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Leah Gordon

Book making and refinement process:

Initial digital Collages created on photoshop inspired by Rachel Hodgson & Stephanie Francis Shanahan (see book layout post):


Experimenting with around with imagery that I made as a kid, cutting out and trying different arrangements of my photos, trying different variations of sticker and using lots of colour - intentionally making them busy and chaotic!

^ I think this way of editing has really captured the imagination and colour that we see as children that I wanted to achieve for my book, I definitely want to keep playing with this technique and pushing it as far as I can to make my book feel really chaotic and playful.

Book Draft 1:

^ not all pages complete but first look at how my final version might look - went through this draft with James Elliott and his main critique was that he thought I could push my editing even further, no point being subtle as that's not the point of my book - so I'm going to try and go even crazier with my book pages, which isn't a problem as I'm really enjoying doing these very loud and crazy edits!

This version includes some of my experiment images that I took of myself - not sure they work as the rest of the images are of a different subject - don't fit as well - but can definitely use similar editing just on different photos.


Different versions of page 12:

*chosen no.2



Book Draft 2:


^ all pages now full just need to create title page and back page. went through this version with Caroline - Critique -> very much liked the craziness of the book but some of the inverted images stood out, look like they've just been plonked there for the sake of it so reconsider those. Big double page spread, more straight photography shot should be moved to centre of book otherwise parts of models face will be cut off. Discussed title of book, came up with "I like to play with my cat in my bedroom" as is the writing on one of the pages - found and scanned from one of my books I wrote in as a kid -> depending on reader can have different meaning. could be perceived as quite adult/innuendo or just an innocent kids books = very much reflects the meaning of my book, trying to reclaim and advertise the imagination and creativity we all have as kids to adults who no longer see the world through those eyes, promotes play and fantasy through the outlandish but very joyful clashing of imagery and colours. We also discussed how now moving the double page spread to the middle makes the layout of the book = straight photography on 1st, middle and last pages -> brings the viewer back to reality, reminder that the book isn't about living in the past, but bringing some of the colour and imagination from our childhoods into the present and purposefully takes the viewer out of the fantasy world of the collages, still into vibrant shots, but more realistic scenarios. Also spoke about colour symbolism - on the first double page spread contrast of pink and green backgrounds reflects contrast between child and adult mind and further emphasises message of my book.


Caroline advised me to look at the following artists:


Tom Lovelace:

Is very experimental with his photography which I really like, I love the lines he creates in his images through using the body in unusual poses and angles, quite confusing for the viewer, holds your attention for longer - very interesting seeing how successful non-traditional photography can be, initially had worries that my work for this project was too much/not photographic enough but looking at Lovelace's work has made me realise this isn't the case - his work is very individual and very effective = given me confidence that my work is effective too because I'm honestly expressing myself.

Jason Evans:

Evans is very unconventional is terms of photographic practice, which is why I think I like it so much. Definitely a very good recommendation from Caroline! He has such a variety of work in his portfolio but they all fit together through how they don't really take themselves too seriously and the vibrant colour of them too.


Front Cover experiments:

Inspired by the Four Tea album cover by Jason Evans as seen above ^ decided to play around with type. Initially looked at alphabet blocks to create my title as they are a very stereotypical object from childhood but I wasn't really enjoying the outcome. Also played around with fonts on photoshop and the background on the image on the right below - created from taking snippets from each of the pages in my book, putting them all together onto one page and then copy and pasting the whole page multiple times and shrinking slightly with each one to create the optical illusion effect -> represents how this book is like a portal to childhood and opening up our imaginations again. The Image on the far right is the one I have chosen for the cover - thought the one with the pink border didn't make it look enough like a title page.


Final Version:

I'm really happy with the final outcome of my book. I think it definitely expresses my intended message of how we should try and bring more of the colour, imagination and creativity that we have as kids into our adult lives. I think the use of the Y2K and 90's race culture aesthetics I used as inspiration for the styling alongside the very over the top editing really successfully achieve this. I think taking the risk of just going completely out of the box and being as unsubtle with the initial images but mainly the editing really paid off and I will definitely be taking the very playful way I approached this project into future projects as not only was it incredibly fun to do, but it also created some really interesting outcomes.


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