Photobooks
I decide to look at these photobooks as inspiration for my fmp. We have to create a photobook in the publishing stage of the unit. I want to focus mainly on the designs and layout and how they are used to emphasise the narrative of each book. I also want to look at how the designs differ for each genre and how it compliments the photographs.
- An Opinionated Guide to London Green Spaces by Harry Adès and Marco Kesseler
Publisher: Hoxton Mini Press
Design:
- Modern Cover
- Bright Green
- Traditional font used on inside if book showing that it’s an informative piece of text
- White boarders around photographs to frame them
- Some of the photographs are displayed small scale to go with the text
- Some of the pictures are displayed over a double page mainly landscape
- Use of white space creates a pause within the sequence as photographs are quite detailed
An Opinionated Guide to London Green Spaces is a photobook of the best parks and natural landscapes in London. The aim of this book is to inform people about places to visit in the capital and possible inspire them to go there. It is covers places such as medium sized parks, enchanting walks, urban zoos and more. It is a small scale paper back boom which is quite intimate and full of useful information. The concept of the book is to break the stereotype that London is only full of urban areas and skyscrapers, it states in the book that it is one of the greenest cities in the world. The book was published by Hoxton Mini Press, they often produce books with quite a modern design no matter what the subjects. That is their signature style, when you see their books in person you will instantly know that they are the publishers due to the design and layout. I decided to look at this book as inspiration for my own photobook that I have to produce during the publishing stage of the unit. When looking closely at the design I was intrigued by the way they sequenced the images for this book, each location had it's own section. When they introduce the location they have a portrait photograph on the right page as that is the one that people tend to look at first when they turn the page and then the text is on the left page quite small scale. Some of the more detailed photographs are displayed over a double page to make the whole composition visible. Most of the photographs have simple subjects that are associated with the locations. When looking at the book I feel more informed about the green spaces in London, it is quite a commercial book as it is trying to persuade the viewer to visit the locations. When creating my own book I am going to capture various parts of an area, this book could influence the way they are sequenced as I could put them in order of where they located.
- Pastoral by Alexander Gronsky
Publisher: Contrasto
Design:
- Traditional
- Documentary style
- Sharp font
- Front cover is a picture from inside the book
- Some of the photographs have a white boarder to frame the pictures
- Some are full bleed especially ones with busy compositions as it allows the reader to focus on the picture
- Landscape/square format
- Pictures are sequenced to emphasise the narrative of the location
Pastoral is a photobook that depicts the surroundings and activities of Moscow's suburbs. It is a documentary photo series that shows how people find solitude away from the busy city in the outskirts. It captures the contrast of urban area against nature. It shows life on the other side away from the city. A lot of the photographs were taken from a wide perspective to capture the large scale of the area in comparison to the details. The particular photographs I was drawn to were the ones of the power plants and the construction works against the green areas showing the perspective of the to the parts of the industrial city in the background. Another photograph I was drawn to was the blocks of three flats reflected into the river. The sky is extremely bright which created the sharp reflection. This photograph merges man-made structures and nature. The photobook seems to be displayed in a landscape/square format. I personally do not want to do that for my own book as you can see on the pages that the white boarders are uneven, I feel that this distracts the focus from the photograph. In my opinion this kind of shape would work better with full bleed as it would take up the whole page. I like the cover as it is a picture from the inside of the booklet has a lot of negative space from the sky that makes room for the text of the title. I looked at this photobook as I was mostly interested in it's concept of the outskirts of the city and how the landscape photographs are displayed in the layout. I think the most fascinating part of this photobook was how the concept was portrayed through the pictures through built environments and different aspects of the landscapes.
- Along The Hackney Canal (Book 11: East London Photo Stories) by Freya Najade
Publisher: Hoxton Mini Press
Design:
- Calm Colours e.g Blue tones
- Dreamlike Aesthetic
- Picture used as front cover from inside the book
- Sharp font
- Not much writing inside the book as the sequence and narrative in the photographs tell the story
- Portrait format
Along The Hackney Canal is a photobook from the East London photo series. It shows Hackney Canal from an abstract and surreal perspective. The book contains photographs of close up details of the canal and landscape shots with a wider view. This photobook does not have much writing in the book as the sequence tells the narrative through the photographs rather than it having to be explained through text. The aesthetic of these photographs are quite dream-like from the misty weather and blue tones. The book was published in a portrait format even though most of the photographs are landscape. The cover contains a photograph from the inside of the book. The design of the pages are interesting as you can see two pictures on a portrait double page that are landscape but it works because of the white boarder which balances the page. I wanted to look at this book for inspiration on how to sequence my own image in a photobook.
