Since this is the end of the year I‘d like to thank all of you sending in their best work to make these videos possible and you Ted for your inspiring critique! So much to learn every time. BTW the integration of your sponsorship is among the best and there are a lot squarespace videos out there as we all know.
I get it what you were saying with layout and how to present your work so the viewer/reader eye is drawn to the photograph and not having the eye is not confused where to look. It definitely increases the power of the photograph you are presenting.
Carrion zine is fantastic not only in its format and size but also the storytelling behind the photographs, greatly design and curated layout and photo selection, amazing.
I wish I could give this video more than one like. You're feedback is always great, but there's so much in this just-about 16-minute video to make us better photographers, printers and designers. Great job as always, thanks 😊
Great video and incredibly timely for me. I am studying photography right now and starting to produce my own hand bound books. From the first book to the second, I've started aligning the images all the same way, varying the borders, and thinking about telling a story. I don't know how long my journey will be to 'getting there', but everything I hear is it will be years. I'm not a young person, so it does worry me that time is passing faster for me than it used to, but every 'lecture' like this is worth its weight in gold.
i recently started going to estate sales. it's a sobering experience for me, while grabby buyers jockey for stuff, i envision the person who lived in the home, wondering what their life was like. i have commented to a few people i've met at the sales that it is somewhat unsettling, to be in a person's home seeing only their things without remembering those things belonged to someone, they were part of a person's life. it's all pretty surreal.
The Uplooker reminds me of photography by John Free. He was always hitting the streets of Los Angeles. I especially loved his photos of the railroad hobos.
Hey Ted, just wanted to mention that I received your book and have been enjoying it, hopefully I'll have it read before new year. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
The people who disagree with Ted's criticism here are seeing the works from an artistic point of view. It is absolutely ok to see this from an artist's POV as long as the work/book/zine is seen by other artists. But when such a book/zine is sold in the market for all kinds of viewers, I feel it is the artist's duty to make it easy for the viewers to 'read' the book. Turning the book repeatedly to see the photos, me as a viewer will be frustrated by that. It is not mandatory to utilize maximum print space. The white space of the page is a part of the layout. Photos in a zine can be sequenced using different amounts of white space, increasing/decreasing the size of the photos, and much more. Yes, the page can act as the border/frame, but it becomes difficult. That's why leaving a white border allows our eyes to contain the visual weight into the page and not at the edge of the page. Few full bleeds can be creative artistic choices, which can break the monotony but using it throughout makes it difficult and boring.
Hello Ted thanks for this episode. why not one or two episodes explaining or discussing about the layouts? This could help to choose between doing it in a formal way or in a more artistic or abstract form . Thanks for your reviews all of these works. greetings from Switzerland Daniel
i appreciate the feedback you give to all of your submissions, but as others have expressed, i think deeming that layout choice undesirable for viewers is keeping it in a generic, boring box. i agree in layout and editing that mixing things up is much more rich, but i enjoy alternate layouts, turning the book to see a photo from a different angle. makes it interactive instead of just a viewing of a photo on paper there are some art books that push a photo through the gutter for “layout” design sake that destroyed the viewing of the photo. equally, a photo on the right and blank page on the left is so overdone and a waste of real estate in my opinion. the photo has nothing to talk to on the other side. can’t see this specific book much from the video, but some of the inward facing photos seemed to clash. the one with the forearms does create a unique spread i think the pushback comes from the exhausting rhetoric of the “right way” or “best way” to do things in photography / art when most just seems stuffy, boring, and an old generation’s way of perceiving it as proper. i want artists to utilize the “rules” and uniquely break them. i don’t like mattes or even borders on my prints. i like the full bleed. i haven’t used frames in my last two exhibitions. just prints, backing board, on a textured wall i’ve had snobby people tell me that’s wrong, but their work is boring, uninspiring, vanilla, and safe. academia is only what a majority believes is the accepted way. stop making art to please viewers, make art that finds the viewers who are encapsulated by it the way u want to present it
I also disagree about "missing the borders of the composition". Hello! The edges of the paper are the defined "borders of the composition. And, yes, I agree that it draws the viewer in. Now, again, I don't understand the "constructive criticism" on the "Rhythm & Light" about similar poses on facing pages, when on the last one, "Uplooker", there were unmentioned "constructive criticism" on similar of those so called "amazing portraits". On facing pages, an "amazing" portrait "pose" with raised arm, then with lowered arm... and page-after-page. What?! And it was unmentioned?! Then there's a photo of an hand letter from one perspective... and then the same hand letter from a full-page perspective. C'mon! And I saw Ted criticizing "Rhythm & Light" monotony pointing to a (ok) same pose BUT when the photographer was playing with inversion! So cool! But criticized? C'mon, Ted! Again, I find myself just watching a very eloquent TH-camr speaking here...
with what, exactly? i think turning the book to view images set up differently is an artistic choice, personally, and not that onerous for the viewer. i do like full bleeds, but would also mix it up with borders.
Since this is the end of the year I‘d like to thank all of you sending in their best work to make these videos possible and you Ted for your inspiring critique! So much to learn every time. BTW the integration of your sponsorship is among the best and there are a lot squarespace videos out there as we all know.
I get it what you were saying with layout and how to present your work so the viewer/reader eye is drawn to the photograph and not having the eye is not confused where to look. It definitely increases the power of the photograph you are presenting.
