Introducing a Photo Book in Remembrance

Looking back to Autumn 2011 I photographed my Nana’s vanity case in homage to her life. I promised my Grandfather that I would make him a photo book solely dedicated to her life.

Over Christmas I sat with Grandad and looked through artefacts of hers: her violin which she played at the Royal Albert Hall at a young age accompanied with programmes and tickets. Here are these images, of which I took on 120mm medium format black and white film. I would like to make a photo book with an edited collection of images that can perfectly portray her kindness before tragically a degenerative disease, dementia, took her away from us. This is a homage to her life and I am going to start here from something she was always very proud of- her appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Tree of Lights © Kate Green, 2012, All Rights Reserved

Homage to a Precious Object

Reblogged from KateGreenPhotography:

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We were asked to take a series of images of the most precious possession. 

Choosing my object was easy. Earlier this year, my Nana passed away from dementia: it emotionally had a huge impact upon my life and photography. At the time I used this box in a lot of my photography as it was her vanity case that she gave to me. 

Read more… 250 more words

This is the start of my Summer project: revisiting my homage to a precious object: just got to recap.

Crowded by Kate Green

So here it is! The book is bound! I chose a teal cover which is hard back to bind the book. I had the photographs printed at the Print Bureau on matte paper so that it would not crease the same way in which glossy would; however, the paper does scratch and tarnish, which makes it more precious to handle. The photo book is tiny and easy to hold in the hands and the photographs appear to want to be bigger because of the tight border, which I think highlights how the characters in the narrative want to escape. The fact that it’s a concertina and can be pulled out further consolidates this.

I enjoyed binding the book; however, carelessly I over glued the spine and so the paper has become a little tarnished and the last photograph has been damaged by the glue as well. However, as a first copy I am happy with the size and how it looks so if I wanted to make more, they would be of a higher quality. I like the texture of the title on the front: I printed off the title and backed it to thicken up the paper then covered it in tissue paper to give it a more home made feel.

Overall

Despite having a tight deadline, I have enjoyed this task very much and making an artefact that can be physically held. I feel that looking at other photographers and speaking to my colleagues has greatly helped this experience. If I did it again, I would definitely have spent a little more caution on those finer things in making my book.

Title and Presentation

Because I have edited the photographs as pairs and also as a whole, I thought that making my set of images in the form of a concertina book would be ideal: this way the images can be viewed two ways. Because of my theme of a claustrophobic space, I thought that I would therefore light my book to be small and the images to have narrow borders. I therefore chose to place the images in Photoshop 10cm by 10cm with a 0.5cm border.

With 14 images I wanted to print them in sets of 7, I had to consider where the folds would be so I used guidelines on Photoshop to help me place the images precisely. Because of the nature of making a concertina, I had to leave excess paper in order to glue the two sets together.

I wanted to keep my title very simple and I’m calling it ‘Crowded’ so that it gives the viewer the information of how this is a going to be a closed space. I don’t feel that a viewer needs to know any more information of who the characters are or where they are so I am not going to add an introduction either.

Ordering and Theme

After editing my photographs I came to the conclusion that there was a negative feel to my images; the two characters seem cramped in one space, but it is not ever clear what the space actually looks like or where the people are within it.

Considering my narrative, I decided to keep it simply going from morning to evening: there isn’t a pivotal moment within the images that could show a change of events; the images seem to be very ‘still’ as if to say that this life being confined to one space is endless without progressing; yet there is tension as there is hope with how the faces are lit looking to the one light source that is the window. However, the characters do have access to the outside world through the laptop and phones. Thus the temperature changes throughout. I chose images that were different in black space which very much focuses the eye on the lit detail.

Pairing images is important; I did not want portraits next to one another so that the narrative is more about the space than the relationship between the two people. The two people are never in any frame together neither. A viewer may read into this how they wish for it could be argued that there is tension between the characters with the pauses between them of still lives. When paring the images, I looked at how the light made crescents on objects and faces thus I wanted to put these together to highlight the continuity of where the light source is and how the light dictates the space. At the same time, the slits in the curtains are repeated throughout: this is inspired by Joel Meyerowitz in Oxbow Archive.

Editing Down

Collecting all my images together I had 306 photographs and I wanted to edit them down to identify the best quality that would also work to make a narrative for my final piece.

I initially did this on my own by printing off four images to one A4 page and picked out the few that I definitely wanted to be in the final edit; then I had a pile of similar images which I wanted fresh eyes for and then there was my dismissed pile.

