FASCINATION
Karl Bailey - Fascination
Karl Bailey is a photographer from Hampshire born in 1991 who focuses on documenting life primarily on the South coast of Britain, but also abroad like in fascination where he visits China and Greece. Although he has a recognised body of work, photography is not Bailey's main income with him being a support worker for people with autism as well as studying photography at university.
He published this project in newsprint format due to it not only being a cheaper and more accessible alternative to photobooks, but also for the unique quality that newsprint has to the touch which is not replicated with any other format. Bailey chose the tabloid format due to it being small enough to be able to distribute easily and read readily but large enough for the double page spreads to make a visual impact with the viewer.
This is the front cover of the issue and I like how the title is clear but does not compete with the image. It is positioned central to the page and has been cropped to be more square than the standard rectangular size. I think that this works well and creates a simple but effective design for the tabloid.
Bailey used 80gsm bright recycled paper which is a more premium feel that ordinary newsprint however, I intend to use 55gsm to give it a more authentic quality making it closer to the feel of a traditional tabloid.
Fascination is a long term project which is Bailey's decision to commit to a whole body of work. Issue one is comprised of four stories, published as part one to the whole narrative which will be printed in later issues.
Two things which Bailey points out as something to consider when making a newsprint photobook is space and experience. When considering space, I will need to think about how many images I want to share and how big they will be printed. This is something I did not consider in the previous drafts as I was trying to put too many images on one page in order to show as many of my images that I could. Going forward, I could add more pages to the tabloid so that my work can be spaced out and properly viewed individually. In terms of experience, Bailey is referring to the experience of the reader and how they will interact with my work. Specifically for a newspaper, if the viewer should flip through the pages in order or if they could remove pages and reorganise them. I think this is particularly relevant for my surrealism project as restructuring an original narrative and letting the viewer create a new one to what I originally intended, allows new perspectives and stories to arise from the work. It highlights all the possible ways that my work could be interpreted and creates an engaging experience for the reader.
He also brings to attention how the images themselves interact with each other by Pairing colours, themes or compositions for example. This forms a narrative throughout the tabloid and allows images to bounce off of each other.
For example, with this spread Bailey has used two images of people taken in China. The one on the left is representative of a Chinese past with the old style of building with an old man in the foreground wearing traditional dress. This is contrasted with a modern picture of China taken of a young boy wearing more Western clothes playing a video game. The two images juxtapose each other and create a narrative surrounding the traditional vs the modern of China and how they coexist.
One of the four stories featured in Fascination was I Don't Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Part 1, which is a set of images taken from his time living in China. In order to gain more context to Bailey's work produced in China, I listened to Idle Hands Society episode 32 in which he is a guest.
Idle Hands Society Podcast - primary research
Bailey went to live in China where he resided in a secondary city which means it has a large population (around 11 million ) but is unknown to others outside of its region which means there are little foreigners there. This put Bailey in a strange position where people would come up to him and ask to take his photo in the street. He describes China as a complete culture shock and and alien world but the best six months of his life.
Below are examples of the different types of layout that are used in Fascination. They all differ slightly but are in keeping with the overall simple design of the tabloid.
The spread on the left features two images side by side with one on each page. It is a large scale image but the border around it acts as a frame and separates the two from clashing with each other. I think they work well as they are formed of similar colours like the green grass in the foreground and the brown in the background. Furthermore, the edges of the tent on the left mirror the shape found in the roof of the building on the right. This means that the two work well next to one another and bounce off each other.
The middle spread is positioned central across a double page spread and although it is a large image, it is not full bleed. A border is present in all of the spreads across Fascination which creates continuity. This works well across two pages as it the contrast of the dark horse to the faint colours of the background draw the viewers to the centre of the spread. This focus could be lost, or at least less prominent, if there was another image alongside it.
This is an example of another double page spread but instead of being in the middle, the image is situated more to the left. This could have been done to separate the block of blue in the wall from the block in the door on the right. It also creates a 3d effect as the fold is where the corner of the room would be in the image, so if you were to lift up the right hand side of the page, it would make the room seem more realistic and provides an accurate representation of the room itself.
From this work, I will mainly take away the tips when designing a newsprint photobook, which I mentioned before, as I did not consider these factors when designing my drafts before. I will simplify my work in the style of Bailey as I had too many images and I prefer Bailey's simple approach and lets the viewer to take time and look at each image individually.
