Further Research on Book Layouts and Ideas (Week 13)

I first started looking at book layouts in Week 3 of the Final Major Project (FMP).  I was inspired at that stage by the Guest Lecture by Victoria Forrest and her hints and tips for moving forward with producing a book https://wp.me/p9BvX0-D9.  At that time I was intending to produce a book as a celebration of my work on the MA Photography.  However, my thinking has changed because of the significant changes and developments in my practice over FMP to date.  I have spent the first three months of FMP producing new work and developing my practice.  I feel my work is changing in both its approach and influences.  I am moving much further away from literal representation and towards abstract images in my search for the ephemeral hiddenness of Skye.  My influences are now not only from the photographic world but from art and in particular J M W Turner and Claude Monet.  I am also now working in colour (all my previous Work in Progress portfolios submitted for the MA were in monochrome) and whilst I am not averse to producing a mixed black and white/colour format for the book I think I need to think about this in terms of the messages and intent of the publication rather than from an entirely aesthetic point of view.

I have been reviewing Victoria Forrest’s website as it is really helpful in showing all the books she has worked on and describing the format and design decisions made.  I am particularly interested at this point in the page layouts chosen as I have been working on some mock ups of my work in electronic book format although my comments below cover a range of aspects of the book production process.

Further Lane – Zak Powers (Victoria Forrest)

Further Lane by Zak Powers was a book designed by Victoria that took my eye in those early days.  I am particularly attracted by the cloth, printed cover and the contrast of colours – grey and orange.  It is simple but very effective.  This style continues with the simple titling of the photographer and the title of the book.  Within the book itself a range of page layouts have been used including double page spreads with the image extending across the two pages and two separate images across a spread.

Male Stripper – Jim Lambie (Victoria Forrest)

Jim Lambie’s book Male Stripper caught my attention because of its very innovative format.  It has a hard back cover and a 16 page book at the beginning and then a further 16 page foldout behind.  I am attracted by this format and think it would be especially appropriate for a book where a journey was involved as it implies a linear approach.  This is a format I will keep in mind but I need to be clear why I would be using it.

The Reader – Sophie Calle, Whitechapel Art Gallery (Victoria Forrest)

I love Sophie’s Calle’s work and have researched in previous modules her use of words alongside her images so I was interested in an Exhibition Catalogue that Victoria Forrest had designed for the Whitechapel Gallery.  Again, a simple white cover with gold lettering leads into a gold title page, and then moves into a black and white format about Calle’s work:

Rainforests – HRH The Prince’s Rainforest Trust (Victoria Forrest)

Although I am assuming this book produced for The Prince’s Rainforest Trust is a large format, again I was attracted by the canvas cover:

Inside the View – Helen Sear (Victoria Forrest)

In terms of Helen Sear’s Book Inside the View I was interested in the page layout particularly as she was presenting square format images which is my intention at this stage.  They are presented on white pages which I think is what I will choose and also appear to have monochrome images in the same book.

I recently purchased a book called Fragile by Valda Bailey which I discuss below.  I found out that her book was produced by Triplekite Books and this led me to investigate their work.  Apparently, they are well-known in landscape photography circles as producers of high-quality large format books however, I was interested to learn that a few years ago they branched out to produce smaller books to support lesser-known photographers too as well as supporting the lesser-known work of established photographers.  For example, Framed by Chris Friel:

and the beautiful mountain photographs of  Greg Whitton:

With Trees – Dav Thomas – (Triplekite Books)

With Trees by Dav Thomas is a current book published by Triplekite Books:

Fragile – Valda Bailey (Triplekite Books)

Fragile by Valda Bailey is a beautifully presented book and as well as inspiring me in my photographic work it has also led me to some interesting publishers in Triplekite.  Whilst I am not yet at the stage of having a fully formed proposal or a complete set of images I will certainly keep them in mind as my work develops and my book ideas take shape.

 

References

Bailey, V. 2016. Fragile. Triplekite Publishing, Chicago.

Forrest, V. Design by Victoria.  Available at:

https://designbyvictoria.com/ [accessed on 29 August 2019].

Parkin, T. 2016. Triplekite Mini Book Reviews in On Landscape, 23 February 2016. Available at:

https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2016/02/triplekite-mini-book-reviews/ [accessed on 29 August 2019].