Friday 21 May 2021

A zine for a swap

This zine swap was set to run from November last year until the end of April this year. By the time New Year cam round I had nothing planned or even a clue where to start.Tired of wandering the moss with nothing much to see and things likely to remain that way until March time I went for a look down Back Lane, a place which fascinates me but which I've never managed to make any photos of despite feeling there was a project to be made along the track.

A few days prior to my visit I'd been remembering an idea I had for a street photography project which I'd never got round to starting and which Covid restrictions scuppered. That was to take out of focus pictures as a way of commenting on how people are less willing to be 'snapped' by random strangers than they used to be. Or at least that's how it often comes across in discussions on street photography. It was also to be about how we recognise things as much by shape and colour as by fine detail. 


After some time trying to find a way to make a series of pictures of a walk down the lane I remembered the out of focus idea and gave it a try. I liked the results, which were all shot in vertical format as I was thinking 'zine' by then. There is an element of deliberate rejection of the ongoing search among camera nerds for the sharpest lenses and the highest resolution sensors behind the out of focus approach. Particularly when it comes to landscape photography.

At the same time I was looking for details to photograph in focus. My slowly formulating plan being to find a way to combine the blurred pictures of the 'landscape' with the sharp close ups.

Back on the computer I couldn't make the verticals fit any layout I tried. Messing about I thought that a spread across two pages with the close ups overlaid somehow would work. 

 

When the weather permitted I went back to re-shoot the 'landscapes' horizontally.

It might seem simple to take out of focus pictures but it's not as straightforward. Open the aperture too much and all detail is lost. Focus to far into the scene and too much detail is revealed. Focal length also plays a part as that affects depth of field. After some messing about I settled on 35mm focal length with an aperture of f4.5 and focus at the closest focusing distance. Things were coming together.

Although I had the idea sussed I wasn't too happy with the overcast skies. I needed to have another go at taking the pictures on a brighter day with a blue sky. When one came around it was a simple matter to go and take the pictures I now knew I needed to fill out a zine.

All that remained was then to put it all together. I fairly quickly abandoned the original page layout and went with a simple double page spread for the landscapes. How to add in the focused pictures though? As I wanted the blurred pictures to be a 'surprise' when the zine was opened I tried having scene setting pictures on the outside covers. I got a couple of samples like that printed.


This was OK but I still didn't have the detail shots. One idea I made a dummy for was to print nine up on a sheet of A4 in a grid and paste them one to the inside back page so it folded over the inside back page with what would have been on that side of the spread printed on the rear of the grid. This would have worked well, but it was beyond my design ability to make everything line up! That idea was therefore abandoned. I liked the grid though and tried it as the centre spread. But that broke the flow.

Another dummy was ordered with a blurred cover shot and the grid on the back cover. The minimal lettering on the cover I liked, but the picture gave the game away for what was to be found inside. Going even more minimal seemed like a plan as that would take away all expectations on picking up the zine.

The grid was still intrinsic to the project, as was the picture of the sign. An A6 card with these pictures on was one option, and it sort of worked. Job done. Anything else would be tinkering for the sake of tinkering. Time to abandon the project! When posted out the card was put in an envelope as another layer of disguising what was to be seen.

While I enjoyed the process of thinking this all through I'm not sure if it's successful. I am sure that if there were more pages it would have been tedious. And I still think that having the detail pictures in with the 'landscapes' would have been better. I just couldn't find a way to do it.

All that aside it has given me a couple more ideas to pursue along the lane. In that respect it's been a worthwhile exercise.

I have done the usual zine flip video. It's about as rubbish as my usual standard. Video is much harder to do than stills!



1 comment:

Ian T said...

I thoroughly enjoyed receiving this Dave.

I had a back lane opposite my house when I was growing up and was forever mucking about down there. Overwhelming memories are colours of sand and blue without the distinct shapes, patterns and textures. This zine completely reflected that for me with this "back lane" being very much green and blue. Reminds me of how my memory is so very blurred most of the time!

Thumbs up from me :)