Process Book
My Fingers Between Your Toes
January 02/24
Eat Sleep Work Play
IMAGE: Central Saint Martins Graduate Catalogue
http://www.eatsleepworkplay.com/
https://www.zamirantonio.com/
January 02/24
Typical Organization for Standards and Orrder
IMAGE: Camera Design No.14
June 2022
https://www.instagram.com/typicalorganization/
https://typical-organization.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gaelbonnefon/
https://www.instagram.com/sunsun_editions/
For 'Aux jours inoubliables' (The Unforgettable Days) a photo book by Gaël Bonnefon we proposed a composition that would add hypothetical missing images and blanc pages. Instead of highlighting 'Unforgettable' we believed it more typical to emphasize on 'Forgetting'. Only when we forget we seem to remember. Or thinking by the negative space is rather effective and affective.
January 02/24
Process
IMAGE: Camera Design No.14
June 2022
Aimed at children ages five and up, this clever and surprising picture book by artists and collaborators, Jason Fulford and Tamara Shopsin, takes young viewers on a whimsical journey while teaching them associative thinking and visual language, as well as colors, shapes and numbers. Through a simple narrative and a rhythmic sequence of photographs, the book generates multiple meanings, making the experience of reading the book interactive—parent and child must ask questions and come up with their own answers, drawing on the child's imagination. Each spread presents a new relationship that changes and shifts as the book unfolds, with the last picture relating again to the first, forming a circle. Through playful and inspired sequencing, everyday scenes are transformed into a game of pairs, enjoyable for adults and children alike.
March 15/24
Zoetrope Athens
instagram.com/zoetrope.athens
In the second week of the photobook workshop at Zoetrope, the tutor, George, asked us to bring small printed copies of our work. We took turns spreading the images out on a table and discussed editing, sequencing, narrative, and patterns. It’s quite an intimidating exercise, but definitely very productive. George made his own selection from the spread—based more on visuals than narrative—and it was really interesting to notice which images resonated with people, and which ones, despite my personal connection to them, seemed to say less to others. It was also interesting to see that reflected in the way ther other members of the workshop related to their own work, and seeing how hard and important it can be to let ideas you have fromed change or even drop.
March 08/24
Lucas, Eric Stephanian
IMAGE: Lucas, Eric Stephanian, Self-Published 2013.
I began a photobook workshop at Zoetrope Athens. In the first session, the tutor, George, showed a variety of different styles of photobooks, while discussing what a photobook actually is and how we define one. This self-published book—possibly printed on a home printer—really stuck with me. Entitled Lucas, the book consists of just one photo. On each turn of the page, the image is zoomed out slightly. There is only one piece of text, which tells us that the image is a single photograph of the photographer’s son, taken during the only opportunity he was given to meet his child.
There isn’t much more information available online about the book or the photographer, but there is an interesting article here.. The simplicity is really powerful, and what’s left unsaid—the unanswered questions—allows the work to continue challenging you.
March 01/24
Jim Goldberg, Coming and Going
Mack Books, 2023
“This book charts a course through the grief following the death of one’s parents, the life-altering birth of a child, the heartbreak of divorce, and the rediscovery of love.”
The book seems breathtaking. One image in particular (top right) blew me away. It appears to show skin shavings on a black surface, with the handwritten note: DAD’S LAST SHAVE. There’s another incredible image showing his wristwatch at the time of his father’s death—calling back to the famous Josef Koudelka image. It all feels brutally honest and raw, yet intimate and loving.
I had also intended this project to be a one-year diary when it began, but I’m leaning towards a longer span of time—maybe documenting my 30s and 40s and all the events I’ll go through. A shift from being a child or young adult into full adulthood.
Hopefully, eventually, I’ll be able to order a copy.
February 27/24
IMAGE: Camera Design No.14
June 2022
I decided to play around and make a very quick handmade test, inspired by Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s I Carry Her Photo with Me. I had gone back to my hometown, where I went to school and college. I met my graphic design teacher for a beer and got some of his feedback and criticism on the project. I also asked him if he had one of the sketchbooks that we used to use for our projects. He managed to get one and brought it with him.
I cut it in half, printed the project, and began using a glue stick to come up with a sort of narrative.
Obviously, it’s very quickly done without too much thought, but I think it has something. The spiral-bound, ad hoc, diary format is definitely something to keep exploring. I love the idea too that the actual notebook calls back to my adolescence—though a viewer wouldn’t know tha
February 12/24
Lindokuhle Sobekwa
‘I carry Her photo with Me’
IMAGE: I carry Her photo with me, MACK Books
I came across this book by Lindokuhle Sobekwa. I have only seen it digitally; hopefully, eventually I can get my hands on a physical copy and understand it better. The images document the photographer dealing with the disappearance of his sister and only owning one picture of her, in which her face had been cut out. Again, it seems to be a kind of exploration of memories and how they are understood through current narratives.
It caught my eye because of this diary, scrapbook design. It feels like it could be appropriate for my work. It’s beautiful how the image is cut in two and stuck on either side of the spiral binder, and isn’t intended to quite line up. The handmade style calls back to photo albums or childhood art projects and diary-like expressions of ideas. The image divided brings me back to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — incomplete, broken memories being brought back together and an attempt to preserve and understand them.
There is an interesting Magnum article here about his work, and an interesting talk here.
February 10/24
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
A friend, Yannis, recommended this book to me. I had been showing him my photographs, and he suggested I would find something in these stories. Indeed, it has really resonated with me. Short stories of a moment in a person’s life, charged full of everything. The title alone... This story in particular caught something in me:
I’d love to make a portrait of Yanni for this project.
February 03/24
Test Prints
IMAGE: Early booklets printed at home
I have been looking back at early booklets I printed at home and stapled together, trying to get a feel for the narrative and flow, and what could be cut. It's funny how almost finished a project can feel, but later, with hindsight, it seems so clearly naive. At the same time, I think doing fast, unserious prints like this often can really help develop understanding, and some pairings or rhythms can be spotted that stick with me. Having said that, maybe the final result should be reborn, when the photographing part has ended. I am not sure what’s the best process.
January 14/24
IMAGE: Camera Design No.14
June 2022
Finally got around to organising all of my film from the first two years of the project. There’s something quite nice about this as an object. Maybe a final photobook could take some reference from it.
January 07/24
Charlie Kaufman
IMAGE: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Being John Malkovich (1999), I’m Thinking of Ending Things, (2022)
Next week I’ll be starting a photobook workshop at Zoetrope Athens. I’ve been putting together a small presentation about the project, and reflecting on some inspirations. I am in awe of Charlie Kaufman. Bleak but hopeful, the odd feeling of falling into memories and distorting ideas, a strange self-awareness, and always a slight feeling of horniness. There is a great texture and very human feeling to his films. He also uses some ideas that on paper would be unoriginal: dreaming bed scenes, bubble baths, overcast car journeys — but he splices them, takes a step back from them, almost helps us to look at them from a new vantage. This lecture is full of great insight:January 02/24
Process
IMAGE: Camera Design No.14
June 2022
So, the idea is to keep a record of ideas, inspirations, experiments and anything else that influences the course of the project, as something to refer back to, present, and use to grow my critical and creative thinking.