for example the Tate has held an exhibition. However due to the way the book is meant to be understood, in terms of sequencing, exhibitions don’t create as much of an affect on the person observing them. The viewer can’t see them as continuously as only a photo book can display them, the constant changing of images that intertwine cannot be expressed well enough when they are printed large and mounted on a wall.
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Self-Publishing
Due to the internet there are now multiple techniques to create on demand and also tutorials to create a hand made book. for example Blurb is a website that allows people to create any type of book on demand at a somewhat affordable price. This is very useful for people who need to create a book but do not have the materials themselves, they have a software named Bookwrite that allows the person using it to choose the size of the book, type, paper typed cover, it also allows the user to design their book with adding images, captions and any text that they desire. The books themselves can vary in quality depending of the users choice however they are usually great quality and are manufactured quickly. Another alternative is the vast amounts of tutorials scattered along the internet to show how to make a book by hand, there are many different tutorials to many different binding techniques. For example, Japanese bound, perfect bound, kettle bound, ect. This revolution of tutorials on the internet can allow people to learn how to make their books better and faster rather than attempting to guess how to make them, or use a publishing company that isn't very cost effective. These two techniques can be used also for zines as they are also having a surge in popularity through cheap printing costs and effective publishing websites such as Blurb.
The Island Position
John Lehr
Through research and reading the short story at the end of The Island Position I believe that John Lehr is showing the problems with e-commerce to the local businesses of the real world. He does this by almost every photo being of advertisements in shop windows, some flamboyant some not even there, showing the desperation of local businesses in the modern era due to the rise in popularity of online shopping and the American culture of shopping moving towards that. The variations of advertisements can show desperation and also a state of giving up by the store owners. For example, many of the photos include windows filled to the brim of colourful, eye catching and enticing pictures or words; the technique of using variations of colour was done to do that, catch the attention of a person passing by and lure them into the shop. Some of the other shop fronts however are just a white text saying "computer repair" or even just "open late", this almost shows that some businesses have accepted the lack of attention due to this change in shopping culture. The cover imitates the idea of an eye catching advert as it is of one of the photos in the book that folds over the book itself and has to be opened to reveal a cropped version of the image itself. This is of course to interest the viewer as before you open the cover there isn't a title. The font also is a more modern font which could represent the new age of culture in America. Each photo is on a page by itself with no other photos on the next page, there is only a photo on every other page, this allows the viewer to take in the images image-by-image rather than attempt to connect them, as I believe there is no intended coherence through the book itself and you only gain a grasp once reading the short story and researching. However, even with this lack of coherence I do believe that Lehr does communicate his vision, as once an understanding has been made, the book is almost completely different. From a first impression you could assume that Lehr is only interested in the colour of images and that he has an interest in shop windows, however, once a greater understanding has been formed it seems to change into a social commentary through documentation of images of the real world of shopping malls and streets. The lack of words is oddly eerie, as if walking into one of these shops and there being not a single soul there except for the people working there. The book on second viewing leaves and imprint, of cultural change in places that aren't ready for the change in business and lack of jobs, and the suffering that comes as an aftermath of it. This is further developed through the short story at the end, where I believe it to be a store owner or manager talking about his employees and that he believes a positive mindset can only get the job done, rather than having a negative one which won't motivate the job to be done. This gives an insight onto how the workers are behind the scenes of these shop fronts.
Definition: Island Position
An advertising position in newspapers, magazines or websites that is completely surrounded by main contents of that platform with no advertisement near that position to compete for audience attention.
An advertising position in newspapers, magazines or websites that is completely surrounded by main contents of that platform with no advertisement near that position to compete for audience attention.
