Independent Art and Photography - Laura Braun's Trip.

Although Laura Braun's book Trip doesn't relate exactly to what i am trying to do, I still see some similarities between the construction of her book and the way I aim to construct my final book. It is arranged in a concertina format, and assembled by hand. This is the fact I most relate to, given that the other photobooks I have looked at have not been made in this way.
Braun describes the project here as:

"London to Lisbon and back, November 2007 – June 2008. Many photographs have been taken on road trips, pictures of the towns and landscapes passed through without the pretence of a deeper analysis of them; images that tell not so much of the places visited as of the experience of being on the road. ’Trip’ is another collection of impressions of a journey, taken on Polaroid."

http://www.papertigersbooks.com/index.php?/books/trip/
http://theindependentphotobook.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/laura-braun-trip.html

 

With these types of book that have to be folded out to access all the images, I quite like the fact that they can sometimes be unwieldy. The viewer is forced to spend time with the book, and interact with it in order to see all of the images. Also, with this example in particular, I think the slip case it comes in really adds to the book. It provides a neat, compact little package, and stops the more delicate paper being damaged. I hasn't really thought about making a slip cover for my book, although seeing how it works in this instance has really made me think about whether it would bring anything to my book. It would certainly protect it, which might be worthwhile considering that it is not going to be bound in a proper hardcover, more of a soft, 'zine style. It would also, as with Braun's Trip book, increase the tactile experience of it.
With this book I really appreciate the simplicity of its construction. Simply one piece of paper, printed, then folded into a concertina and contained within a case which mirrors the title page. However, for me it is a very effective way of show the images of her travels - the unfolding of the paper could be seen to reflect the journey unfolding in front of her. Although the subject matter doesn't particularly reflect mine, and the construction of my book is a little bit more complicated, I certainly see similarities between the tactile experience Braun has achieved, and I hope to reflect that in my book.