In Umbra Res

Paul Graham: In Umbra Res


A photographer I have always been familiar with and interested in is Paul Graham. When researching photo books a good photo book which I thought me be a good example to look at was that of , 'In Umbra Res' by Paul Graham.

The photo book presents his documentary style images taken in Northern Ireland. The book is only made up of 16 images, which does seem like quite a neat amount however I expect the number of images in my own book to be slightly bigger. This series of images by Paul Graham, similarly to my own, focus' most upon people. 

I found a visual recording of the book In Umbra Res, on vimeo. 

https://vimeo.com/32726339

The layout of this book is extremely interesting as Paul Graham shows elements of experimentation when presenting the images. The other photo books I have looked at up to now, present the images often the same size, and the only experimentation I have really seen is the placement of them, in terms of, some pages have 2 images across a double spread while others have only one image then one blank page across a double spread.

In Paul Grahams book he experiments with the layout of images in that sometimes there will be only one small image on a double page spread, while at other times there will be one image stretching across the double spread of pages, and even on one page there is 3 small square images side by side. 

Obviously depending upon the type of image or what the image is trying to say or what kind of impact the image is meant to have decides upon how large or small Paul Graham presents his images. Although large images often give a big impact when turning a page to see a large bold images before you, I also really like the use of space Paul Graham uses around some of his images. If anything, I feel the use of space makes the viewer focus upon the image in question even more so. 

 

As I've shown in previous posts, the two maquette books I have made so far were portrait. What really struck me when looking through this book besides the cleverly presented images, was the fact that the book was portrait. I noticed that the vast majority of Paul Graham's work are portrait images. At this point of realisation, I decided my next step in my own project should be to attempt to create a landscape book, to cater my images more suitably, as all of my own images are landscape.

I really think this concept works well where the placement of the images flow over onto another page. The viewers eye is drawn across the page as appose to just looking straight on at a single page. I would be intrigued to see what I could do with experimenting with this kind of layout in my own book.