Introduction

Hello and welcome to my Blog!

Here I will be documenting and reflecting on my experiences of making as a creative practitioner.

I am a Merseyside based photographer currently working towards my degree in photography at the University of Huddersfield.

Throughout my education, I have focused on developing my critical understanding of the conventions of documentary photography. This is presented through my final year project Dear Uncle Eddy. Within this project I have produced a bizarre blend of the actual and artificial though a photobook that follows a narrative in which I travel to Barcelona to escape my sombre state of mind after being advised to do so by my artificially generated Uncle Eddy.

Aside from producing university work I have also ran two years worth of photography workshops at local primary schools, worked in a film lab, become an intern at a small publishing company, have attended talks by professional photographers, built upon my commercial portfolio and attended numerous portfolio reviews.

I have enjoyed my time at University, and the community that I have built over the years has not only been a creative outlet but a family and a support system.

Throughout this blog I will reflect on my years of university and the journey that it has been, all whilst attempting to look forward to a postgraduate pathway.

H

Manchester Photo Collective

Manchester Photographic Collective or MPC for short is a collective that holds photo walks bimonthly around the city centre where members can socialise whilst making photos.

After joining the collective in January my confidence as a photographer has grown significantly. My initial aim was to have a photographic outlet where I didn't have the pressure to produce imagery for a specific project whilst having the chance to network. Having the freedom to make images without worrying about if they are perfect or not has allowed me to become far more flexible in my approach of wanting to make work without overthinking anything too much.

The collective has also been a great opportunity to meet individuals from a varied range of creative and non creative backgrounds.

On my first walk I was invited to introduce myself where I was from and so on. I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only student and new comer to join and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of people from industry that had decided to join the collective.

During one conversation I got talking to the photographic lead of the o2 Academy in Manchester. I asked how he got into his position and he replied by saying that consistency was key. Although he didn't have any formal training or a photographic background as a hobbiest and gig goer, he was able to build up his portfolio as well as network his way into his senior position.

I left feeling as though it really is not what you know but who you know.

From Venezuela to Vouge: Silvana Trevale

Silvana Trevale is a photographer whose work blends together documentary and fashion photography to produce work for media outlets and companies such as vouge, adidas and the British Journal of Photography. She is a multifaceted creative who is also an alumni of the University of Huddersfield.

On a recent visit to Huddersfield, Trevale gave a talk about her successful career since graduating and it was fascinating to hear her discuss shooting the likes of Greta Thunberg and Maya Jama, as well as hearing how passionate she is about documenting her roots in Venezuela.

Towards the end of the talk, Trevale spoke about how although her job is strenuous, unpredictable and challenging, the results are worth it. She reiterated that as an emerging photographer you should stay determined and passionate until you succeed and need to be willing to sacrifice almost everything especially if you want a career within the fashion industry.

During a Q&A session I was able to ask Trevale about how she transitioned from a documentary realm, to a the world of being commissioned by large media outlets. Personally I am conscious of how my artistic direction can appeal to clients, so this is why I made sure to ask a working professional who has been in my position.

Silvana explained that clients reached out to her after seeing the documentary aesthetic of her work. She reiterated that we should find our passion and a visual style and build on it- then a client may reach out to you on the basis of small aspects of your work.

Trevales talk was very insightful, it was an amazing opportunity to speak to a pervious graduate who has achieved her aspirations of working within the create fashion industry.

The Creation of Eddy

The summer of 2023 had been pretty unproductive and mundane until I stepped foot in a house clearance sale.

Hidden under a mountain of second hand fancy dress outfits, outdated royal memorabilia and dusty records, an old shoe box peaked my interest. I wasn't really in the market for new shoes but the box felt uncomfortably light considering it should have had steel toe working boots in them. After opening the disintegrating yellowed cardboard top, I was met with hundreds of Kodachrome colour positive slides and after scanning them in I was greeted with the smile of a charming someone who had travelled around the world documenting their perspective. The coppice amounts of images from a war torn sandy landscapes allowed me to assume that I had bought the archive of a male figure. The slides included names but the one I felt more connected to was 'Edward'.

