On designing a photobook book

All good stories have a beginning, a middle and an end.

All good stories have a central theme.

All good stories have subplots.

To design a photobook, you need to remember the above!

Most photobooks I have seen fail dismally, they seem to be morning projects i.e. spend a morning photographing a concept and turn it into a book. If you analyse them using the above three rules, they don’t have a beginning, middle or end – since they have one idea which doesn’t evolve. They don’t have any subplots. I guess they have a central theme but if the theme isn’t explored, it is a recipe for tedium.

I went to Japan on a holiday so my photos were taken on the fly, observations of a very different society.

The central theme of my book was anxiety, subplots included nostalgia.

The book is essentially a travelogue, beginning in Tokyo before visiting Hiroshima, Naoshima, Takayama and Nozawa Onsen.

The book is 86 sides – contact me if you would like to buy a copy.

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