After feedback from other people, I have reviewed my landscapes and decided not to use them. I like the idea but they just weren’t the quality of the portraits. But from my research, I have found other ways that I can portray my message.
When I experimented with book layout designs, the text was so effective at adding another layer to my project. So many photographers talks have said how including text or other media such as video can add more depth to their work. It would also work well with my project as each person has their own story and text would be best at showing this. I looked into other ways I could show text in the book, I first asked two of the people to say an experience of their lockdown experience. This was really interesting to hear what they said. By just looking at the portrait, you would have no idea what they have gone through. The other idea is to just include who they are and what they do. I liked this in Diane Arbus’ photo book, it was just a small enough detail to understand a bit more about the context. But now I have thought about it, many of the people I have photographed have been furloughed so all the images would have similar captions.
After some feedback, I have decided that a book isn’t the best form to display my work. A book shows a continued narrative but my project shows individual stories and so something like portfolio prints could be more effective. It could be displayed underneath my prints on the wall. The viewer could look through these portfolio prints with the text underneath so you can read each story.
This as an example of how it would look. I made this 12×10 size as this is a good size to be able to carefully handle but still big enough to clearly read the text. Now can visualise how these portfolio prints would look, it fits will the project more than a book would. I think this will look more sophisticated and professional.
Lucy Davis 