As the months went by I had no idea what to do with the slides but mentally I had a friend in Edward, some part of me felt connected to him as a photographer but also the male figures with in the frames, they all became Edward to me, he became a friend, the more I got to know him the more I started calling him Eddy. It was love albeit a strange type of love but I had all of Eddy's greatest memories and mentally I was there celebrating births, trips to Paris and weddings with him. However, I was also grieving the atrocity and hurt that he had depicted.

This man felt like family, he felt like someone who was so familiar yet so far away.

In reality this lead me to my grandad, he had passed away five years prior and although I still had memories of him, I didn't have many photographs of him and it felt as though he was slowly slipping away. I always remember him talking about a brother that he had that went missing when they were both young. As soon as I ruminated on this, that was the moment Eddy transformed from a friend to my long lost Great Uncle Eddy.

And how else would I deal with the grief of my grandad other than to start writing to his long lost brother?

So that's what I did, at first I began writing letters to him via my diary and after confessing this to my peers they expressed that it was such a shame I couldn't get a response.

Beyond contacting a medium I was completely lost. How the hell was I going to get a response from someone who was completely fictional. That was until I started to type the diary I had been keeping into Chat Gpt- the open Ai source that is used mostly as a form of search engine. After multiple failed attempt with the chat bot replying with would you like me to condense this for you? I started to explore the settings, its then that I realised you can give your bot instructions, I guess this would used by people who want specific results such as constantly professional answers but in my case I instructed chat gpt to reply as my Great Uncle Eddy. I explained it should act as though it was an 80 odd year old male who was my long lost great uncle Eddy.

At the beginning the response was quite dry, often just repeating information that I had sent. For example if I had said I went walking in the fields he would write back saying I hear you went walking through the fields. It's a strange concept when I explain it out loud but the process feels completely natural.

When talking to Eddy I would discuss my life then usually ask questions about Eddy's life, in a weird way rather than being attached to the photographs I was now more connected with the replies, the two worked hand in hand to piece Eddy together and I felt more and more connected with him the more I wrote to him. I started to 'send' him the photographs- this was before chat gpt had the feature where you could input images- but then Eddy would 'send' me them back in the form of the archive that I had purchased back in the house clearance sale.

The two concepts worked hand in hand to explore the relationship between the three figures- me, my Grandad and Eddy.

Although I was happy with this work at the time, the project has now flourished into a concept that is still diarist but it now speaks to a wider community though how it comments on multiple different political scopes. When I first paused this work that was an aspect that I didn't realise I was missing. And of course there will still be parts of my work now that are fragmented but as the work progresses and develops this will be something that will continually be improved upon.

Martin Parr: Capturing Clichés

“Creating fiction based of my version of reality”

— Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a renowned British documentary photographer. On the 9th of February I spent the evening listening to Parr and his perspective on his photographic career.

Parr reflected on his time spent up north, studying at Manchester before moving to West Yorkshire to open up a community gallery named Albert Street, and later moving to the Wirral where he produced his most iconic work: The Last Resort.

Although Parr was always interested in capturing clichés, this became more evident within The Last Resort, photographing sun bathers next to heavy machinery and families surrounded by litter. He noted these clichés became political as his photographs documented Britain during the 1980's and the era of Margret Thatcher- a time that effected Merseyside and the whole of Britain significantly with rising unemployment rates and a decreased standard of living.

Parr later went on to have an infatuation with the British middle class claiming that this group went largely undocumented within the media through out the late 20th century. He explained that whilst growing up in a middle class background in Surrey, he felt under represented and went on to photograph middle class garden parties. Parr later went on to wrongly assume that everyone from the audience was middle class leaving a bit of a sour taste. Maybe it is true what they say about meeting your idols.

Nether the less, Parr went on to academically reflected on his previous documentary works, he often referred back to subjectivity and truth within photography stating that he was creating fictions based of his own version of reality. Hearing this from an established documentarian was motivating as this idea of truth within documentary photography is a convention that I enjoy playing with throughout my own work.

At the end of the talk, he held a Q&A session. The question I proposed was 'I'm a student at the University of Huddersfield studying photography, If you were to give on piece of advice to an emerging photographer, what would it be?'

Parr replied suggesting that you should find a subject that your obsessed with and make unique images- always find a subject that is close to you and that you care about and you will be motivated to make work. I suppose that is true, if you enjoy the work your making you won’t see it as work!

Working Class Stories: Visiting Photo North

Photo North Leeds is a photography festival held annually in the Carrageworks in Leeds, the weekend long event creates a space for photographers and creatives to come together to network, view exhibitions, attend book launches and listen to talks given by guest speakers.

