Guest Lecture, Michael Mack

So... Why should I make a book of my work? In order for more people to see it a book is one of the best ways. It reaches shelves of all kind of places. Universities, public libraries, shops and more. Michael says that it gets to travel and have another life. 

Paul Graham, A Shimmer of Possibility. For one series 12 books were published. He wanted the books to be spread away from each other and read at different times. Graham was thinking about the notion of the book whilst photographing the project. During his exhibition he had them spread across the room to give people time and space to think about what they have just looked at. 

Is the digital iPad taking away the book? Michael said that actually it is helping the book. More people are aware of such books being available and want to read and purchase them. It is spreading more awareness and encouraging people to read books. Some people still prefer books because they feel they can engage with them through closeness and textures used. I certainly like to read books still. Especially thinking about the texture of the paper it can really contribute to the narrative involved. When I was creating my images for BA3a I knew I wanted to use the fine art paper. Images of my grandmothers skin close up would add a real nice effect to the work and just like it was mentioned during the professional panel crit you felt like you could touch her face. The impact was great and something I now realise is quite important. 

Larry Sultan, Pictures At Home is a book I was aware of. I had been looking at his work during BA3a. However I didn't realise that there had been a remake of the book, which it certainly deserved it and made it a good book to look at. The first book was made by Abrams Original whilst Larry was still alive. Michael discovered this book and didn't like it at all and therefore decided to re-make it. With the permission of Larry's wife he got started. He wanted to keep the sequence as it was in Abrams Original as that was organised by Larry himself. With the book he was making he wanted to give it some space. The previous book had many images on one page where he arranged it to have 1 per page. It definitely looks better with the space. He is always working with the photographer, unless they are no longer around. But he managed to work with the photographer in a way by keeping his original sequence. 

When making books for his clients, if possible, he takes his time. He will do so much, leave it for a while and come back to it. That way he is able to add new and different things each time. He likes to spend time reflecting on drafts and changing things that no longer work for him in order to get the best result. This is something I need to start thinking about now as I feel confident that my work should be published within a book. By planning it now and giving it time and space I will hopefully end up with a far better result than rushing it at the very end. 

Michael also mentioned how he doesn't work around the season. Whatever is in at that time he doesn't go by. He goes by what approaches him by what the photographer brings. It's good to have a range of books within the year that he makes them. When clients are looking for examples they will want to see a range of ideas, rather than the same of something because it is in the season.