Suburbia Bill Owens

Photobook Research:

Suburbia by Bill Owens

Once again, I am looking at another photo book and paying particular attention to the layout of the first few pages in the book in order to see how another photographer chooses to create an introduction  before leading into the main body of the book with the images.

I really like this experimentation of using a bold colour as the paper which starts off the book connecting the hardback cover to the book itself. I also seen this kind of experimentation in an Ian Macdonald book where he used a bright red first page in contrast with the black and white book. This is something I may have to consider when creating my own book. My thoughts for the cover of the book as of now are plain black.

In most of the photo books I have looked at the books start with a blank page such as this or a page with the title on. 

I really like this use of images so early on in the book, before even getting to the main body of the book. The use of an image at the beginning of the book along with the title helps to set the scene for what the rest of the book is going to be about. The layout in this book reminds me of the layout of Martin Parr's book, Home and Abroad.

I definitely like the idea of placing an image next to the introduction writing, to again help set the scene and give an indiction to what the book is about or what style of images can be expected to be seen throughout the book. The use of an image next to the introductory writing can also be used to help support the wiring. 

The layout of the book appears to follow the similar layout I have seen occur in several photo books. With the images being placed to the right and often blank space being to the right. I really like this layout and find the space works really well surrounding the image.

The book also includes small captions below the images on each page helping to give abit more explanation and context to the image. This is something I have considered doing throughout my own book.