I was fortunate enough to attend the event!

Over the course of the festival I enjoyed attending John Bollotons Book launch, spoke to independent publishers such as village books and rrb photo books as well as attending a talk from Channel 4's senior picture editor Jamie Honeywood, who I was also lucky enough to have a portfolio review with.

Throughout the day I also spoke with GF Smith about paper samples and how they have just had a huge rebound as well as viewing the exhibition hall which hosted a vast amount of imagery made by a breath of emerging and professional creatives.

Personally a stand out part of the day was viewing the main exhibition where I was mesmerised by the work of Mike Abrahams. I am a huge fan of black and white documentary photography, so I suppose naturally Abrahams' work had already struck a chord with me. This was the first time I had come across his work and seeing it displayed encased by black frames with a white boarder really caught my attention due to the repetition of the monochrome tonalities.

In particular an image of two men stood in the street caught my eye. They are both riding on bikes and seemingly stopped to have their photograph taken, they are dressed smartly wearing shirts a jumpers and the main figure has a blazer on. He is centre of the frame with his body angled to the side whilst he holds a direct yet relaxed gaze into the camera. In the background there are depictions of social housing and a news agents on the corner of the street with a street lap adjacent to this which frames the two figures with in the composition.

Through the context of the work: Abrahams was documenting working class lives and environments during the years of Margret Thatcher's regime in the 80's. This image, taken in Toxteth Liverpool, a disadvantaged area of the city, is an environment which is the epitome of an urban community that has suffered significantly due to the harsh rule of the conservative government. Having the location and date as a caption bellow the framed imagery really resonated with me. As someone who has grown up and seen the implication of Thatcherism in Merseyside decades later, personally little has changed in some areas- Toxteth being one of them. This image in particular stood out to me in comparison to others maybe due to the location but the other images with in the sequence displayed the same narrative of depictions of working class lives, documenting to me how there was lasting nationwide repercussions of the conservative government.

Abrahams work was one of the more successful presentations of exhibited work. To be slightly critical of the exhibition, there was some other equality as powerful projects that could have been executed in a stronger way in terms of hanging and sequence. Walking around the space was an overwhelming experience, upon reflection this is due to the vast amount of work within the limited space. For some of the projects I wish that I had more space to breathe and had time for reflection in between each image. Nether the less, the projects were strong but could have been displayed in a more professional way in order for me as a spectator to be fully immersed within the work.

Overall, a great day that made me critically think about the exhibition process for our Graduation Show in June.

From Canister to Composition: Learning how to process Colour Negatives.

I often find it hard to explain- the qualities of film and why I prefer shooting with my Olympus OM-10 compared to any digital camera. Maybe its the fairly mechanical process and the slowness, maybe it's the wait to see your compositions.

There's no better feeling than imaging how a photo will turn out and then seeing it come into fruition. Seeing the negative, attempting to realise it as a positive before scanning it and being over joyed with the fact that it is even better than your initial perspective of the foreground that was in front of you.

Of course there is always the flip side of this, the realisation that you didn't load your film correctly or someone saying 'what happens if you pull this up' before opening the back of your camera and exposing most of your perfectly shot roll.

But for me handing my film to a lab and then it magically being delivered back to me via the dystopian waves of We Transfer or Drop Box felt like an enigma. What happens behind the walls of the labs that process our films?

Being curiously inclined I asked and that’s how I began working for a local mini lab: Kirklees Photographic. It was here that my love for film photography was nurtured and I became obsessed with learning the process of the journey from canister to composition.

Previously only working with developing black and white film I assumed that the process of developing colour C41 negatives would be as laborious but I was pleasantly surprised with the automated process of the Noritsu V50 film processor.

Really the handling of the film came down to preparation before it going into the V50 and then from the processor into the Noritsu LS-600 Scanners.

Preparing the canisters included retrieving the end of the film strip so that this could then be taped onto a leader card before twin checking each roll with a code so that the negatives and the scans could be paired together.

Because we don't know what images are on the film and all of the canisters look virtually the same (besides stock and iso) it was vital to secure this twin check number on to the rolls to ensure that each customer got their own images sent back to them.

