Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating  with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.

I am going to be researching ‘Impressions‘ by Thomas Lodin. Impressions is a printed book project that was published in 2019 and is a result of three years of photographic work. The book consists of 150 photos across 290 pages and is divided into three colour spaces; blue, white and red. Lodin breaks down and displays the surf culture and the perceptual movement of a surfer within his photobook as his images focus ore on the aesthetic side of photography rather than the technical side. This is demonstrated by the unique images Lodin has created of the surf which has been inspire by Leroy Grannis who was seen as a surf culture legend. Lodin poses a candid look on surfing as he enjoys taking images surrounding the surf culture and the ocean in general. He has always had a love for the ocean from a very young age as he has many found memories from messing around in the sea. He seems to live a very laid back life and enjoys spending time taking surf photos as surfing has a major influence on his life.

The book has a matte lamination hard cover with a soft touch finish. The front cover design implies that the book is going to contain surf images as some may argue that the black shape looks like a surf fin. To back this up more the white gradient background and blue font also implies the photobook is about the ocean. Personally, I think the front cover design is quite simplistic which relates o the theme of what surf culture is all about. The book has a range of different page layouts including double page spreads and basic but effective designs. The way Thomas Lodin has laid his images out is unique

This was my favourite shoot as I managed to get a range of different shots.

Basic edits

Action shots:

When editing these images I had to adjust the white balance as my images had a blue tint to them.

Environmental Portraits:

I put a few of my images in black and white such as the one above to make a comparison to the work of Thomas Lodin.

Headshots:

Closeup shots/ Abstract:

I decided to crop this image to really focus in on the board.

Landscapes:

As it was sunset some of the images were quite dark so when editing them, I wanted to make them lighter.

Final images

Best images

There were a few images that I like from this shoot but wanted to edit a few of them as they’re different to the portraits and action shots I have taken. I may decide to use these images as close up shots in my book as this is what W. Eugene Smith did when creating his ‘Country Doctor’ project

I also wanted to experiment with this image and put it in to black and with.

I also took some close up images of one of my sisters surf boards and experimented with editing them.

Best images

I wasn’t very happy with the outcomes from shoot 3 as I didn’t have a zoom camera to capture action shots. It was also a training camp so their were heats going on so I only had a short window to capture my sister on a wave. I ended up taking more landscape images.

I decided to edit these images in black and white as I wanted to try recreate some old retro surf images.

I cropped this image as I didn’t like how there were extra people on the side and thought it would suit the composition better if it was just the group of people within the image.

final images

I decided to crop these image as I felt that it would make the the composition of the image better as it directs the focus towards the subject more instead of the surroundings.

I decided to to put this photo in black and white as I personally think it is quite a dramatic photo as my sister fights through the wave. The black and white adds a cinematic feel tot he image.

I experimented with the saturation and saturation of the image.

I experimented with putting this image in black and white as I couldn’t decide which looked better. Personally, I think the image is quite cinematic as my sister is the focal point within the image.

final images

Best images:

This was the first shoot that I took with the zoom camera so I was learning whilst taking the images. At first I found it quite challenging to identify which surfer was my sister but once I had identified it was easier.

Basic edits

final iamges

Best images:

I wanted to experiment with editing some of my images in the style of ‘indie surf culture’ and the 70’s. These image were highly saturated and vibrant often containing the colour red or yellow.

My edits

When editing these photos, I experimented with changing the saturation and luminance of each colours. Mainly focusing on the red, blue and yellow.

Outcomes

Contact sheet

The first set of images were taken at st. Ounes during sunset and inclued action shots as well as environmental portraits. The second set of images are of the surfboards as I want6ed to experiment taking some abstract images such as close up shots of the wax on the board.

Image Selection

Flagged images

Rating my images

I was very happy with the out comes from this shoot as I managed to get some action shots as well as environmental portraits. I also liked how the sunset allowed me to take some silhouettes and added to the composition of the images.

I took these images in my sisters room, focusing on all the surf related objects within her room such as medals, trophies, posters, surf books and magazines. As well as taking photos of her room, I also took photos of her surf equipment (boards and wetsuits.)

Image selection

Flagged images

Rating my images

I wasn’t very happy with the outcomes from this shoot but will edit the few images that I do like as they add to the whole collection of images within the ‘day in the life’ of my sister.

Contact sheet

I took these images during a CISF training camp which included surfers from Wales, Guernsey and Jersey. I didn’t have a zoom lens with me at this shoot so wasn’t able to get many images of my sister on the waves. However I did mange to get images of her doing her warmup run, coming out the sea and debriefing with one of the coaches.

Image selection

Rating my images

Contact sheet

I took these images at St. Brelade’s Bay during another CISF training day. The conditions weren’t the best so I had to make sure I captured the right moment when my sister caught a wave.

Image selection

Flagged images

Rating my images

There were a few action shot that I could use from this shoot that I am going to edit as I think they would fit well in to my photobook.