Re-try tracing paper

Since I have sort of changed my idea and am now using light to aid the transparency of my images.. I decided to retry the tracing paper.
I wondered if perhaps when held to the light it would become transparent.
Here is the test:

It is slightly more see-through against the light, but still not enough for how I want it to be.
The colour is still there, sometimes when light is put behind an image the colour can fade, but in this instance it doesn't which is nice.

Unfortunately though I don't think it will work for this project.

Charity websites

I looked at the websites of the six charities that I had emailed.

Everything on most of the websites is about hungry, ill and poverty-stricken children. There is a lot about disaster and poverty on each website.
I know that they want people to help but the imagery that they are using only adds to the stereotypes and perception that all Africa needs is help from the West and that they are all poor and needy.

This is not true! Yet, there is nothing to tell us otherwise. Everywhere we look we are bombarded with the same message - that we need to give money to help African Children.


On Tearfund's website (http://www.tearfund.org/) they have a few success stories visible for people to clearly see and read. They are from people who have been helped by one of the Tearfund projects.

The Compasison website (http://www.compassionuk.org/) also has more positive imagery to be seen and doesn't only show poverty and disaster. The immediate feeling you get from the site is quite warm I think, the imagery is of happy children. And although there are things on there to try and encourage you to sponsor a child or donate money, they are not what catches the eye straight away.

Responses from charities

I only heard back from three of the six charities that I e-mailed. And within their very polite text was the following responses:

 



All three of them pointed me towards their respective websites to try and find the information I am looking for.
They do have the information of their aims and mission statements online, but I feel that these are really very generic.
I understand also that they don't perhaps have the time to respond to such e-mails and questions, however, if they are trying to make people feel connected and wanting money support or help with aid surely they should be replying (even if it is a generic email that is sent to all people who ask, outlining their mission statement, which has been written and saved as a document and just forwarded to the inquiry). The want people to spend time giving money, or fundraising, or visiting the poverty-stricken places, yet they don't have time the inquiring person feel valued and connected.

So now, I will try to look through their websites to see what I can find that could possibly answer my questions.

Fabric experimentation

I brought some fabric that you can print onto from a craft fair this weekend. I thought it would be really fun to see what it would look like if I printed this image onto it.
Well, it worked out really well and it is so simple to do. When it has no light behind it you can just see the image, but when it is held up to the light it becomes more transparent.

I then tried layering the fabric over the acetate text and image (above). It worked really well I think. I was hoping that it would work but I didn't expect it to be as good as it has turned out.
I also like that the trees aren't lined up properly so it gets a sort of 3D/shadow effect on it.

However, it is already very apparent that the fabric frays so easily, you just have to touch it and it all starts coming apart. If I use it then I will have to sew the edges or something to stop it from doing this all the time.

True feelings

To be honest, I am feeling really disheartened with this project.
I really don't want to give up but at this point it just feels like its going nowhere and it's just not working. I don't know what it is thats making me feel like that though. =/ I just feel so rubbish about it.

I really like the print on acetate and the text. But i don't feel like it's enough. How can it be enough?
But.. its a representation of my trip.

I feel so passionate about the subject matter and what im trying to show, but i just.. it's not showing through! I'm not doing it justice - I feel like I can't do it!

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Sometimes, I just want to scream!

Drawing

I tried doing some drawing of slave ships and islands to try layering but it just really didn't look or feel right.

I really don't like drawing and it doesnt come easily to me, so i really felt like I was labouring it a little bit too much for it to be an inspired drawing or anything like that.

Here is an example of one of the ships:

It just didn't aid the overall look and feel that I want for my project.

I tried it at least, but I wont be adding any drawing to my work.

Making it personal

Ive been trying to think of ways to make my project more personal and I am really struggling. I don't want to add anything that will take away from the imagery, or that will make the concept so much more difficult to understand. Or just make it all look to busy and overcrowded.
I think it represents me and my trip to The Gambia in that it is my image and I am bringing all of the elements together to tell a story. You don't look at the image and see the history of James Island and straight away know about the slaves etc.
The history and darkness is hidden totally by the idyllic image, the viewer must do research into the meaning of my work to know what it truly represents.

(This is what I have written my mixed media essay based on. How the meaning of a photograph can be hidden from the viewer.)

One way I have considering making this piece of work more personal, was to stitch into the text. I thought about stitching certain words from the text which help tell the story, or that stood out to me as being important or moving.

However, this really didn't work. The only materials I could get the needle and thread through were paper, tracing paper and fabric. The acetate was just too tough to get it through.
As I really want to print onto the acetate, this isn't going to work.
I would need an industrial, super sharp sewing machine to be able to stitch into the acetate. This costs money and takes time, and I don't have enough of either to do it.

