(B9) Home: Text and Paper Experimentation

Thinking about image arrangement location by location:

These felt way to jumpy, the colour and tone was all over the place. 
- The idea of having the photographs in groups depending on their location was good, could refine the layout and imagery to be more easy to flow through. 

Updated Layout:

The balance on these pages surrounding the use of white space and image is much more matched the layouts are organised by location which allows the audience to really be engaged with the space they're experiencing through the book. 

- Room for text on pages due to white space, more structure on pages with buildings to reflect the essay introduction.

- Need to think about text next, what type, saying what and where?

Anecdotes about locations/imagery:

The allotment - This has become somewhere during the pandemic where my friends and I would go to hang out since restrictions wouldn't allow you in parks. We welcomed in the new year here (at 12 noon) to welcome in 2021 in the most pandemic-y way possible. I would come here with my boyfriend for date nights, we would get a takeaway at sit of campaign chairs by a fire, eating Chinese food, and drinking wine. The view from the allotment has changed over time, buildings being put up and knocked down but the feeling has stayed the same. 

When I was younger I would walk along the paths outside the allotments and peak in through the gaps in the gates, they were always so mysterious and interesting to me. The first time I went to this one was when I was a teenager as it's my boyfriends allotment, it felt like a moment of shiftng to me being in a space I knew was there but wasn't allow to be in, to now just standing in it.

The post box in the wall - This post box would be something I would look out for when on walks with my gran, we could never remember which wall it was on along this road to the park so it always caught us by surprise.

When it was bonfire night we'd know we were nearly at the park once we saw this letter box, it became a landmark for navigation in my head, even though I still don't know which wall it's on. 

The animal tree - This tree used to be a tall trunk with carvings of animals on it, an owl, squirrels, foxes. It's a memory I have from when I was younger. As I grew up I started going to parks and hanging out at places closer to my friends I began to wonder if I had imagined it or if it was real. After visiting it again it was real but had been destroyed, by weather or people I don't know. 

The hill - this hill in the park is where I would play for hours as a kid with my sister, running up and down, up and down. When we got bikes we began dragging it up to the fly down. I think my parents weren't to keen on this idea...

Bingham Tree - when I was 12/13 I would go to the park at the bottom of my road and climb this tree, I would sit and read, pretending I was in a film. I'd never climb that high as I'm terrified of heights but it felt 'cool' to be sat in a tree for a bit at least. 

Bicycle Steps - on route to the library to revisit for my A-levels my boyfriend and I would have to carry out bikes up these steps or use the useless little channel at the side to wheel it up with your pedals hitting the post of the handrail. It was a pretty rubbish addition to the steps. 

Library Entrance - the entrance to the university library where I would revise for my exams, it became a trendy place to go and revise the I was in sixth form. The entrace had a super cool small desert inside, the whole entrance space was glass making it like a sauna during the summer. 

Crooksvalley Park - the summer spot, right in the middle of the city so all my friends could meet we would have picnics and beers on the grass. When it's really warm people swim in the lake, but not me, the water's pretty gross to be honest. 

Charlie's Pantry - When I was little my gran would take me here to get lunch when she took care of me, I would always ask for a salami sandwich, short after going for a few weeks the man behind the counter with a super strong scouse accent began to call me 'the salami queen'. 

Kenwood Avenue - this is my boyfriends house, coming to his and seeing his world was a really big point for me, he was the first person I was at school with who lived in the same area as me. Being able to have someone's house to go to and be able to get there myself was a big deal for me, it was great!

Odd House - I'd always notice this house when walking along to the shops from my house, it was so tiny it stood out like a sore thumb. 

The Dancing Stage - The dancing stage is where my sister and I would do performances for our parents after being on a walk through the woods. We'd do dances on the small concrete platform outside the gardeners social building it quickly became a tradition and was named 'the dancing stage'. 

How shall this text be written, diary format, story to self, story to the reader? 
- Writing as if I'm talking to a friend who doesn't know the story or about the place, informative but not about the place about the experience, this should be the tone to go with.

Which stories to include?

Allotment
Post box
Dancing stage
Library entrance

Bingham tree
Tiny house

Including text:

Hand writing over yellow paper on the page.
- Hand writing text is very large compared to the size of the book. Currently been working on A5 size but I want the book to be larger than this so the images have more room to be on the page. 

- Smaller tip-ins are more successful

- Again here with the essay text. 

What to do next:

• Print out whole page spread to work with in full colour
• Decide a size that's more appropriate for the book.
• Collect paper stock print tests from digital print and decide on paper stock
• Figure out text placement within the book.