Workshop with Matt Johnstone
April 3, 2022Two weeks ago, I attended a workshop led by Matt Johnstone
who specialises in photobooks and their form and function. Matt discussed his
experience setting up the Photobook club, brought in various photobooks of
different forms for us to interpret and reviewed my dummy book for my ‘Seeking
out Euphoria’ project.
Matt’s workshop made me consider the form of my photobook
and its’ purpose. Looking at photobooks such as Magnum’s ‘Postcards from
America’ allowed me to think about the physical form of my photobook and how I
want the observer to interact with it. ‘Postcards from America’ is an open form
of photobook that required the observer to lay the contents out on a surface
and view the different components. However, I want my photobook to be easy to
carry and small enough to distribute in the post to raise more awareness.
Reappropriating an NHS medical folder as a sleeve for my book makes the reader
interact with the book gently as if it is a physical archive.
Matt’s workshop made me consider the various forms
that my photobook could take and gave me the opportunity to look at various
other photobooks and consider how the photographer wanted the observer to
interact with the photographs. After meeting Matt, I also purchased a copy of
his book ‘Photobook &’ which interrogates the photobook, its’ form and
function to continue
