mentor

Morgan Bailey Photobook Caldwell 5/7/13 Mentor

I did not have a mentor photobook. I searched around for weeks and came up

with nothing that resembled my grandfather’s work or his character. So instead of get inspiration from another artist in a book dedicated to a photographer, why not use the artist himself. So for my photobook I took my knowledge and the work of my grandfather and created a book inspired by it. This book was also made to honor his work so simplicity was key. My grandfather’s style had a strong sense of family yet disconnect from the outside world. His photos depicted himself, a family man who was disconnected from the world and often lonely and depressed. As he grew older his photographer changed along with him. Moving from standard landscapes to more complex works using moving object and people. The older he got the more family oriented his work became and it could be seen less as art and more as documenting his travels in a unique way.

This book I have created uses his simple outlook on life yet as a play touch

laid in every so often to represent his whimsical family style while keeping the clean stark lines of his most famous work. A book of panoramas needs to be long and lean, allowing the viewer to see all the small details in such a large and awkwardly shaped photo. I found the longest book out there (11X13) and made every page a full spread double page layout. This brings the work right up to your face and

doesn’t make you lean in too far to see everything. The “stronger” work was left alone on the page and the more standard color travel fare was doubled up as to break up the black and white imagery refreshing the viewer’s eyes.

My grandfather was nothing without my grandmother. She was his rock, the

only thing keeping him afloat from his depression. They traveled everywhere together and 90% of his photographs have her in them somewhere. Honoring their relationship in this book was key. The double images represent their partnership, and I put their photo on the back to show that she was always behind him in everything he did.

My grandfather loved to make people happy, just not himself. He was

completely selfless; I think this took a toll on him. He never did anything for himself.

His work was never published; he never got paid for it. The few galleries that did show his work did so for free. He spent his life teaching photography to students. He focused on the weird and unknown side of photography. He asked his students to experiment and make bounds to bring something new to the art. This book means a lot to my family because his work is finally easily accessible.