(2) Making and Publishing a Photobook
(3) Gravity Roads
(4) THIPE
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Making and Publishing
a Photobook
Hannah Schleifer
a Photobook
Hannah Schleifer
BA Photography Thesis
production by Hannah Schleifer
published in March 2024 in The Hague, Netherlands
edition of 10 copies
178 pages
laser-jet printed on Biotop, 90gsm
plastic foil wrapped cover
cover material is Biotop, 250gsm
€25 (sold out)
production by Hannah Schleifer
published in March 2024 in The Hague, Netherlands
edition of 10 copies
178 pages
laser-jet printed on Biotop, 90gsm
plastic foil wrapped cover
cover material is Biotop, 250gsm
€25 (sold out)
This paper reflects on my journey of making and publishing a photobook and
investigates how looking at photobooks will teach one how to make them.
This research is based on my process of making and publishing a photobook and starting my own publishing project ringelpress. It started from an urge to work with (photo)books in my artistic practice and became a document of my findings, learnings, and opinions that I became aware of during that process. By combining elements like book comparisons, book analysis and personal notes I am drawing an honest and open picture of that journey. The research paper doesn't present itself as a finished, closed research that answers all the questions that were raised but functions more in a way that it leaves questions open, raises new ones and states challenges for the future.
investigates how looking at photobooks will teach one how to make them.
This research is based on my process of making and publishing a photobook and starting my own publishing project ringelpress. It started from an urge to work with (photo)books in my artistic practice and became a document of my findings, learnings, and opinions that I became aware of during that process. By combining elements like book comparisons, book analysis and personal notes I am drawing an honest and open picture of that journey. The research paper doesn't present itself as a finished, closed research that answers all the questions that were raised but functions more in a way that it leaves questions open, raises new ones and states challenges for the future.
Insights
There are four different sections throughout the paper: books, anecdotes, observations, and lists of further attention. The book chapters talk about four books that I analysed. Heat of Sand and In the Heat (two books with a very similar cover), Mein Esel Benjamin (my favourite childrens book) and I heard the ceiling whisper (the book I published with ringelpress). The anecdotes are notes and realisations that I wrote down during the design and production phase of I heard the ceiling whisper, they cover a timespan from the moment that I decided to start with that book until the booklaunch. They are only fragments and are not telling or documenting the whole process with all its details but rather give clues on what stuck with me. The observation chapters talk about publishing and photobook industry related subjects, like fairs, terminology, publishing as a job and methods of making and reading photobooks. The last chapter consists of lists of further attention: (photo)bookstores, initiatives/platforms, and publishers, compiled with the focus on things that I am appreciating at this moment and are not already represented in many other list of resources.
The design of the research paper aims to support its content as fitting as possible. It is straight forward; the cover already tells what you can expect inside, and the back cover provides the context of the author and the publishing project. I believe that there is a lot of gatekeeping going on in the publishing world, which I dislike a lot, so with my own work, I aim to be as open and transparent as I can. This is also reflected in the colophone and the statement of ringelpress. The layout leaves a lot of blank space, underlining the fact that this is a research that is not finished, that still has a lot of gaps that will be filled in or altered over time. The plastic wrap prepares the publication to be carried around, to be thrown into bags - to be useful. I talk a lot about the importance of the physicality of books, so it only felt right to pay a lot of attention to that while producing this research paper. It also refers to my memory of my dad wrapping our school books in plastic film so that they would be protected and ready to be handled without too much care - but still to be used frequently.
There are four different sections throughout the paper: books, anecdotes, observations, and lists of further attention. The book chapters talk about four books that I analysed. Heat of Sand and In the Heat (two books with a very similar cover), Mein Esel Benjamin (my favourite childrens book) and I heard the ceiling whisper (the book I published with ringelpress). The anecdotes are notes and realisations that I wrote down during the design and production phase of I heard the ceiling whisper, they cover a timespan from the moment that I decided to start with that book until the booklaunch. They are only fragments and are not telling or documenting the whole process with all its details but rather give clues on what stuck with me. The observation chapters talk about publishing and photobook industry related subjects, like fairs, terminology, publishing as a job and methods of making and reading photobooks. The last chapter consists of lists of further attention: (photo)bookstores, initiatives/platforms, and publishers, compiled with the focus on things that I am appreciating at this moment and are not already represented in many other list of resources.
The design of the research paper aims to support its content as fitting as possible. It is straight forward; the cover already tells what you can expect inside, and the back cover provides the context of the author and the publishing project. I believe that there is a lot of gatekeeping going on in the publishing world, which I dislike a lot, so with my own work, I aim to be as open and transparent as I can. This is also reflected in the colophone and the statement of ringelpress. The layout leaves a lot of blank space, underlining the fact that this is a research that is not finished, that still has a lot of gaps that will be filled in or altered over time. The plastic wrap prepares the publication to be carried around, to be thrown into bags - to be useful. I talk a lot about the importance of the physicality of books, so it only felt right to pay a lot of attention to that while producing this research paper. It also refers to my memory of my dad wrapping our school books in plastic film so that they would be protected and ready to be handled without too much care - but still to be used frequently.
thank you to
Gwen van den Boogaard, Janne Riikonen, Giulia Menicucci, Lyy Raitala, Ivo Blackwood, Baroeg Mulder, Vincent van Baar, Ingrid Grootes and Tom Taylor