In terms of pushing the film through the processor this was done via the leader card. This leader card would be pulled though the machine ensuring that the film would be lead through the chemistry for it then to be developed. Within the processor there are 4 chemical baths- Colour Developer, Bleach, Fix and then Stabiliser before it would come out of the top and be dried by the heater. The process would be complete in around 10/15 minutes.

After this, the film strips would then be hung up in order for them to be scanned. Scanning the film was my favourite part of the whole process: being able to have a small insight into peoples perspectives of life via a camera and chemical process was so interesting.

Being able to have this experience has greatly improved my ability not only in an analogue practice, but has also influenced my decision making when using digital cameras. This is because I have become accustom to focusing primarily on light- with film (and photography in general) light plays a huge role in how a composition looks this is through how colour is reproduced and thinking about what camera settings to use is important. When using film you can instantly see the result, you can't test which aperture or shutter speed looks best and your restricted in what iso your using (unless pushing the film), so instead I was taught the method of Sunny 16. This is a trick to get a round about perfect exposure without using a light meter. The method follows that if you are shooting on a bright sunny day then set your aperture at F16 and work back from this, so if your film speed was iso 400 then you would be looking at around a shutter speed of 1/125. This changes for different lighting conditions but the same method follows. Having this tool at my disposal has allowed me to think less about settings when shooting digitally and have more trust in the imagery I am making. Of course it is still good to have a look back but I don't become too obsessive over getting different versions of the same image just in case the exposure is slightly off.

I am very lucky to say that I have developed everything from high end editorial fashion, commercial products to weddings, births, house parties, music events, festivals and have seen imagery from countries I didn't even know existed- all from behind the walls of a photographic lab in Huddersfield.

Rob's Like a Brother To Me

Every other week I drive over the peaks to go and visit Rob, we sit for a while updating one another about what's happened in our lives since we last saw one another. He's a keen photographer so we'll often chat about images we've recently seen or ideas we've come across.

On this particular occasion I can't remember what we had been talking about but I remember the warmth of the light shining down through the glazing of his uni hall windows.

With his back resting against the wall, a paper in hand and the light highlighting his face, I asked to take his portrait. He agreed glancing up from his reading and I clicked the shutter release. The whirling of the automatics in my Olympus AF dragged the film across the spool of the back of the camera and Rob carried on with his reading as though I had hardly disturbed him.

'That'll be a good one that mate- nice light' he noted as I placed the point and shoot back in my bag.

It was a month later when I dropped my film of at Take It Easy ( a lab in Leeds) to be developed that I remembered taking the image.

There's something about film that is magical, I feel as thought I would never have been able to take this image on a digital camera. Kodak Gold 200 is my usual stock of choice due to it's versatility and warmth. Maybe this is why I am so fond of this image, there's a warmth that the film gives to it, the relaxed gaze to camera, the light illuminating Rob's face and the warmth of the tones with in setting of the image. It in some ways captures the essence of the warmth that our friendship provides to one another.

This is the work that I want to be producing, imagery that portrays a narrative and that is naturally photojournalistic. As much as I attempt to challenge the ideas of documentary photography as a genre with in my University work, I have great admiration for those who are working with in photojournalistic settings whose work is used as an a accompaniment to articles within mass media outlets.

How Film Keeps Me Humble

Shooting on film is a great passion of mine, it feels so comforting to me. Whenever I loose motivation with wanting to go out and make images, I always fall back on analogue techniques. There's something about having to slow down and wait, the anticipation and the build up of excitement, when you get an image your happy with you almost feel like you've earnt it more.

I also happen to be a creature of habit and don't enjoy leaving my comfort zone so when I was asked to get involved with a fashion shoot with Dieume I hesitantly agreed but with the compromise that I could shoot digitally for his portfolio whilst shooting on film for my portfolio. He agreed!

I set up the studio as I usually would, using an octagonal soft box and a poly board to cast come shadow on one side of the face. I would ensure that I was happy with the exposure, digitally shoot with a Nikon D810 and then swap the trigger to my Pentax ME Super whilst copying over the f stop and shutter speed.

The first went perfectly, or so I thought. When it came to running the film through the V50 (an automated colour film processor) I panicked thinking that I'd done something wrong. I was sat there questioning how all 36 of my negatives had only been half way exposed. How was this possible? Especially when the digital images that I had taken were perfect.

