{"id":252,"date":"2023-01-25T22:18:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T22:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/?p=252"},"modified":"2023-01-27T15:30:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:30:42","slug":"the-photobook-narrative-edit-sequence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/the-photobook-narrative-edit-sequence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Photobook: Narrative, Edit & Sequence."},"content":{"rendered":"

In today’s lecture with Paul we looked at a variety of photobooks after a lengthy discussion on the different ways they are constructed and presented by their makers.<\/p>\n

Whatever the format, the book is essentially a narrative by the photographer.<\/p>\n

We have previously looked at ‘Rays a laugh’ by Richard Billingham who tells the story of his father’s\u00a0 alcoholism and its affect on the way he lived. This book has\u00a0 layout has similarities to Deirdre O’Callaghan’s ‘Hide that Can’ [a photographic portrait of Irish migrant labourers] in that they both have quite ‘full on’ or impactful images but then have the occasional ‘respite’ image, that is, an image of a softer nature giving the viewer a little rest from the main hard-hitting images.<\/p>\n

Duane Michals has a different technique of adding narrative text to his images in his own handwriting, This is quite effective and gives a bit more of a personal touch.<\/p>\n

Jon Tonks ‘Empire’ showing the\u00a0 quirky ‘Britishness’ that remains in the people who live on four remote islands of British Territories that were once part of the British Empire, has a thorough description at the front of his book.\u00a0 He also has text in a grey font on the page opposite the image, and shows archival images alongside his own.<\/p>\n

These are just a few examples of a plethora of photobooks available to browse, research and enjoy.<\/p>\n

For this weeks task, we have been asked to consider some of the elements scale, sequence, design, narrative, pace and text, of a monograph from the Library.<\/p>\n

My choice has been a favourite since I started University, ‘The Last Resort’ by Martin Parr.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love this work, it’s a reminder of when I became a proper grown up and had a young family of my own, I remember the hardships of when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and the joys of having a few days holiday away from the mundane.\u00a0 Thankfully we didn’t go to New Brighton, but I’m sure at that time Prestatyn had similar well populated slightly run down areas that we managed to avoid!<\/p>\n

This is a snapshot of holiday life in the early 80’s.\u00a0 It was not well received when first published but looking at it now from this point in time it has quite a nostalgic appeal to a much wider audience.\u00a0 I have no doubt that the social history of this work is of huge importance especially as sadly the Lido was deemed beyond repair after extensive storm damage and closed in 1990.<\/p>\n

Parr\u00a0 has an introduction by Gerry Badger over five pages after the initial title page.<\/p>\n

The scale and design is one 20 x 25cm landscape image on each right hand page and no text at all.<\/p>\n

The very first image is an elderly couple in a what was then a typical old fashioned tea room, from then on the sequence is fairly consistent with images combinations of grouped people, families, children and babies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are three double page images throughout the book the first at 20\/21 they do have similar images of children and parents on fairground rides<\/p>\n

The second double image at pages 48\/49 have ‘Beauty contest’ participants awaiting judgment however one is of grown women, the other little girls each holding their contestant number.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The third at pages 62\/63 again has some humour in that the pose of the little boy with his outstretched arms looks as though he’s balancing and trying not to fall from a low wall, on the opposite page is a young woman in similar pose appearing to be mid dance on a raised platform at the front of a building.\u00a0 The obvious other parallel between the images is the rubbish which just draws the eye and makes you cringe!<\/p>\n

I would imagine that the double images have been deliberately put this way by Parr, but it could also be the case that the number of images is also determined by the of construction of the book.<\/p>\n

The pace of bright colours and a variety of well populated pictures continues throughout the book with just perhaps the odd one or two with a single person in the foreground.<\/p>\n

All the images are the well recognised Parr colour format.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The narrative to me is the exploration of a typical British lower and working class family day out or holiday in a slightly worn and tired British seaside resort in the 80s.<\/p>\n

The colourful over-bright pictures give a sort of comical appeal but they are tinged with a certain sadness, the feeling of resignation from the\u00a0 people in them, their financial limitations and status extends only to the briefest get away to New Brighton.<\/p>\n

Parr came from a middle class background, but I am sure he still experienced his own version of New Brighton at a young age and perhaps that’s why he chose to capture The Last Resort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today’s lecture with Paul we looked at a variety of photobooks after a lengthy discussion on the different ways they are constructed and presented by their makers. Whatever the format, the book is essentially a narrative by the photographer. We have previously looked at ‘Rays a laugh’ by Richard Billingham who tells the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268,"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berrow.me.uk\/alison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}