Vitreous China
Ron Jude
Similarly to the Island Position, I believe this book is about the changes in American culture, however in Vitreous China I believe it is about the changing of the types of jobs that are sought after and the effects of this on normal cities and daily surroundings. This is done through his very simplistic photos of open spaces, objects being open without anything in them and also abandoned like buildings. The cover of the book doesn't display the title of the book but only his name, underlined, with small text with a photo at the top half of the cover. I believe this is to give an insight into the book in the way that it is up for interpretation, this does mimic the way each photo in the book is void of business and is simplistic. The book is also laced with small stories that I struggle to see any correlation with the title of the book and what the photographer attempted to achieve. The stories are very specific in nature and don’t seem to give off the message that I would’ve expected to tie in with the overall theme. The photo placement is somewhat rhythmical in that it they are always placed in the same place of each page, in the centre with a white border due to it not being printed all the way to the edge. However, midway into the book there is a photo that covers a double page. The book is small, with a hardback cover, all of the pages are matte which I prefer as a gloss finish can make it look somewhat strange due to the shine.
ZZYZK
Gregory Halpern
The book is about the ironies of California, it being considered the Golden State and the Land of Milk and Honey. Gregory Halpern does this by imitating the settlers' movement from the east to the west by taking photos from places in the east moving to the west. The ironies are on display, he would use images of homeless people next to beautiful and almost fabricated scares of the desert and also some of large architecture. The cover of a book is of dots which are in an image of a game two people are playing on the floor of Hollywood Boulevard. This could be in reference to the subtlety that is the problems California face, in terms of homelessness and other problems that people walk past without caring about the full context. The style of the photos display Halpern's intentions well as they aren't abstract and are very confrontational in their nature as he doesn't try to hide what the subject matter of the photos are. Many of the images themselves are on a singular page and don't have one next to it on the opposite one, but there are a few exceptions which could've have been done as a form of diptych, to show comparisons or similarities in the subjects. The whole book feels very minimalist, with the cover having no title and only the dots and also the images being very similar in positioning, there not being much text in the whole book at all. As well the title is only found at the back cover which creates an interesting experience as throughout the book the viewer is constantly guessing where the photos had been taken, then you get the title and the viewer has to research it to find out it is a town in California.
Sequencing
For this the task was to sequence a set of unrelated photos and try to find a pattern or create a story. With this first sequence I attempted to put the pictures in sets of two, trying to find something that is common within the photos together. The first two I paired because of the fact they both use wood and that the subjects of both are of furniture, the second pair I've paired up because of the squares from the car and the fencing. The third pair I've are paired together as I tried to make a sentence out of it, " Everybody Has [fallen]" but I dint think it works very well as its not easy to pick up. However, some photos I couldn't find a common theme, for example the fourth pair. The fifth pair is of something that was there to inform being taken away, wether it is a sign on a wall or a piece of paper on a tree, the last pair is meant to be as if they are places that aren't meant to be entered anymore or cannot be entered. Overall, with this sequence I don't feel like I have done that well as with some photos there isn't a common theme or just a loose theme between them.
With this sequence I believe I did better as I tried to link them in themes but also create a flowing idea through a few. For example, the first four images is meant to be a story of a tree, the first image being of the tree before it is cut down, the second has an arrow pointing into the direction of change and how the tree is transformed into furniture (shown in the third and fourth image). Then after I created a contrast between the fifth and sixth images by the fifth being more hopeful in nature ("everybody has") and the sixth being less hopeful and showing something not working anymore, ("closing down"). The next two images are meant to be more comedic in that the bird is watching the two people. The next two are of the road and what is on it (I struggled to find a theme for this one). The last two being something up against something in parallel with eyesight, it being a bit of rubbish in a fence and what is left of a sign, (I also struggled to find a theme within these).
Zeitgeist - Dummy book
The first title idea that came to me was zeitgeist, it meaning the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. I used this title because I thought it would relate to how my style of photos have changed over time (specifically a year), and what I take photos of as I used to take photos of architecture and also the sky when at sunset, but now I found myself liking to street photography or of just objects that I find interesting or humorous. So far in the book I have used both digital and 35mm film to give a look of and older time, or also the newfound popularity of film, this created a challenge of not knowing what the photo will look like and also only having one go at it and also I have recently been interested in using film. Using matte photo paper on a home printer did, however, come with some challenges. Many times the printer ran out ink and I had to buy more and also trying to position the photos came with some challenges as sometimes it came with a border or I just forgot to change it landscape. I had the idea of diptychs but not wanting to directly place them next together, I placed them on separate pages to create more of a surprise when you notice they are similar. The book is also of my local area, which again I wanted to create the challenge of restricting myself to work more creatively, which led me to think of the title local but I didn't think it was good enough.
