The photo-book is a book of photographs by a photographer that has an overarching theme or follows a storyline – a convenient and reasonably cheap way of disseminating the work of a photographer to a mass audience. Photo-books are important as, they help you to understand what has been shot in the past and how it has shaped the photographers that have taken the images. A good photo book can take you on a journey that give you a sense of the photographers personality.

For over 15 years, John Spinks has been photographing the small mining village in North Warwickshire where he spent his childhood. He left the village aged 18 to pursue the study of photography, and in 2000, began the process of engaging with his past through his work. Spinks large format colour photographs are both sober and beautiful, suggesting the possibility of an uncanny hidden narrative in both the landscape and its inhabitants. The photographs are a melancholic meditation on the themes of belonging and identity, the images somehow familiar yet oddly unsettling.

Favourite page spreads: 

This is our favourite page spread because we believe that it represents johns message and meaning behind the book, the image shows a young girl in one of the streets in the town he grew up in. We think this is a great example of one of the counterpoints by the use of figures of children in this book, as it mirrors something personal and very particular to the photographer.

The portraits in general isolate the subjects using a shallow depth of field. They look lonely in the frame as they are mostly medium to long shots which show they are on their own. Their facial expressions also display emptiness or a bitter sadness. Other portraits show no direct address.

This page spread perfectly captures the ominous and quiet feel the narrative builds up. The colour of the sky blends in with the colour of the blank paper which creates a feeling of emptiness. The fog captured In the photos adds to the mystery of the book as it shrouds the trees from our view as they grow more distant.

John Spink’s work gives the audience a traumatic, but an effective insight of his childhood in a small mining village in North Warwickshire. Spinks adds personal stories that are attached to each photograph in the book, which allows the audience to have an intertextual understanding of the meaning behind the book.

The explanation/story element to the book at the end brings a melancholy feel to the already personal and sad set of photos. It really adds to the overall message as looking through the photos after reading the explanation brings a whole new meaning to what you are looking at. It does this through very intimate and depressing language which adds the edge to each photo.​​​​​​​

An image of a setting is placed on full landscape page, however photographs of individuals are placed portrait and do not fill the whole page. This could suggest that certain settings have a greater meaning, which signifies there is a story behind each place shown in John’s book.

As a group of three we were designated this particular area to take photography and display in a group photo-book. Here are the photographs i took.