Starting Out in Zines

12th January 202324th January 2023 by Stephen | Leave a comment

8-page Zine

It’s taken me years playing about with formats and styles and still I’ve never really come to a decision on how I wanted to show my work, but lockdown has given me a chance to join in with a few workshops and groups and one of them was called The Lockdown Zine Collective where a few FB friends gave input for a collective zine.

That was great fun and I wanted to explore this further and joined in with a live Instagram session that was offered by The Bowes Museum as part of their Bouts Art School summer sessions.

This showed how to make a simple 8-page zine like the one in the top right.

This was fine and after a couple of tries it was quite easy to make the folds and cut, but I wanted to be able to print things out and couldn’t find a template for this.

A little while later I was able to develop a template for Pages (can also be exported to Word if needed) so I can print out what I need and still leave space for hand drawn/written objects in the final zine.

I’ve started producing zines – the first one is called “The New Normal” photos taken of discarded PPE when out on a walk, these will all be small editions but it will mean I’m finally getting my photographs printed and out there in a format I feel happy with.

Will be looking at developing more zines using my photo archive and experimenting with different zine formats, I’ve already bought a heavy duty stapler and some different papers to play about with, it’s also reminded me that I’ve got book-making tools and have made a couple of simple signatures and notebooks.

Will have to dig out those tools as well and have a bit of fun.

Also a great resource on zine making can be found here – how to make a zine

This was originally posted on the 6th October 2020

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Essence of the North

29th July 202224th January 2023 by Stephen | Leave a comment

What is the “Essence of the North?”

That is what is being asked by The Northerner Blog in the Guardian today. They are asking for contributors to post an image that captures the essence of the North.

Whose North? There is always the chocolate box image of Dales and Moors, unbroken wilderness, apart from James Herriot careening across them in his old car. Hills and lakes, unspoilt beaches and little stone villages shimmering in the sunset.

There is the Christian North, the North of Cathedrals, Saints and Holy Islands. Pilgrimages across the land, fleeing from Viking pillagers, writing works of illuminated art and deciding the way forward for the catholic church.

Or there is the smashed North, the North of Thatcher’s cruelty and industrial decline. A once proud heritage of steel and chemical works, pit villages, ship building and union activity. The Jarrow marchers and Quaker sensibilities. The first locomotives and the crucible of Britain’s industrial revolution.

The North I know is an area where people live in great diversity and try to get on with their lives, but has time to commission some of the best public art in the country and has made a feature of regeneration through art projects such as The Sage, The Baltic, Temenos, Hepworth Gallery and The Angel of the North. This large scale development mixes well with the industrial heritage of the area and sits well, all of the above is the North I know and to try and distill an essence is not really needed, just celebrate it all, in images, words and imagination.

originally published 9/7/12

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Light Matters

20th July 202224th January 2023 by Stephen | Leave a comment

Vicki Goldberg. Aperture. (248p) ISBN 9781597111652

Light Matters

A collection of essays exploring some of the usual ‘canon’ of photographers of the twentieth century, with a definitely western bias, if not a US one.

This is definitely an end of the Twentieth Century™ survey, before the explosion of 21st Century reappraisals and widening of the acknowledged ‘greats’.

But for all that the collection of essays cover some important photographers to the early history of the art, and some of the broader subjects that photography encompasses. In doing so Vicki Goldberg gives a great introduction to these area with a brilliantly sardonic and knowing wink.

Most of the articles for individual photographers were in response to exhibitions of their work, and explored the artist through this lens. I especially enjoyed the article about Martin Parr which explored the way that he approaches the intrusions of his ‘in your face’ photography style and that he acknowledges the possibly exploitative nature of this practice.

The final essays that explore themes in photography were really interesting especially the last which looks at the entwining of the modern age, ready access to images, and the hiding of personal death away from the public as gruesome death had become performative through different medias such as films, TV, and newspapers.

Overall a great read but definitely of its time.

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The Photographer’s Playbook

5th July 202224th January 2023 by Stephen | Leave a comment

Jason Fulford, Gregory Halpern. Aperture. (440p) ISBN 9781597112475

The Photographer’s Playbook

Another book that had been languishing on my TBR shelves of shame for at least 3 years, I bought it at the Tate on a pre-covid trip to London.

I finally decided as part of my return to photography and art that it would be a fun read…

It was, but in a completely different way than I was initially thinking, it was almost as though I was back at university the amount of notes and tabs that I’ve put into the book to return to later, it also gave so many ideas for further reading, and kindled that feeling of excitement that I first had when I started out taking photographs.

This is a catalogue of ideas, assignments, and exercises that range from the practical to the zen from some of the worlds leading photography educators and thinkers.

Some of them are to make you think about the mechanics of the process, some more about the philosophy of image making and your place in it.

I loved all of them, though some made my brain itch.

This initial read through was just that, an initial exploration of the thoughts that were being shared by the contributors. This playbook need constantly revisiting and each exercise needs time, but the book is worth all the more for it. I can see this book becoming a core companion to my future photography practice.

The best thing? I’ll have to buy a new notebook to companion my work from here.

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