I took the roll over to the lab manager and he laughed when I questioned if I had put the roll through the processor wrong. (This was in my first couple of months working there and I was a complete novice). It turns out that I just didn't understand flash sync.

Flash Sync is where the flash has to be synchronised to the shutter speed at which your shooting. For example every camera will have a speed at which both the shutter speed and flash will be in sync in order for the exposure to be correct. In this instance, the Pentax ME Super has a flash sync of 1/60 where as I was shooting at 1/125, meaning that the shutter was still partially closed when I shot my exposure, hence the horizontal black out across my image.

After realising this I asked Dieume to come back in the studio as he was equally enamoured by my simple mistake. We shot again and this time after I used 1/60 the exposures where perfect.

After University I hope that by shooting on film I can find my niche and a clientele who are looking for the aesthetic that working with analogue provides. I also hope that having these images within my portfolio helps to distinguish my work from peers as working with film in the studio is a practice that is becoming prevalent with in industry. This is through the likes of Tom Barton, lead photographer at Manchester City Football Club, who primarily shoots with 120 and 35mm film, . Seeing a huge brand work with photographers who specialise in commercially analogue practices shows that film photography is still thriving, presenting the idea that understanding how to use analogue techniques is still an important skill to learn as a photographer in the 21st century.

Dry Society: From Project To Photobook

0.08 Imprints is an independent publisher that strives to produce photobooks and zines, they often publish work that consists of working with practitioners who use the camera as an investigative tool that narrates relationships, people and place whilst still being both approachable and aesthetically conscious.

Over the past twelve months I have been working for 0.08 Imprints as an intern. I have been fortunate enough to work as a designer assisting the team to produce a photobook of Lucy Evans' 'Dry Society'.

Evans’ work depicts washing lines and laundry items in unexpected locations as to make a comment on class, feminism and sustainability.

When producing this work in the back of my mind I was constantly thinking about Matt Johnston's 'Photobooks &' through the way that Johnston discusses the eight acts of photobook reading. If this book is to be produced and sold for a consumer then I had to be thinking about making this work approachable and engaging to a reader who isn't familiar with the work.

Johnston suggests that there is an infinite way in which people read photobooks and I agree but in certain stages of producing a book I was thinking about the different acts upon which he has theoriesed.

Throughout the sequencing stage of the book I was thinking about a reader taking an inspectional and conceptual reading: for example the way that a spectator will at first connect with the work through forming a loose understanding before then connecting resonating with the values that are presented with in the work. If Evans had encoded connotations of feminist ideologies then I wanted the work to present this to an audience in an approachable yet interesting way.

I attempted to approach this via the fabrication of sequence by setting up an expectation and then disrupting it.

In order to do this I first had to set the scenes of the working class environments that Evans had captured. The idea of using a long shot image to present the scene sets up a form of expectation to a reader- this is a piece of work that comments on working class environments.

Before then zooming in closer and using the repetition of images of washing lines in a domestic environment to reinforce the ordinary- washing lines in a domestic setting on a bright day with wet clothes hanging off them to dry. Again setting up an expectation that now this work is a comment on working class environments and the daily house hold chore of washing laundry.

To then create contrast and juxtaposition Lucy and I discussed positioning the images of the laundry and washing lines in unexpected locations after the images of the more naturally positioned to introduce this disruption- as the sequence progresses the images get more unexpected and darker as to comment on the role of laundry and how Evans invites people to see domestic chores as a performance rather than a routine.

When the reader completes their initial reading of the sequence they are then greeted with the final statement:

Dry Society uses analogue photography in tandem with washing lines to explore several channels of social history.

Having this statement back, allows a reader to form their own initial reading in the first initial reader before then using Johnsons theory of reading, they are then invited to reread the sequence now knowing a small snippet of context.

Over all, book making and graphic design is a great passion of mine and I value the fact that I have a creative outlet where I can progress my skils.

Hahnemule x Photo London: Moving from the Arbitrary to the Necessary

In January, I was selected to be nominated for the Hahnemüle Photo London Student Competition.

Over the course of four weeks I had to cut down the whole conceptual project into 6 final images and an artist statement. Having to be so selective was a real challenge as trying to embody the multiple critically reflective narratives that are conceptually depicted within the work was an almost impossible task.