From printing the images, I then turned to Adobe Bridge and used the star system to then separate the best, the possibilities and the rejections. In the categories I could then see the chosen as a set and see how they work together to make a narrative or whether there are some images too similar. I feel that this is a great cost-effective way to edit images; you can look at the collection as thumbnails and as a ‘filmstrip’ to see how the images follow each other.

I chose my favourite images to change the levels and the temperature to really emphasise just how my eyes could see the light, this did not require much editing. Yet, as we went through my images, it was clear that the mood that my images were portraying was that of negative connotations than positive.

However, I certainly feel that having other people look at your work helps as they will take something different from the work. For example, I had the intention of highlighting how a couple share one space, yet, as the the editing went on, it has turned to how this couple are confined to this claustrophobic space.

Joel Meyerowitz – La Natura delle Citta

This photo book, published in Italy and written in Italian has a collection of photographs from Meyerowitz in New York, San Pietroburgo (Saint Petersburg), At;anta and Saint Louis. Meyerowitz documents the three cities at different times of day: New York, being so built up with skyscrapers, feeling claustrophobic, it is less clear what the times of day are.

The series which I most prefer is san Pietroburgo: Meyerowitz charactaristically uses the time of day in which he shot the image which gives the viewer a clear indication of how the natural light has an effect on its environment through a day.

The other series I like it Saint Louis: it has hazy sunrises with mist looming over the ground. This is an idyllic scene, very soft on the eye.

I personally have looked through this book knowing that I was looking for how light effects the environment at different times; what a brilliant photo book for it.

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1994, All Rights Reserved

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1994, All Rights Reserved

Saint Louis © Joel Meyerowitz, 1994, All Rights Reserved

Self Portraits

I thought more about Mary McCartney’s work and wanted to do some self portraits so that there are two characters in my story. This will therefore tie Jamie and I together to create a photographic interest in the relationship. I was keen on the light this morning; the cloud cover meant that the colour temperature in my room was very blue, but later on the sun came out and I opened my curtains a little more to see how the light changes my room and what it had on my body. I like the contrast between the skin and the creases in the bed sheets. I wanted to capture the light, just as my eyes were: blue, and contrasted.

Joel Meyerowitz – Cape Light

Cape Light is another photo book by Joel Meyerowitz. In it is a collection of colour photographs of the late 1970s as colour photography was in a ‘noticeable accleteration’ (Clifford Ackley). The series of photographs are somewhat romantic as we follow Meyerowitz around his Cape home in Truro: looking down corridors and over the balcony at different times of day which shows just how the light has different poetic effects on the environment, offering different moods to the collection.

Plate 7 is a night scene on the porch with warm orange light coming from inside which contrasts the deep blue sky. This fiery tone illustrates destruction or possibly huge passion and desire: this is coupled with the lightning strike in the background of the image.

The book guides the viewer from house to beach, to swimming pools, to shops giving a clear view of the area. Meyerowitz seems very confident with the area and how light has an astounding effect. Throughout the book, there are images that follow one another which are of the same place but at different time with different lighting and weather. This offers the viewer an insight into not only the climate, but how the space is used and how it changes. This is, for me, an excellent part of this series of light and colour and gives the viewer something more to consider; at the same time, although the same place, people’s different ‘horizons’ and views will dictate which photograph they prefer.

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1978, All Rights Reserved

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1978, All Rights Reserved

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1978, All Rights Reserved

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1978, All Rights Reserved

© Joel Meyerowitz, 1978, All Rights Reserved

Mary McCartney – From Where I Stand

This photo book by photographer (and daughter of Sir Paul McCartney) Mary McCartney is based on her standpoint as she goes behind the scenes of fashion shows and at theatre dressing rooms. However, there are also series of photographs that are more intimate, which to me are more inspirational. There is only a small handful out of the collection of what really appears to be a portfolio of work; yet it is far more interesting than her celebrity portraits of Madonna and Beth Ditto.

© Mary McCartney, 2012 All Rights Reserved

I love the use of natural light in these that give a soft glow to the characters; it also highlights how the situations are more personal as the viewer is allowed into this intimate space. What caught my attention was McCartney’s quote ” I like the stories that beds tell, the imprints of memories, or safety and peace “. This perfectly sums up my previous blog posts of relaxing in bed in the mornings with the light streaming through. However, I personally would like to see the images in colour: I assume that they are I’m black and white for a reason; yet, from what I understand of this sort of lighting, the colours are soft to the eye.

I particularly am drawn to the child stood on a ned looking out the window: the trees outside look like they are in bloom, so summertime. The swimming shorts consolidate this argument and thus therefore, one can assume that there is something outside that the child longs to do. Not giving the child an identity allows the viewer to identify with the emotions portrayed as he stands on the very edge of his bed.