Krakow: The Journey, and some upcoming projects.

When I received my copy of Krakow: The Journey, I was pleasantly surprised. Throughout my entire project I had hoped to create something in between a zine, a pamphlet, and a pocket-sized guide - and, as such, had some pretty specific requirements that I didn't think a service as basic as Blurb would be able to provide.

The size of the book is perfect. I went with the 'trade' size of 6x9 inches, a little over pocket size. The book sits well on any bookshelf, whilst still retaining a good size for the photos. The cover image consists of 35mm negatives that were scanned in, the full-sized prints of which can be found inside the book. I went with basic text so the reader isn't distracted from the main purpose of the book; the images. While I think the cover works, I don't think the text suits it very well. 

The type of paper used is a rough, ordinary paper: this is exactly what I wanted. I was dreading opening up my book and finding glossy photos reflecting light back at me. The rough texture of the paper is enough to be reminiscent of a zine or pamphlet, whilst the content and the size suggest otherwise. 

I chose to insert a scan of a ticket, receipt or brochure before each chapter, to separate the sections and also add a sense of personalisation in a book that is otherwise devoid of text. I've only included ones that are relevant: the first one from above is from the hostel we stayed in, Heynow, which was a beautiful and very welcoming hostel that, for the price, offered far more than just bed and breakfast. The second receipt is from the first bar we went to, Alchemy, and a flyer from the night we went - we were promised bass music, and we could hear bass music, but we never managed to find the source and instead had to settle with the fact that, yes, there was bass rumbling somewhere under our feet but no, we couldn't get down there.

The photos in the book are printed to perfect quality. Black and white photos hold the same amount of details as the colour images do, with every pixel sharp and accurate. I work better in diptychs, and as such decided to pair each image up with another, related, photo. There was a little confusion in the Blurb book-making programme about the crop of the pages, and what would be lost - luckily, nothing was lost. My only issue is that in the programme it was only possible to insert one photo onto each page. I had to manually create .jpegs of the diptychs, which were then inserted into the programme. However, the lack of grid layout for images (as exists for texts) made it difficult for everything to be lined up correctly, and some of the pages look slightly wonky in the borders between the images.

I was quite concerned that my instax from Auschwitz wouldn't work well in print. I was warned by a tutor that they might look out of place alongside the rest of the images, and worked more as a piece of art by themselves. However, I'm pretty pleased with the way that they look. Out of all of the images in the book, they look the most comfortable against the thick white outlines of the pages. Textless and solitary on their own pages, the haunting tone of the instax has transferred perfectly from artefact to paper. 

So, as you can see, I'm pretty happy with the 44-page book I created for the final project of my second year. I'm not going to leave it there, though. I've learned, from putting this book together, what I want and how I want to achieve it. The clinical, wordless pages of my book are slightly too sterile for my liking; I'd rather create something quirky, something that isn't just photography but art and opinions and folklore as well. My plan for next year is to create a series of zines (yep, I've decided I'm gonna go back on myself a little bit) based around cities in Europe. I don't know where I'm going to travel, yet, but the first ones will consist of images and information I have from the places I've been already: Krakow, Berlin, and Prague. Then, I'll create a few more, travelling to each city and documenting everything I see. 

And I won't be alone this time. I'm going to be utilising the skills of an illustrator to assist me in producing my zines. I already have someone lined up, but I want to wait until we have some stuff prepared to show you guys before I reveal their identity. Needless to say, they're kickass. 

If you want a little preview, here is the roughest of rough drafts for one of my pages in the Krakow zine. (For the sake of art, pretend there is an illustration in the middle of the page):

I hope you're all as excited as I am!