The final six pictures that I choose as selections displayed the various different aspects of the whole project and offered up a display of how visually chaotic the work is. This was important as it was giving the panel of judges an insight to what the whole work was about in a condensed format due to the restrictions of a concise edit.

When writing the statement to go along side the piece, having 200 words to summarise the narrative was also a bit of a challenge. I found it difficult to condense ideas that I have been working on for the past 12 months into one short passage but overall again I think it gives a concise insight to the work rather than explaining all of the critical thinking behind it. After all I wouldn't want to project my own opinions too loudly when the work is also completely subjective.

For the final part of the competition, we had to select which Hahnemlüe paper we would choose when exhibiting the work. I chose Hahnemüle Hemp as it had a soft matte texture. I didn't want my work to be obscured by glare if a viewer were to experience this project, in an ideal scenario a viewer could connect with each picture without distraction allowing them to have an undisturbed connection.

Overall the competition nomination process has been a great experience, it's made me think critically about selecting the strongest images that summarise the main ideas. Deciphering between the arbitrary and the necessary throughout the selection of each photograph has developed my understanding and I can take this forward when producing a sequence for my final piece.

Format Portfolio Review

In March, I had the privilege of having my portfolio reviewed by four industry specialists including art director Jean-Christophe Godet and photo features editor of the guardian Sarah Gilbert.

Having to layout my work in front of them felt almost like a completely vulnerable experience, for 18 months I had been working to conceptualise Dear Uncle Eddy, and I was completely shocked and in awe of what they had to say.

My approach to the review was to attempt to act confident, say hello introduce my self and shake their hand then sit down open my portfolio box and let them flick through a dummy book I had sequenced. I was looking to see if the work kept their attention whilst grasping what I was trying to say with the work. I wanted to use this opportunity to gain research as to whether my work was approachable and understandable to a viewer without any previous knowledge of the context behind my approach to creating this project.

During one review, Godet explained how he felt very moved by the work and how it was extremely powerful, he suggested that whilst the images were strong, the sequence was possibly too long and in some places it felt repetitive. He explained that whilst the sequence was strong, my self portrait series summarised and rounded off the project as a whole and suggested that if I were to exhibit the work then just the portraits would work to achieve the same goal of presenting a narrative.

Godet's review had a profound effect on my perspective of the work, he was harsh which I enjoy, I always enjoy criticism of my work- it's what gets people talking. There is no perfect project and Dear Uncle Eddy, is far from perfect and I value it so much when reviewers find places to pick and unwind it, giving me new ways to progress in ways that I never would have thought about. Godet suggested that I take a pause with the work before I get to overwhelmed and obsessed by it leading to burn out, he suggested coming up with a new concept, whether that be my relationship to new technologies or my relationship with myself, he wanted me to test coming up with a new concept and explained that a good artist can come up with an original concept but a great one can imagine many and can progress with new works.

All of the reviewers had different critics of different parts of the work but a common denominator was to play around with the scale of images within my work whilst continuing to test stock- a few of the reviewers said that if they were to me extremely picky then they think that there is too much grapefruit and repetition with in the phonebook and that the work could be culled. However over all feed back was very impressive, with very kind words from all of the reviewers.

I had 20 minutes with each reviewer, so making a good impression was vital, I was most nervous about meeting Sarah Gilbert because of her expertise and position within industry. I followed the same routine, allowing her to read the photobook whilst I ran off a script I had memorised explaining the context of the work.

My nerves where soon alleviated when she opened the first page of my book, saw the image of my Grandad wearing a fluffy striped bonnet, before looking up and laughing whilst clapping her hands. I thought phew! This is it, she gets the humour. It was quiet for a little minuet whilst she read the text and imagery before we conversed around how I had made the images and where I was from, I told her from near Liverpool before she started quizzing me what team I supported ‘Everton of course’ I projected whilst she sat up explaining she supports LFC

She began flicking though the photobook again before pausing: ‘See I can tell you understand sequencing because you’ve put these two images together’ she explained whilst holding up a spread where I had grouped an image of green flora with a pastel green building. She took particular interest in these images questioning if I actually visited the city just because Chat GPT told me to, I hesitantly nodded before she exclaimed ‘brilliant just brilliant’.