Lewis Bush Visit
In many of Lewis Bush's work he uses society or conspiracy theory ideas as a main focus. The examples he brought to us fit to this; Metropole, Ways of Seeing, Shadows of the State and Wv.B being the books he brought in. He also explained his process of making a book, and how he thinks of coherent themes. He said for Shadows of the State he was rummaging on the internet and ended up finding old radio waves from spies used during the Cold War, this led to him searching for clues as to where they came from, which of course led him to finding them on google maps to discover that some structures are left there or that they leave marks on the land where trees can't grow. The pages consist of photos from google maps and also some of the radio waves to match the location of where they came from, with a description. Wv.B is about Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun, hence the name Wv.B, and is about his life of two halves, the first being one of German citizenship and help towards the Nazis and even meeting Adolf Hitler. The latter 30 years being one of living in the USA, helping NASA build rockets to send people to the moon in 1969 and meeting John F. Kennedy. The book uses this contrast to its advantage by using an alternative narrative structure, it going forwards and backwards at the same time, done to string the story together. He uses a range of cyanotypes and archive photos of landmarks and locations that support the narrative. Metropole is similar in that halfway through the book there seems to be another narrative, in that the first half is of huge structures taken with 35mm film, the film being double exposed to create more towering and fear inducing images that are inspired by films such as City Symphonies, Manhatta and also Metropolis. What these have in common is that there is a running theme of a city becoming over built, which is used in Metropole in finding this theme within London.
Zeitgeist - Final Book
For the final book I decided to have it perfect bound as it makes the book more professional-like. It also makes the book feel a lot more cleaner as there aren’t any loose threads of string or paper being out of place due to poor binding as I fond with my dummy book after a while. To perfect bind it was simple, all I had to do was place all of the pages together between a book press (I used two heavy books which worked as fine), then I brushed PVA glue to the side of the pages that were sticking out from between the two books. I used 3 layers as I fond 2 to be fairly loose. Once it was dry I printed out the title page which, of course, included the title and the meaning of zeitgeist, this allowed the viewer to gain somewhat of a preview or their own judgement before viewing the pictures. There was somewhat of a struggle however when trying to figure out how to make a cover for the book as I don’t a printer that can use paper above A3, so I improvised by printing the cover out onto an A3 page and cutting it out so it was just longer than A4, this allowed for the but that hasn’t been printed on to wrap around the spine of the book and also be stuck on to the back underneath a piece of A4. If I had realised the problem earlier i may have found a better way to make a cover.
I found that I referred there being a separation between the film photos and the digital photos to be better as the grain from some of the photos are a lot more visible when the film photos are bigger. This makes it much more obvious that it isn’t a digital photo as many of the digital photos in the book are full of detail and can be clearly distinguished from the film. It also makes an interesting relationship between each other as many of the film and digital photos are paired to show a comparison and difference from my history of photography and how my surroundings have shaped it. Now Iprefer the mechanical aspect of a film camera which complements the digital photos well in my opinion as it shows the difference in how far cameras themselves have come, but also displays the resurgence of film with photographers now. For the sequencing of the book itself, I liked the idea of finding similar features in photos and pairing them however obvious they seem or not. In the middle section of the book there are the most obvious with a beer bottle on the floor that is intact, then the proceeding photo being one of a smashed beer bottle, after this there is a photo of a black fence with a lighter shade of wood as part of it, the proceeding photo being one of the same nature as the beer bottle in the fact it has been destroyed in some sense. I find the use of finding similar features in photos interesting as they can sometimes cause a stark contrast or they can be almost the same in nature. If I were to make adjustments to the book I would most likely add more photos as I intended it to be either 24 or 36 to follow how many photos can be taken on one roll of film, to give the idea that I took these photos on one roll of film over a large space of time, to show the progression of my interests in photography. And I may have also attempted to perfect bound it better as the book overall feels somewhat fragile, this may be due to the thickness of the pages themselves and me not putting enough PVA glue on the spine.