Hello
Hope all is well with you. I am grateful for all the comments and suggestions sent in so far regarding developing the new book. Fresh thinking on this is always much appreciated.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on two fronts. Firstly, thinking about narrative and what I’m trying to communicate as this shapes the form of the book, in particular layout and sequencing. Secondly, looking at other books that I feel have something that might contribute to design ideas.
The place that I’m concentrating on, the Preseli Hills and the surrounding area, is relatively small and at times can be visually dramatic. Its visuality is of course important but it also has a significant history that is recorded in the Iron Age hillforts along with more recent markers such as those that tell us of the fight to stop the Ministry of Defence taking over much of this land in the twentieth century. Anyone moving through these hills cannot be untouched by a strangeness that no doubt inspired our forebears who set many of the legendary tales of the Mabinogion here. It is this feeling of the uncanny that has driven me to re-read Arthur Machen’s Hill of Dreams, a fictional tale in which a young man falls asleep one hot afternoon in an ancient Roman fort inside a circle of dark trees and undergoes an occult experience that changes him forever. The landscape becomes a menacing force where the experience of time and place shift leaving the protagonist with a haunting evocation of fear for the area he knows so well. I have also been drawn to re-read Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain which is very much rooted in her personal (and real) lifelong experience of moving through the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland. Whilst her beautiful prose is non-fiction, she opens up not only new ways of thinking about such places, but also new ways of seeing them. She writes,
“…the truth [is] that our habitual vision of things is not necessarily right: it is only one of an infinite number, and to glimpse an unfamiliar one, even for a moment, unmakes us, but steadies us again”.
Any narrative strategy I apply has to include ideas such as those outlined above but it is also informed by my own experiences of moving through the Preselis which are physical, emotional and (dare I say) spiritual journeys. When I started to think about this a couple of weeks ago I walked a short distance from my home to look out over those hills - at that time I took a photograph and made an audio recording of my initial thoughts (see above). I have been building on these starting points but I realise that sometimes it is good to step back and take a long view and make notes of what comes to mind - this is me literally thinking out loud.
In terms of looking at photobooks, I have been drawn to look at their design in relation to their content and how this enhances the experience and understanding of the subject. I have looked at quite a few (some which were suggested to me) and whittled it down to a few for closer inspection. They are; Josef Koudelka’s Reconnaissance, Thomas Joshua Cooper’s Dreaming the Gokstadt, Harry Callahan’s Nature, and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s 7 Days / 7 Nights. Briefly, I find these books elegant, almost minimalist - all present what might be called landscapes. Each, in my view, has enhanced the experience of engaging with the subject through their design with three of these books using page folds in interesting ways. A deeper discussion of these may follow at some point but for now I’m still working through them.
I am confident that I will be able to start producing my own prototype in the coming weeks to test out the initial ideas that have emerged recently. I will keep you updated. Take care until then.
Paul
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Paul it is with dismay you do not mention my book Sir Benfro Tir Hela'r cof / Pembrokeshire Memories Hunting Ground. Much of the work was done in the Preseli over a two year period and David Hurn remarked that it was one of the best books on Wales he had seen. Perhaps you should consider buying it.
Very much agree with you that one of the pleasures of looking at photo books (and making them) is the design. For my photo book, I had a few ideas but was very lost in the beginning. Luckily one of my best friends is an art director and she collaborated with me on the final design in a way that stayed true to my artistic intentions while taking into consideration many design rules I wasn’t aware of.