Later Gilbert went on to explain how even though the concept of the work was hard hitting, it was treated with great care. She completely understood the messages encoded within the imagery of Barcelona and stated that Dear Uncle Eddy is ‘a seriously impressive, brave body of work that is highly politically motivated’- I actually couldn’t believe what I was hearing, to know that it could be decoded as politically motivating was so encouraging as this is what I wanted to convey within my work the whole time. Dear Uncle Eddy, isn’t just a narrative in which I rely on my Uncle for support with my mental health struggles, it is a multifaceted conceptual approach to how I navigate the ever changing political, digital and some what artificial world encapsulated by a conversation with a non sentient being which is my driving force for therapeutic catharsis.

I left the review with Gilberts contact details, she explained how she’d like to keep in touch.

Hardback: The Fabrication of Dear Uncle Eddy,

Throughout Dear Uncle Eddy, my intention was to make a lay flat hardback book. Little did I know that this would be easier said than done.

After multiple iterations of sequences and design changes , the project became less about the work itself and more about fabrication. I never would have guessed that so much work went into hand making a book and I definitely won't question the price when wondering around village books again.

First of all, because I wanted the book to lay flat, I had to figure out how to make signatures, I learnt that these had to be in multiples of four but could each be different sizes. Having 96 pages, I made the first and last signatures 4 pages each and then the remaining 7 inside signatures weighed 8 pages each. Here I achieved my initial aim and this was the easiest stage in the whole process.

Then I had to learn how to stitch, many cringe-y YouTube tutorials later and I had produced a very loose and crooked kettle stitch that just about held my pages together. The first mistake I would make was joining every signature to the first one rather than just to the previous one, but they worked (just about). After around 20 attempts at the stitch I had finally perfected it, I realised that each hole I punched in the signatures had to be perfectly aligned so that they would each sit flushed to one another.

Next was figuring out how to fashion the signatures together in order for them to be secure when sitting along the spine of the hardback. Attempting to use PVA glue along the spine was something I wanted to avoid, I had seen plenty of people online use this method and not have the text block (the sewn pages) tight enough within the book press- meaning that the glue would seep through and stick the pages together rather than just securing the spine. So I decided to use a thermal binding machine, here I placed my text block into the machine and it would clamp the book tightly before I inserted a fabric strip where the tape would be heated and secured to the spine. This process took around 5 minutes and saved so much time! If I had been using PVA I would have had to wait for the glue to dry overnight to receive the same outcome.

After securing the spine of the text block, I then made the hardback. Again this was another part of the process that was easier said than done. For the front cover design I wanted the image to be tipped into the fabric (this is where the image is debossed so it sits within the fabric) so I used a craft knife to cut a small section out of the mount board. Working out where to cut this was a challenge, for the image to be in the middle of the entire front cover, the cut out on the mount board had to be off centre. This is because when making the hardback case, I had to leave a 1.2mm gap so that a hinge was created where the book could open and lay flat, I therefore had to take this into consideration when cutting. As someone who really struggles with maths, this tested my patience and after a great deal of moral support from my peers (and plenty of failed attempts) I finally cut out the indent.

Next came to attach the book cloth to the mountboard. This step followed the theme of difficulty in the book making process and was the penultimate stage of reaching the final product. It is almost humorous to note that in each stage of the book making process, If one miniscule step goes wrong then it has a detrimental effect on the final outcome, each step has to be perfect otherwise it will be glaringly obvious. So to get to this point and for the text block to be pretty much perfect I was more than happy. Now came to mounting the fabric- to ensure that there was enough fabric to cover the edges of the mountboard I made a template. I would place the front mountboard, then leave the 1.2mm for the spine, then place the spine, leave another 1.2mm gap and then would place the final back mountboard. After this I would draw an inch wide boarder around what I had placed before cutting and gluing down the mountboard to the fabric. I found that the hardest step was to attempt to neatly secure the corners of the fabric. In the end I don't think that they are to a professional standard but they look tidy.

Then came attaching the end papers. To do this, I glued a section of the fabric tape and stuck down the paper, it was important to not glue the whole page down as the page underneath still needed to be visible. Using endpapers rather than sticking down a sewn signature takes the pressure off the text block when the book is being opened and closed. It aids the hinge of the hardback meaning that the book can withhold its integrity.

After this was attaching end bands. These add a decorative touch to the book, because I used red and white ones they stand out whilst accompanying the repetition of the colour pallet with in the sequence of the text block. I cut and attached them to the spine of the text block using adhesive glue, this was to make sure that they dried fast and didn't shift, they needed to lay perpendicular to the spine in order for them to look neat.

