SOUND_BITES meeting with Paige When Paige and I met, our books were mostly still in process. We talked about ideas that we had when starting the books, after reviewing the rubric, returning to the drawing table and continuing. The guidelines we were given were unclear as to whether there were to be two books or one, whether we should keep the images mostly the same or mess with the images, etc. So we decided to just go for it. When I saw Paige’s first revisit of my pieces, it did not have the ending ferris wheel page. The book consisted of three images. She followed the color pattern of my previous book – a nice reference to the previous whole – and took certain selections of the photos, highlighting some details within the frames. When I looked at the original, I pictured them printed large – maybe 14x14 – and that was something that she echoed in our meeting as well. She talked about exploring a few options for a last image that she wanted to add – either a ferris wheel or a fish bowl – and we discussed the formal implications of each choice. The curve of the fish in the upper right corner of the book would lead nicely into another curving image and she talked about the juxtaposition she hoped to make with the subject of the images. While matched in formal qualities, they would actually mean something different. Paige and I have similar tastes and styles when it comes to formatting and layout and general artistic preferences. When we were discussing the rationale behind the choices we made, the issue of text was brought up. The interaction between text and image was something that was mentioned in the guidelines and it was also something that we had both bypassed in our first versions. I had gone back and added text to my book, and Paige was discussing adding text to hers, along with the final image. I had added a poem by Andrea Gibson and she was looking at a Shel Silverstein. I love her final incorporation of the text and think that it easily adds another layer of meaning to the photos. My own incorporation of text was deliberate. I skipped pages with images justified left, and only put small text (lean in to engage with the text and hence the photo) on each spread. When I uploaded it to issuu, I wanted to go back and correct the text once again because it didn’t seem to be as balanced as it felt in the pdf.
***Paige and I wanted to record this conversation and upload it to issuu but that never happened. Just thought you’d want to know how much of an out-of-the-box thinker she is and how much she inspired me!