So.. I will keep thinking...

E-mailing Charities

As part of my book I want to include some sort of quotes or text about the perception of Africa and African children. I feel it would work well if I could get some from charities who are working in Africa at present, it will back up what I am saying with my images.

I have e-mailed a few charities that I am aware of working at present in Africa. This is a copy of my email..

Obviously, I inserted the name of the charity that I was e-mailing in the '...' space.

I'm hoping that their responses, if I get one, will be helpful in looking into why charities feel that Africa is in need of help nowadays. We all know that it does need some aid, but do we really know what the charities' and organizations' reasons and aims are in providing aid? I think we just see the imagery and hear the words, but don't stop to consider the reasoning or think any further into these things as individuals.

I hope that these responses will also help me to figure out in what way I want to use my imagery from The Gambia, and help to solidify my presentation reasoning.


I e-mailed this out to the following charities:

- UNICEF
- Tearfund
- Compassion
- Save the Children
- World Vision
- Oxfam

Experimenting

Because my image worked so well printed onto acetate, I wanted to see how well text printed onto acetate.

Here is my test:

I photocopied a random page from the 'Roots' book on the photocopier. The good thing about printing onto acetate, is if the text comes out backwards you just turn the acetate over.
I really like this.
I knew it would work because many people do this and project using text on acetate.
I just wanted to check that it worked printing off of the printers at university. And it does! yey so no expensive costs involved.

So then I put the image and text together and this is how it looks:

I absolutely love it. It works so well. It gives extra depth to the image and makes the tree really stand out i feel.
I tried it the other way around but the text was so overpowering you couldnt see the image as clearly below it.

I feel that I perhaps need to make it a little more personal, add a layer in that links it back to my trip to The Gambia. I'm not sure how to do this yet though.

What is a photo book?

Bello, P. D., Wilson, C. E., & Zamir, S. (2012) The photobook: From Talbot to Rushca and beyond, London: I.B. Taurus

 Page 3

".. it must present something more than a mere collection of images; it must demonstrate intention and coherence in design.."

"The photobook has a 'particular subject - a specific theme' and what matters most is how the images work together: 'the sum, by definition, is greater than the part'." 

These are points that I need to consider and remember when collating and ordering my book. I need to use images that fit together to demonstrate my intentions. I need to remember not to just throw a group of photographs in and hope that they work, I need to get across my theme and my meanings well and in a way that the viewer will understand. 

Book 4

Seawright, P., & Bamford, I (2013) Volunteer, Dublin: Artist Photo Books

I liked this book from the moment I picked it up off the shelf. The cover is soft and smooth... it is inviting to the viewer straight off the shelf. I had never considered that the cover is an important part of the book as well as the subject matter inside. The image or text on the front cover I know has to be eye catching and attention grabbing to first of all get somebody to pick it up, but that transfer from taking it off the shelf to opening the front page is also quite important.

The layout and composition changes throughout the book, some images are double page, some on the left side and some on the right side. With all of the images though there is a border around the image, none are completely full bleed.
The pages are crisp white and so the images really pop off the page. It is clean and bright and the book opens flat which means you can really see the whole image and dive into it.

The images pulled me in and kept me focused. The subject matter is not that exciting to me, but I really enjoyed looking through and spending time with this book.

There is no text within this book, just an introduction to the project at the beginning. The introduction does a really good job of explaining the book in a short amount of text, when looking through the photographs I understood what I was looking at and I think that did help to guide me through the book.

Experimentation

My next test is on Acetate.

I am really happy with how this test came on. The colours are visible, not as bright as on normal white paper but you can see the colours. When held up to the light the image is still visible.

I think that it already has a sense of life by being slightly see-through. Sort of an air of mystery to the image.

I am definitely going to be using acetate in my final piece. It is great because although it is still see-through the image is also just as visible so the layering should work well using acetate. I will try this as one of my later experiments.

Experimenting

I wanted to try printing on some unusual materials, as well as see-through.

This is a plastic wallet. As you can see it didn't work. The ink stained slightly but then just rubbed off and smudged as it came out of the printer. I think that the surface is too slippery and nothing for the ink to soak into or stain.
I won't be using this material as part of my final piece. It was a little too unsuccessful.

Book 3

Arbus, D., Isreal, M., & Arbus, D (1997) Diane Arbus New York, NY: Aperture Foundation

This book is a compilation of images, so is not just one project. The composition is the same all the way through with image on the right page and text on the left page.
The image is placed in the same space, centered with equal border on top and bottom of the page, and equal spacing on the right and left of the image.
This works well because the book runs smoothly. It does not disconnect the viewer or break the flow part way through.

