Thematic-History & practice of the photo-essay & photo book
History & practice of the photo-essay & photo book - Frits Gierstberg
3- day seminar
15, 22 and 29 November 2016
Why are so many photographers and visual artists making photo books nowadays? Still images on paper? Hasn’t the book become obsolete in the digital age? The photo book is as old as the medium of photography itself. It once started with albums containing real photographic prints, then an industry of photographic illustrated books saw the light.
Once photographs could be printed together with text, by the end of the 19th century, the photo book as we know it now came on the market. However not all books with photo’s are real photo books. We will look into the history of so called ‘authors’ books’ in the Netherlands. These are books that have one or two authors who are fully responsible for their creative and innovative content and design. We will look into the structure of books, narratively and montage, relationships between image and text etc. and what used to be called the ‘photo-essay’, but what today is called ‘visual storytelling’.
After the exploration of historical highlights, we will arrive in the 21st century and look at books that were created when the Internet was already in full power. The photo book is experiencing a ‘renaissance’ and it seems it has entered a new, experimental phase in history. We will try to understand why, and how, and see if there are ways to be even more experimental.
Tuesday, 15 November 11:00 - 17:30
11:00- 13:00: The Dutch photo book in the 20th century. Presentation and discussion.
We move to the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Wilheminakade 332)
14:00-15:30: Visit archives and library of the Nederlands Fotomuseum
16:00-17:30: visual storytelling and photo books by Josef Koudelka and Ata Kando: tour through the exhibition Wall/Exiles and I Shall Use My Time.
Assignment: pick one historical or one contemporary photo book that you find of interest, inspiring or conceptually strong. Find out why and present your analyses to the group on 22 November. See to it that the presentation doesn’t exceed 7 minutes, make it convincing and use visuals.
Tuesday, 22 November 11:00 - 17:30.
Venue: Nederlands Fotomuseum (Wilheminakade 332)
11:00- 13:00: Presentations of favourite photo books, followed by discussion.
14:00-15:30: Dutch photo books in the 21st century. Presentation and discussion.
16:00-17:30: Discussion: how to make a photo book? Models and concepts.
Assignment: create a concept and a model for your own photo book.
Tuesday, 29 November 11:00 - 17:00
Venue: Nederlands Fotomuseum
11:00-13:00: Presentations of models and concepts.
14:00-15:30: Digital Storytelling: what’s new?
16:00-17:30: Conclusions
Reading list:
- Cataloge QUICKSCAN NL#02 (Nederlands Fotomuseum 2016, esp. interview with Hans Gremmen)
- F. Gierstberg and R. Suermondt, The Dutch Photobook 1945-present (NAI publishers 2012)
- Bruno Ceschel, How to make a photobook; see also:
- http://time.com/4040880/guide-self-publish-photobook/