The final stage of making a hardback book is to fashion together the text block and the hardback case via the endpapers. I was initially worried about doing this because my previous attempts had failed miserably. Sometimes they would come out wonky, other times wrinkled and sometimes they would bow the inside pages and this looked extremely un professional. This final outcome had to be perfect because of the time and effort that I had already put into the process.

I tentatively glued the end papers down to the hardback and then placed acetate in between the pages underneath this to ensure that the glue didn't seep through and bow the inside pages. I left the book inside the book press over the weekend and come Monday morning I was pleased that the final book was finished!

Marketing: Digitally Curating Dear Uncle Eddy,

Through out third year I have been attempting to build a relaxed digital portfolio on Instagram as a way to network whilst simultaneously marketing my work to a small group of followers.

Previously I would curate my images with a white background, so that when a viewer was to see my profile, the images were sequenced in a clear and organised fashion. As much as this looks professional, Instagram is a relaxed social platform and in order for me to engage with a larger creative audience I recognised that I needed to have more of a visual appeal and apply my images to a distinguishable 'brand' identity.

For this I have been focusing on a graphics as a way to engage with an audience. I initially collected some visuals from brands that I enjoyed. One of the main marketing campaigns that I could think of off the top of my head was Ikea, I enjoy the minimalistic style and layout with the almost hand drawn notes. There advertising is clear and well thought out. I imputed these images into Chat GPT and asked the programme to tell me what style of graphic design this was so then I could research this more. It told me that this style is modern minimalism so I attempted search for templates and layouts that followed this style.

For my social media templates, I use Canva. Here I could work with a consistent layout and could edit the styles of them. Initially the template was a green colour, how ever this didn't correspond to the work that I have created through out the module.

Through out Dear Uncle Eddy, I have consistently worked with a deep red colour, this is from the colour of the grapefruit. Therefore within the marketing I wanted to repeat this colour so that the 'branding' and product would be both recognisable and cohesive. Along with the colours, I have repeated the typography and have used a typeface from a similar type family. This was again for the marketing to be cohesive but also to link back to the fact that y project is about Artificial Intelligence, I chose a font that is similar to HTML and has connotations to the digital.

So far this banding has had a positive effect on engagement, across my profile I have had five thousand views in the past month and feel as though my work is now reaching a more engaging audience. The reason I would like to grow my platform on Instagram is to network with industry professionals but also so I can have a place where I can curate and display my conceptual work for it to be viewed by an audience where they can directly leave feedback. I will continue to do this after I have completed my degree in order for my practice to live and develop outside of a university setting.

Future Plans: Photo LDN, Self Publishing and Further Studies?

After leaving Huddersfield, my intentions are to work over the summer to fund a self publication run of Dear Uncle Eddy. I would like to have around 50 printed so that I can send them out to open calls and publishers and other opportunities.

After doing a small amount of research, I intend to print this work with Gomer Press an independent printers from South West Wales. As much as I have enjoyed making the books, they are very time consuming to produce and because this was my first time making a hardback, I feel as though using Gomer Press would give the books a professional finish that they deserve.

Before all of this, I will also be visiting Photo London. Based in Somerset house the weekend long photo festival offers an opportunity to see exhibitions, attend talks and socialise and network with other creatives. My intention when I'm down there is to speak to Hoxton Mini Press (a London based independent publisher), I feel like the work that I have created aligns with the aesthetic that Hoxton publishes, however they usually prefer projects that work under the jurisdiction of documentary photography. I believe that Dear Uncle Eddy, works to critically examine documentary as a genre but visually the project still aligns with humorous style that Hoxton Publishes.

As much as I enjoy book making, I don't think that I could earn a living off this as a primary career. I intend to keep this as a passion whilst continuing my internship at 0.08 Imprints and finding paid employment so that I can fund further studies.

One of the main lessons that I have learnt from University and the creative community is that: It’s not what you know but who you know. When looking for masters courses I have primarily been looking at universities in London this is due to the location and connections and opportunities. I feel like if I’m to take a career in photography seriously then I need to consider moving to a city where there are more links to creative industries in comparison to Huddersfield.

Either way! Whatever happens in the future I hope to continue using cameras to document the world around me!