What decisions do you make when making a photo book? Let's talk about it. To get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain, go to squarespace.com/mattday INSTAGRAM: / mattdayphoto TWITTER: / mattdayphoto
Excited to receive my copy. This is something that I am excited to share with people. I’ve mentioned your work to many people before, to be able to have a physical version of your art, it is much easier to grab someone’s attention.
Thank you, Matt! You are such an inspiration. Love photobooks, started collecting not so long ago and it's an amazing way to consume photography! Wish I could get your book, maybe in the future
Took me a few months to create my first photobook and those were really fun times. Every aspect of the book should be intentional like you mentioned and I couldn't agree more.
Great to hear Kevin's insight. One of the biggest things I've learnt over this past year is the importance of getting feedback from peers throughout the zine making process
Love that he was specifically talking in the beginning about a larger audience than the small town being photographed. I am considering a photo book project right now. Have shot a decent amount of photos. Need to start going through to see what all I have and where there are still gaps. But this very thought hit me today...will it only resonate with those from that small town (where I grew up) or a bigger audience?
Sometimes, you only learn what your photo album is about is after a year or two, and that leads to a revised 2nd edition. I’ve done this a lot in my career, and I’m working on severs titles right now, in fact. I usually end up trimming down the size, aiming for a shorter, faster & more focused work, but may also work with the running order or change the flow. Think of a photo album like a movie. Your shots need to flow into one another, and cuts from one “scene” to the next may comment on one another. There is a rhythm that must be consistent in order to hold the viewer’s attention. For two books, one 2nd edition originally from 2019, the other my newest album for 2024, I used a recurring series of shots that would serve as the rhythm section, the steady backbeat that sustains the story. For Biotracer (2019), I use shots of a famous sculpture in Chicago’s Grant Park. For Superunknown (2024), I used shots of fashion mannequins from Chicago storefronts. Learn to think of a photo book as a movie or music album. It has an overall theme or focus, it has a story to tell, it has a purpose and a goal. You’re not merely throwing a bunch of pictures together. And you must become comfortable with cutting things out. Indeed, editing is a skill I am still improving upon. For my upcoming portraits book, Exile On Main Street (2024), I have 252 digital images, but the full photo count was easily double that, maybe more. I chopped A LOT out from the final work, which took over a full year to complete. Mind you, my photo albums are far larger than most artists out there (roughly from 140-300 images), but these lessons work with anyone’s projects. Great video, thanks for sharing!
May I suggest "Structure of the Visual Book" by Keith A. Smith - particularly the chapter - Homage to Nathan Lyons. To paraphrase in short: Each image is a "dependent" unit that may preview, reference, and/or echo elements found in other images the book. A book so structured may show one thing, while suggesting other interpretations. Titles by Nathan Lyons: "Notations in Passing" and "Riding First Class on the Titanic".
I was so excited to finally see something on sequencing for a photo book. I hear ya but could you devote a video to going through examples of why certain photos are sequenced together. A while back while combing through a book you commented that the reason for certain pairings was obvious. I would have benefitted from an explanation because it wasn’t obvious to me. Thanks for your content.
