Dummy Book Response

Although the exact layout that I had in mind for my Dummy Book got a bit messed up because of the way Staples printed it, it was still extremely beneficial to hear feedback from both Meg and Paige.

When thinking about the order in which to present my photos, I wasn’t really sure at first on how to organize them. I spent a lot of time looking at each print and trying to find similarities between different photographs, and also isolating some that would possibly stand alone in the spread, instead of being paired up with another picture. Meghan talked a bit about how the images portrayed a movement and balance between intimacy and intensity, and those are two things that really wanted to get across.

She also talked about the eye contact of the subjects of the images with the viewer and how that was very powerful. One of her suggestions is to focus more on the eye contact, which will force to viewer to be more engaged with the book. She talked about how as a viewer, she felt intrusive looking at the images, but at the same time they drew her in. There is definitely a battle between feeling close to and separate from the images that she picked up on, and that I am trying to convey.

Paige also commented on the arrangement of the photographs and how the variety of positions and depth of the headshots intrigues the viewer and pulls them close.

She also mentioned how the book invoked a dynamic between dependence and independence. That is something else that I really wanted to portray with my book.

Especially after reading about Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, where she is constantly struggling with independence and dependence as well, I really wanted my own investigation into my relationship to describe that struggle as well.

In Ballad, Goldin says “I have a strong desire to be independent, but at the same time a craving for the intensity that comes from interdependency.” That quote really spoke to me and I have realized that especially towards the end of our relationship, we were both struggling with these concepts.

Paige also pointed out that throughout the pictures, JJ’s wardrobe consists of a lot of plaid. She suggested that at the end of the book, if I could end the book with him in a very different outfit, then that would make clear the turn of the relationship. She also mentioned that the last four spread really transition to show JJ alone in all of the pictures, instead of us together, and she thought that was very effective as well.

I still have more images that I need to print, and then work into the sequence, so I think that it is definitely going to change a lot more before the complete, finalized product. But both of their suggestions were extremely helpful!!