The text is always at the bottom left of the page facing the text.
I think this works well because it shows that it is joined to the photograph, yet it gives the image its own space by being on the other page. The text is in line with the bottom of the facing photograph.

The photographs are black and white throughout which adds the emotion to the photograph and also adds to the smooth flow of the book. Arbus' photographs make statements and some are a little shocking to the viewer even in black and white, so if they were colour I think that it would pull the viewer away perhaps or would disjoint and then the viewer would not be connected. It could feel a bit bumpy and juttery when looking through.

I personally like to be lead through and flow through smoothly with no sudden jolts or breaks in that journey.

Printing experiment

Today I printed an image onto tracing paper.
I wanted to try tracing paper because it has a semi-transparency but you can't see all the way through. It is similar I think to my point about the Gambian people, you can't see all the way through them, there is that feeling that they are hiding something behind their smiles.

I was hoping that the tracing paper would be a success, because it fits so well with what I am trying to say through this project. But unfortunately it didn't work too greatly. The colours show up so well, but it is just the same as printing onto white paper. You can't see anything through it and so it is not going to work for this project.

It's a shame.

This is the test on tracing paper -

Book 2

McCullin, D (1971) The destruction business, London: Open Gate Books

This book is a compilation of many different photographic projects by McCullin. 

The thing that really struck me with this book straight away was the image on the front page introducing his images taken in Africa. 

The images that are included in this section are a mixture of children, adults, injured soldiers and groups of people. Yet the image that is the first we see, with the word 'Africa' above it is that of a very manourished, skeletal, naked child. Why ?

Is it because at the time the book was published, 1971, these were the images that people were beginning to get accustomed to seeing, or was it that we were not yet accustomed so it was a shock?

This is something that I want to be very careful with in my own book. Word and image association is such a massive thing to the viewer, subliminal messages can be found between text and image, so seeing this has made me aware that I need to consider these things and be aware of it in my own book.

The image and text placement throughout this photo book is interesting. It is different on each page you turn to, which I think keeps interest in the book. I don't think that the text is ever made to look more important than the image, which I like. The image is always the bigger and so it is where you eye is drawn, and then you look to the text to give you a snippet of information about the photograph.

 I feel that the text is what McCullin would say if he were taking you through the book himself. It is like thoughts that would pop into his mind on seeing the image and feel it appropriate to share.
It is similar to how you would take a friend or loved one through a photo album in the comfort of your home.

I also like that each photo is black and white. I think that it is also to do with the distress of the book, due to age I expect, but it has a real emotional feel to it. The images are slightly grainy which means you have to really look at them and it invites you to study them further. It makes it feel real.


The bio is in the front of the book, and the text is about McCullin. I think this is because it is a mixture of projects in the book, sort of an overview of his works at that time. Yet, each sub category does not have any textual information to go with it. The viewer is left to make their own stories/meaning/view of each image.

Book 1

Kessels, E (2012) In almost every picture, Amsterdam: KesselsKramer

 The book is roughly A5 in size, so quite small but a nice size to be able to hold and look through.
In this book all of the images are on the Right page and full bleed. The text is on the left page, and centered half way down the page and on the left. This is recurring all the way through, except for 15 images which are double page full bleed.

I like that the images are all on the right page. The composition of each photograph is almost exactly the same each time which means that you can hold the book and flick through it viewing almost all of the images with ease. If the viewer is in a bit of a hurry it is easy to just flick through and not have to spend time moving the book, yet if you do want to spend time with the images the touching page is mostly blank so this is not distracting to the photographs.
The text however is really far away from the photograph so it can feel a little disjointed, however it is the same on each page so the flow is not broken.

 The text that is matched with each image is kept simple. It states the month, year, exact place and geographical place that the image is taken. The project runs from 1980 until 2012 so I think it is nice to be told the date of each image because as a viewer it is then easy to compare photographs but also it feels like we are being taken on a journey with the couple.

The text which explains the book and the imagery is on the very back page. This is quite interesting as it means that the viewer has to first look through the book and make up their own mind about what is going on and then when getting to the end the photographer tells them what they were trying to portray through the book. This means that the photographer has not given the viewer an idea in their mind before viewing the books, meaning that it is fresh and probably more interesting to the viewer.

It feels very similar to looking back through family photo albums, time has passed between each photograph and it is interesting to notice the changes not just to the place and space but also to the subject that is present in each image.



I think that this layout would work with my images. I could place one child on each double page, and on the text page I would include name, age and school year. However, if it were the same on each page, I wonder if that would take away from the point of me wanting to give them the sense of being a person, being an individual rather than considered always as a generalized group. Perhaps the images would need to be in a more random aesthetic to stop them being too repetitive.