I had both a virtual and several weeks later a written report back from my tutor on my work for Assignment Four. On the whole the feedback was positive. He considers the project is coming together well and progressing in the right direction.
We discussed the editing process and the possibility of further images but as he said this is an iterative process and can’t be achieved in a single hit, there maybe weeks of looking at the images either on a screen or on a wall. The final result needs to be cohesive and I need to keep records of how these have changed. This I have to admit I don’t probably do as well as I should, completing changes automatically without photographing – lesson to learn.
My tutor suggested reviewing a large number of photobooks through twitter and other on-line platforms. This was a little frustrating as you don’t always get to see the whole book but I did find the MACK site for photobooks and they offer a large video section so that was a great source of information on size, approach and layout. The book approach is not my first choice for this project as I would much prefer to produce prints but if it is to be a book then I want it to be small, A5 with square images. To me this is a more intimate size.
It was suggested I look at the work by Tessa Buney, she uses a very simple layout with lots of negative space which makes you really focus on the image. I like how you feel like an observer, these isn’t any direct eye contact but there is still a feeling of being connected, part of their life. This is something I wanted to bring to my images.
Overall, it seems to be a case of continue doing the editing, produce a book and record everything I do, which I think I am as much as I can in my Work in Progress blog but will increase the amount I post.
Michele Usher 