This session with visiting speaker Simon Weller was a combination of a talk in the lecture theater, and a workshop afterwards with a more in depth look into how he sequenced and put together his book 'South African Township Barbershops & Salons'.
Simon Weller studied as a graphic designer however started to gain an interest in Photography through photographs he had taken on his holidays and travels, that were starting to be more than just tourist shots. He worked in publishing for a number of years then in 2001 decided to move to America and travel countries such as Russia and South Africa.
He mainly works on film using compact, rangefinder cameras due to their unobtrusive nature and the need to get close up to your subject. I love the beautiful colours in his photographs, achieved by shooting on film, and the way you can tell he has gotten to know the people in the images, which tell stories of his travels. I gained a lot from this talk with regards to styles of photography, but also inspiration to travel and use photography alongside this.
The workshop explaining the creation process of his book was useful too, it gave an insight into how a photobook is created from the initial stages of ideas, to planning trips to take photographs, and the final editing and publishing stages. The way he sequenced his book was chronologically, he had all the photographs in the order he had taken them, which suits the way the book tells the story of a journey. He also stressed the importance of harsh editing, and not to include and photos in a book that you're unsure about. This talk was helpful in getting me started on thinking about the creation of my own book - I have also bought a copy of his book which is acting as good research material for the book module.
