There is a magazine for everything in the present day. Themes vary on a massive scale and all very much need photography. For example, my soul interests lay within the themes of surfing and adventure, food and the fashion industry. My favoured photography work meets these themes and some of my favourite working photographers all have work in publications that interest me.
PEP 160 has given me a new insight into the industry of photography I want to go into. This term has shown me how I can put my work into the publication world and the public eye. I have therefore learnt how my work would look and would be applied in a print and web space environment. This term has also taught me key ‘InDesign’ and computer skills too.
Our brief was simple. To create 4 magazine spread proposals. 4 themes including our own photography as well as our own recommended written pieces to follow. One spread including work from another ‘term 2 brief’, our Self-Directed Assignment.
Spread 1 – Coffee Club / Espressini Falmouth.
Espressini in Falmouth is an independent coffee shop and a local’s favourite. The establishment is a favoured place of my own and I could easily envision a publication including a piece on Espressini. I collected a series of images of the décor, coffee and staff etc. With a vision to create a story piece inspired by publications such as European ‘SOFFA’ magazine, ‘Food Baby’, ‘Bite’ and ‘Honest Food Mag’. With my final outcome, I opted for a minimalistic outlook and utilized white space on the page much like the publications I took inspiration from. The final piece has placeholder text included. Shooting food and drink is something I would be interested in doing more and more. I feel now understanding the different outlays of a food and lifestyle magazine it would cause me to shoot with more thought and direction and experiment and emphasis colour and texture. Something key in food photography. Approaching it again I would include images of the food on offer.
Spread 2 – One Roll, One Week, One City.
At the start of a week in London I put one roll of colour film into my camera. The aim was to shoot all the exposures available across the week. Tasking myself with being very selective with what I shot and trying to cover as many different areas of London as I could. I used film in Chelsea, Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Camden Market and many more places. Often just shooting one or two frames in one location. It quickly became an idea when planning this fun and interesting concept to create a magazine proposal from the outcome. Titled ‘One Roll, One Week, One City’ the spread I would create would be inspired by publications such as ‘35MM’. Like film photography itself I wanted the piece to have a minimalist approach. Let the images take up more page space and have fewer words considering the concept is simple and speaks for itself. I did struggle to produce sharp images when presenting my spreads. I found it very hard to transfer the quality of a scanned image into print.
Spread 3 – An Overdraft Spent in Hossegor.
This is my favourite spread that I have created. It also took the longest. I found myself changing the overall layout several times. Basis being, recently myself and a course mate went to the south of France for two days to shoot surfing themes. Our trip did not go to plan as once thought. The words within the piece are my own. It is a written piece about my experiences, good and bad, gathered over the short trip in Hossegor. I enjoyed writing this piece and image selection was tough. I took inspiration from magazines such as ‘Surf Europe’, ‘SURFER Magazine’ and ‘Wavelength’. A publication I read regularly, Wavelength experiment with layouts and text and that is something I wanted to express. The choice to use one image across the first spread was due to the clear space within the top half of the image. It is also my favourite photograph I have taken in since starting university. Out of my spreads this one is my favourite and the one I see realistically in publication.
I sent a proposal pitch to Wavelength about this story. Sending a pitch to a publication is daunting and new to me. Putting myself in front of a publication I aspire to and only dream of appearing in. I stated my story title and gave a general concept. I included a mock layout of one spread and a small selection of low res images. I wanted to keep the email precise and clean because they are very busy people and any reply of any sorts I would be extremely grateful for. I did not want to give them everything at once. If they take an interest into my proposal a conversation will go further. Sending this story, it shows I can create a story myself without commission and it shows I can offer not just photography but also journalism, design and an understanding of their publication.
Spread 4 – Best of the West / Self-Directed Assignment
My self-directed assignment is on the theme of surfing around the picturesque coast that is Cornwall and the West of England. My images on show include vast landscapes, blue water and a postcard setting. Also, an image shot on 35mm colour film is included. The image of the Land Rover suits my written piece and follows the flow within the text. The images take up a substantial proportion of the spreads because I feel they emphasize the scale of the beaches within the frames. The words are my own and I chose a very relaxed tone of speech when writing. This is because I believe it suits the types of publications I would pitch this to. Publications such as ‘Wavelength’ and ‘Cornwall Living Magazine’. I made a lot of constant changes when creating this spread due to being very indecisive. I really liked the idea of including a large illustration piece within the first page of the spread but due to time and approach I couldn’t for fill that. That is something I would most certainly consider and proceed with when approaching something similar in the future.
When analyzing my spreads, I feel they show diversity and are all within a variety of themes I enjoy and see regularly in publications I buy and read. I am pleased with the majority of my images and wanted to give them credit and the correct proportion of display alongside the relative words.
Approaching a task similar in the future I would work with a larger body of images for some pieces of work and when on shoot consider space within imagery more. Allowing room in photographs for the placing of added and relative text. Typography is also massively important. Something I have looked over in the past that can change the appearance of a spread massively. Throughout all my spreads my typography is simple and easy to read.
When coming close to finishing all 4 pieces I found asking people for their opinions on my work was very useful. Asking other students studying subjects such as graphics and areas of marketing gave me the opportunity to tweak my work in areas I wouldn’t have noticed on my own. I feel that this is relative to the real industry. In this task, I was the art director, writer, designer, editor and photographer. Publications with continuous success have an often-large team behind every release. It would be inevitable I would miss the obvious mistake or only see from my point of view.
This brief has taught me a lot about publications and the thought processes behind every page and more importantly what my work will look like in the hands of publications and what I should expect. Causing me to think and work like a professional. It has also confirmed the variety of themes out there that require photography and coverage for specific audiences. Subjects I enjoy and subjects that I wouldn’t ever consider. This has given me a more realistic view for the potential future of my photography and opened my eyes to the different careers publishing can bring.
