Influences for my children's book

Colourful, simple and with a great layout. 

Point it by Dieter Graf

has two functions, one being a useful book

for travellers who do not speak there language, so instead if they would like a chicken from the menu, they would point on the book. As photographs describe exactly what your looking for, a main use for photography.

The second aesthetic from this book it is arranged in a artful way, making it a artful book. 

The still life's are pictured with great composition and clarity. 

From Graf’s series Point it, came more of a post modern view of collecting what people sell on the internet everyday and creating a book from amateur photographers. The use of colour is prime as it tells us the exact details of this object. 

I love the colours used on the cover, the blue back with the red slipcase catches the eye and gives a fun impact on the book

Martin Parr’s work is something I have always been keen on but never seen much hype around why he is so popular. However when attending his talk in Eldon building on 1st February, I recognised how passionate and knowledgable he knows about Photobooks, which is something I am currently learning about. 
Common Sense a book about consumerism within Britain captured in a violent setting caught my eye out of the many photobooks he has made, as the colour was so strong with full bleed images throughout gave a strong sense for a children’s book. 

I was suggested this book in the presentation as it documents children around the world are where they sleep. 

Its such a clever series and shows the diversity of and, often, disparity between children’s lives around the world through portraits of their bedrooms. 

This book is created for children and adults to show them where children sleep and in what conditions. Children can where they live from looking at the pictures. 

I love the colour of this book, its so vibrant and has a squishy cover that feels like a children’s book. 

The graphics on the front reminded me of Rob Ryan, a paper cutting artist. 

This gives a real sense of the diversity of children that are shown in this book. 

At the top is Kaya, who is four years old who loves toys and wants to be a cartoonist when she grows up. 

The bottom images shows a boy who is four years old where his family sleep on a mattress on the outskirts of Rome, Italy. The family cannot read or write. 

Taryn Simon

                                         An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar,

Simon’s series provides unfamiliar places were  the public have not encountered as they hidden. Gaining access to these places Simon photographs and gives a description of what exactly this place or object is. 

My self led is about teaching people the unknown and unfamiliar of everyday life that we find interesting and curious about. Simon’s work are similar to what I am doing but at a mature level. 

Bonnell places everyday, household items in rural contexts and photographs them within the landscape. Appearing at first quirky, whimsical and humorous, the images also allude to the domestic role of women in society and environmental abuse.

She plays with man made washing object that bold colours against a natural environment such as the beach or countryside.

 This plays with a surreal aspect, wondering why has she done this when it means a deeper meaning.

Jason Evans

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In our 2nd year we had Jason Evans as a guest speaker, I really enjoyed his talk and how he photographs banal objects and turns them into something very surreal. On of his websites is called The Daily Nice, everyday a new “happy” image is put up for just that day. This image can inspire you or make you happy. I look at this website everyday and to either look for ideas, take my mind off something or to cheer me up. It works believe me! 

Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analysing, and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists.

The colours within the book are only black and white but with a shot of colour that is orange. 

This gives the book lots of advantages as it compensates for the flow of the book. Images are made more simple and understandable. Finally it gives the book more of an earthy feel, something that is good for the environment. 

Found faces is funny, it shows the humour of the book, to have fun with it and to explore every nut and craney of our world. 

All sorts of different methods are used to explore. The bottom image is to interview people and Smith again has created a fantastic grid of interviewing a person. 

The film concentrates on strong movements and images that create metaphors within truth, grace and god. The film poster reminded me martin parr's layout to common sense. However completely different concepts. I still really like this idea of showing a images in this grid. You can see the range of colour, composition and feel of what the film is like. 

William Eggleston’s Guide is a guide from the MoMa exhibition in 1976, New York.

It was the first exhibition to exhibit colour photographs, however Eggleston’s work got a lot of bad press for being banal by photography boring subjects. It was not until later people started to apperceive the composition of his work. 

These banal and everyday settings 

are turned into something beautiful and captivating. The colours are strong that make the image stronger. 

His images I find are whimsical, child-like and hold a great simplicity to them. 

The book is incredibly laid out with a continuos flow of his hometown. 

The white around the images, help you concentrate on the colours inside the image and also helped with the exhibition when it was up at the time. 

"The composition appears so intuitive, so natural. It is not forced upon us at all. It appears the simplest thing, but of course when you analyse it, it becomes actually quite sophisticated and the messages that these pictures can release to us are quite complex and fascinating, and that of course is the hallmark of a very good Eggleston".- Martin Parr. 


This was my favourite quote from Colourful Mr. Eggleston. 
It defiantly reminds me of what I feel when viewing his work, calm, natural.
However reading deeper into the life of Mr. Eggleston, there is another side to his work. Something dark and complex. 

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 Tana Hoban, an accomplished photographer of children who turned her photography into an innovative kind of illustration for books for the youngest audiences
Shapes, Shapes, Shapes documents the shapes you find in a normal day.
Publisher: Harper Collins
Price- £3.99

I love how simple this book is. I gave it to Dylan and he immediately spotted the shapes in the book and was interested in the photographs. 

Foam magazine created an issue called “Happy”
This had photographers Henze Boekhout and Olivia Bee who both use colour, depth of field and different angles to make “happy” photographs. I found this issue interesting as many photographers capture dark and sad times of our lives, instead this fully concentrates on the opposite. 
“Gaiety is often regarded with a degree of scepticism and disdain”. (Krijen, 2011, page 5)
Happiness is a deep emotion which can express our love for things in life through the medium of photography. 

This project gives a dreamy sense of being so close to a place, but far as we are only seeing the pictures. Boekhout handles a camera cautiously when recording an image, he observes his surrounding and takes his time building an image around him. He uses natural lighting and flash to create a surreal abstract viewing of his world. These pictures remind me of a woodland fairytale, a fantasy.