Ilkin Huseynov - We Apologize for the Temporary Inconvenience
The title of the book is called “We Apologize for the Temporary Inconvenience,” but in reality this inconvenience is permanent. Since the second oil boom of the 1990s, there has been a constant string of new construction projects, often without any forethought. It is common practice for companies to break ground on a project before they have acquired the necessary funds to complete the building.
Due to limited financial resources, they rely on selling individual units to fund the later stages, and if they do not reach their goal, they will just freeze construction. This dilemma was exacerbated during 2015-16 manat crisis, so a good number of building sites remain idle. There are many people involved who do not have much experience in the industry, and they see it as a way to make a quick buck without considering the risks involved.
In order to mask the unsightly building process, Baku City Hall has placed banners on the fences and barriers that run along the construction sites. With this book, I want to give a sense of the imposed artificiality that is slowly displacing the actual cityscape.“
(Ilkin Huseynov)
The layout of the image (full bleed) creates a high impact tone of voice for the book, it helps to give an idea of how the big the signage is in real life and the impacts that this creates in the direct environment. The whole book has this WORK IN PROGRESS feel that you get from the photographs - this approach to the layout will help to influence my design for Sam's images as he wants to portray a similar tone of voice with his images. I don't feel that imitating the style would be the best it would not suit the style of Sam's images but I now have a better understanding of what Sam is looking for in his zine.
Erik Kessel & Useful Photography Series
As this zine is going to very ambiguous and concept-driven I decided to look into Kessel who is best known as a book publisher specialising in absurdist found photography. In particular, I am looking at his useful photography books which have a similar concept to Sam's project in the way that we think about photographs in everyday use.
Useful Photography #001
Cut out a photograph from a wholesale butcher's brochure, hang it over your bed, and a year later you still won't be bored of it. It is precisely these photographs we are confronted with daily, without even being aware of it, that can hold our interest for an astonishingly long time. Photography from sales catalogues, instruction manuals, packaging, brochures and textbooks. Anonymous, because what photographer expects to create a furore with a chicken breast photo? As soon as the images are taken out of their original context and placed in a new one, they can produce interesting results.
Useful Photography #002
Many thousands of people now own a digital camera. Many thousands more sell their personal items over the Internet every day. Suddenly everyone is a photographer and all homes are studios. The second issue of Useful Photography is a collection of photos that have been collected on auction websites.
Useful Photography #007
Explores the sub-word of non-celebrity achievement in a proud series of photographs that are, quite literally, award-winning.
This tenth edition of Useful Photography is all about celebration. As always, we collect overlooked and underwhelming images created for practical purposes. This time, the usefulness of an age-old ritual is explored: marriage. Inside, it becomes evident that everyone documents their big day in the same way. Same dresses, same locations, same post-wedding kiss.r
Posters of Palestinian suicide bombers before their mission are put up after their mission is accomplished. Documentation of the posters, reprinted in A3 format on mat paper. Folded in half and bound by cotton form the entire content of this 'docartzine'. The centrefold printed on white paper references and translates each poster.
Dancing with Numbers
Indeed the trick to dancing is to dance with numbers, not by numbers. This latest edition to the ‘Cahiers’ series shows us large numbers that guide little dots on a square called dance floor. The found photographs remain unclear as to where they have been made, or what it is we see through.
In an attempt to entice hungry customers to their restaurants, cafés and gourmet eateries, chefs have taken it upon themselves to make photographs of their dishes. They cook up their specialities for portraits that will forever capture their beauty in hopes that they will work their magic on food-seekers who roam the streets in need of sustenance. Although a photograph may catch a particular instant of perfection, itself, as an object, steadily becomes dated. A fresh photograph of ham and eggs will, unless suitably treated and guarded, begin to deteriorate. Over-exposure to the sun and weather makes for a very short lifespan. Unconsciously, perhaps, all of us are able to see past the results of time and, when hungry, accept the use of the photograph over its beauty. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder who, sooner or later, will be hungry.
This issue focuses on the photographs used to guide puzzle makers in their endeavors. Usually found on the outside of puzzle boxes, these shots are exact duplicates of the completed game. They are the perfect version of the puzzle: one without damage or missing pieces.
My research into Erik Kessel's work has helped me to understand the nature of the photobook better, in particular, working with a range of unconventional images individually are almost meaningless but together in a series, it helps the reader to understand the subject matter better due to how the images have been laid out throughout the book. His approach to editorial design.
Mishka Henner - Less Américains
A remake of Robert Frank’s classic photobook, The Americans. Erasing the old to make something new.
Sam has also cut out people and object from the images that he is taken. He thought it would be interesting to add these images to the book in a similar style to how Henner has reappropriated Robert Franks body of work.
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