Eastern Partnership Photography
prefer publishing limited editions of
their works. There is a good reason
for this. Publishing houses seek to
reduce their risks and avoid providing
complete financing for fear of going
bankrupt, which is why they invite
photographers to pay for their book
either partially or fully. Furthermore,
such cooperation schemes will not be
available to all authors. Previously,
publishing their own books used to be
an unattainable goal for all beginner
photographers.
In the end, photographers began
publishing books independently – the
old scheme proved inefficient and too
costly, whereas the new mechanism,
which any photographer can afford,
enables authors to personalize their
publications.
These books should be distinguished from printed exhibition catalogs. This is a sort of photographic
self-published material (referred to
as samizdat in Russian) that is not a
publication for a specific display, but
self-sufficient space for an artistic or
photographic statement. A book, just
as an exhibition with a storyline, is capable of helping the author build and
visualize his or her story – subjectively,
originally, and sincerely – unlike books
published by major publishing houses
in a big number of copies.
Furthermore, photographers sho ld
u
also acquire various skills and gain experience in graphic design, typography,
and binding books by hand. Authors
can also work in teams and cooperate
with designers or commission an agency to produce such books, where they
will only supervise the book creation
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process at the early project stages.
When having their books published,
a photographer should focus on the
selection and succession of pictures
in the book; a photo editor can facilitate this process. However, the trade
of a photo editor has virtually disappeared in the former Soviet Union. In
Moldova, no photo books have been
published over the past two decades;
anyway, they used to be quite rare even
back in the Soviet times. Photography
mostly served as propaganda of the
Soviet lifestyle and political system,
rather than the promotion and analysis of this art along with the fine arts.
But let us get back to the creation
of books. Normally, smaller size photographs are printed and then placed
on a table or any other smooth and
even surface. I preferred working on
the floor, because it is easier for me
to manipulate the pictures this way.
Once the order, succession, and dimensions of photographs have been
determined, it is helpful to make a
dummy book. Think of the best design and size of the future book, its
title, cover, and some other elements.
A dummy can be produced as a collage, by gluing photographs and texts
onto paper sheets of the right size.
Then you need to bind or sew them to
see what the book will look like. This
will help you detect the mistakes and
things that you missed when preparing the book, and make adjustments.
You need to understand that the
form and materials are as important
as the photographs themselves, and
pay close attention to them when designing your book. There is another
option for making a dummy – to use
InDesign software to design the book
instead of making a collage. Then it is
time to print a limited number of copies of your book. Limited editions are
normally between 50 and 500 copies.
These books are sold at book fairs and
festivals; some European stores specialize in self-published books. Such
books are mostly acquired by photographic communities: collectors, curators, photographers, gallery owners,
and those who love and praise this sort
of self-expression in photography.
To develop, print and bind a book
is a special skill that takes quite long
to master. In Europe they organize
various workshop sessions to provide training in self-publishing. I was
privileged to win a grant in May 2014
and take such a course at the International Summer School of Photography
(ISSP) in Riga.
In the former Soviet Union, you can
take a distance course at St. Petersburg-based PhotoDepartment school.
Alternatively, you can always find
information on how to make books
online. There are many dummy competitions and festivals, such as the famed
Unseen Dummy Award, where winners
are given a chance to have their books
published, which is very prestigious.
There are also festivals and fairs of
self-published books, which bring together photographers, curators, critics,
collectors, gallerists, and photo book
enthusiasts. Some examples include
Recontres d’Arles in Paris, Unseen Book
Market in Amsterdam and Photobook
Week Aarhus in Denmark.
The third, multimedia format of
presenting photographs will require
knowledge and experience in working with video software. Furthermore, you will have to be not only a
photographer, but also a journalist to
document various stories. Interactive
documentary stories are developing
now as a separate artistic venture –
they only exist online and look like
interactive computer games based
on photographic documents. A wellknown project by Samuel Bollendorff
and Abel Ségrétin Journey To the End
of Coal tells a story of coal mines in
China and environmental pollution.
Contemporary photography is undergoing changes; new work formats
appear, and photography as an art is
changing as well – and changing us.