Carrion zine is fantastic not only in its format and size but also the storytelling behind the photographs, greatly design and curated layout and photo selection, amazing.
I wish I could give this video more than one like. You're feedback is always great, but there's so much in this just-about 16-minute video to make us better photographers, printers and designers. Great job as always, thanks 😊
Great video and incredibly timely for me. I am studying photography right now and starting to produce my own hand bound books. From the first book to the second, I've started aligning the images all the same way, varying the borders, and thinking about telling a story. I don't know how long my journey will be to 'getting there', but everything I hear is it will be years. I'm not a young person, so it does worry me that time is passing faster for me than it used to, but every 'lecture' like this is worth its weight in gold.
i recently started going to estate sales. it's a sobering experience for me, while grabby buyers jockey for stuff, i envision the person who lived in the home, wondering what their life was like. i have commented to a few people i've met at the sales that it is somewhat unsettling, to be in a person's home seeing only their things without remembering those things belonged to someone, they were part of a person's life. it's all pretty surreal.
Great work presented here. And valuable criticism. You don't have to agree with everything. It's still worth thinking about.
The Uplooker reminds me of photography by John Free. He was always hitting the streets of Los Angeles. I especially loved his photos of the railroad hobos.
Hey Ted, just wanted to mention that I received your book and have been enjoying it, hopefully I'll have it read before new year. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Thanks! Merry Christmas and enjoy the book!
Another awesome video Ted! Love what ya do! One day I’ll send you something of my creation!
The people who disagree with Ted's criticism here are seeing the works from an artistic point of view. It is absolutely ok to see this from an artist's POV as long as the work/book/zine is seen by other artists. But when such a book/zine is sold in the market for all kinds of viewers, I feel it is the artist's duty to make it easy for the viewers to 'read' the book. Turning the book repeatedly to see the photos, me as a viewer will be frustrated by that. It is not mandatory to utilize maximum print space. The white space of the page is a part of the layout. Photos in a zine can be sequenced using different amounts of white space, increasing/decreasing the size of the photos, and much more. Yes, the page can act as the border/frame, but it becomes difficult. That's why leaving a white border allows our eyes to contain the visual weight into the page and not at the edge of the page. Few full bleeds can be creative artistic choices, which can break the monotony but using it throughout makes it difficult and boring.
Hello Ted thanks for this episode.
why not one or two episodes explaining or discussing about the layouts?
This could help to choose between doing it in a formal way or in a more artistic or abstract form .
Thanks for your reviews all of these works.
greetings from Switzerland
Daniel
I'm also in the anti-full bleed camp. Never liked it. Beautiful photos though.
Thanks for introducing us to these works of art!
The Zine Carrilion was Really well done, inspiring layout 👍
Still need to understand borders 🤔
Happy New year 🖖
A zine is a zine, until it tries to be a book, then maybe the photographs are worthy of a proper graphic designer.
i appreciate the feedback you give to all of your submissions, but as others have expressed, i think deeming that layout choice undesirable for viewers is keeping it in a generic, boring box. i agree in layout and editing that mixing things up is much more rich, but i enjoy alternate layouts, turning the book to see a photo from a different angle. makes it interactive instead of just a viewing of a photo on paper
there are some art books that push a photo through the gutter for “layout” design sake that destroyed the viewing of the photo. equally, a photo on the right and blank page on the left is so overdone and a waste of real estate in my opinion. the photo has nothing to talk to on the other side.
can’t see this specific book much from the video, but some of the inward facing photos seemed to clash. the one with the forearms does create a unique spread
i think the pushback comes from the exhausting rhetoric of the “right way” or “best way” to do things in photography / art when most just seems stuffy, boring, and an old generation’s way of perceiving it as proper.
i want artists to utilize the “rules” and uniquely break them. i don’t like mattes or even borders on my prints. i like the full bleed. i haven’t used frames in my last two exhibitions. just prints, backing board, on a textured wall
i’ve had snobby people tell me that’s wrong, but their work is boring, uninspiring, vanilla, and safe. academia is only what a majority believes is the accepted way.
stop making art to please viewers, make art that finds the viewers who are encapsulated by it the way u want to present it
i like your thoughts and comment. i personally do not think art ought to have rules, which takes from the creativity of it.
Cue a lot of people starting to photograph headless people......🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I also disagree about "missing the borders of the composition". Hello! The edges of the paper are the defined "borders of the composition. And, yes, I agree that it draws the viewer in.
Now, again, I don't understand the "constructive criticism" on the "Rhythm & Light" about similar poses on facing pages, when on the last one, "Uplooker", there were unmentioned "constructive criticism" on similar of those so called "amazing portraits". On facing pages, an "amazing" portrait "pose" with raised arm, then with lowered arm... and page-after-page. What?! And it was unmentioned?! Then there's a photo of an hand letter from one perspective... and then the same hand letter from a full-page perspective. C'mon! And I saw Ted criticizing "Rhythm & Light" monotony pointing to a (ok) same pose BUT when the photographer was playing with inversion! So cool! But criticized? C'mon, Ted!
Again, I find myself just watching a very eloquent TH-camr speaking here...
I disagree.
with what, exactly? i think turning the book to view images set up differently is an artistic choice, personally, and not that onerous for the viewer. i do like full bleeds, but would also mix it up with borders.