These thoughts as a framework..

Resident Alien. Part 13.

Harvey Benge. Part 2. On editing and sequencing. 

 

The reason for writing about Harvey Benge in the last post was originally to share his advice to anyone who might be in the process of making a photo-book. During his life, Harvey made over 70 books and zines and it was his preferred medium for presenting his photos, of which 'Vital Signs', published in 2000 and 'Truth and Various Deceptions' published in 2011 are amongst my favorites (from what I have seen). 

I re-discovered this photo-book advice again just recently and I still think It’s good advice and worth sharing. It appeared on his blog on Sunday, March 11th 2012 - A blog which remains today a rich and creative archive full of insights, ideas and personal process from this once busy working artist. It was these thoughts about editing and sequencing that I used to organize my own work into a series of connected episodes for publications, features and shows at that time. I also used these thoughts as a framework for my own photo-book, Remains To Be Seen, which was self published about a year later, in 2013.

1. Have a strong compelling idea. Fresh, exciting, demanding. Not derivative or seen it all before.

2. Come up with a riveting, compelling title for the book. And do an amazon check and make sure somebody else hasn't got there first.

3. Start with really good photographs, many more than you will finally need. 

4. Including  bad pictures will only drag down the good ones. 

5. Don't shoehorn in a crap picture just because it fits the idea. Nor include a great picture that doesn't fit the idea.

6. Make a sequence that surprises, challenges and puzzles. Ask more questions than give answers.

7. When you put pictures together don't make the reason blindingly obvious and make sure the sum of the parts is not less than the impact of the individual photographs.

8. Try and sequence the book based on a conceptual flow not purely visually.  A  sequence made visually is generally too obvious not to mention dull and boring.

9. Don't have more pictures than necessary. A book of around 50 or so pictures will work best. Less is often more.

10. Give the pictures room to breathe with plenty of white space. 

11. Consider the rhythm and flow of the work. Sequencing photographs is like composing music.

12. Think about what makes a great artwork and make sure what's been done measures up to that. Does the work have  a sense of mystery, a veiled narrative and a reason for the reader to want to come back (and back) to consider the work?

13. Don't over-design  the bookwork. The book is for the photographs not as a showcase for clever design. In fact, avoid "clever" completely.

14. Make sure the work has a feeling of authenticity about it. Avoid the contrived. 

15. Make the edit and the sequence and then do it again, and again, because it can always be done better. Always.

16. When you have something you really think works, make a book dummy which is as close as possible to the final book. This will give you a sense of the outcome of the work on both a visual and tactile level.

17. Finally, remember there are no rules. And even if you think there are, set out to break them. 

He also added “In the past I've made bookworks by printing postcard size prints of the potential images and spreading them out on a large table to edit and sequence. Although with this book I did make postcard prints I also went directly to making an indesign document and then converting the work to PDF files as I went. I've ended up with umpteen PDFs that chart the progress of the work, gradually refining and hopefully making the book better. I find this method really flexible and simple and using indesign is a breeze.”

All photographs in this post by Harvey Benge.