Weekly Blog Post 3/11/10

What I did:

(not sure about the hours since this has been over a longer period of time)

Workshop with Girl Scout Troop #1

Working on Book

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:

With less than a month to go, I need to stay FOCUSED! It is helpful for me to only focus on my book now and rid myself of other distractions (sound recordings from workshop, final presentation, etc...) I also haven't been feeling 100% lately so that has been a struggle, but I am pushing through it!

On Tuesday, I led a workshop with my first group of Girl Scouts. It was so great to have this right after break because it got me feeling really enthusiastic about where this project has come. The girls were just so into it, and really excited and eager to talk about the photos. I have found that it is also a helpful experience for me to tell my story to these girls. The girls are also excited about the website/blog and some of them want to keep sending me more photos!

Today I had a really helpful talk with Hannah. We not only discussed the design and layout of the book, but we also discussed the content and the way I was presenting and wording certain things. These were really great things to think about, and especially helpful since I have been so close to the context in the book. In terms of layout, we talked about using white space more and breaking up the rhythm of the book. I totally agree with all of this! I was having a lot of trouble since I have been finding it time consuming to work with the handwriting on photoshop and then bringing it into illustrator, so Hannah also suggested I work on paper and then translate it onto the computer. Today, I only had time to do that for one of the girl's responses, and I can already see a huge difference. This is definitely the way to work from now on! Here is what I have done after translating my sketches onto the computer:

I think it is going to be strong to sporadically include full bleed photos, as they can be used as a pause for the viewer to digest the reflection before they move onto the next part.

Hannah and I also talked about perhaps also making a second book that would just include the girl's photos that I have received. I like this idea and think it will be manageable to do. I want both books to be called: Capturing Confidence, which is what the whole project is called. But the 2 books will both have different subtitles. For example for the one with the girl's photos it would be something like Capturing Confidence: A collection of photographs from a creative workshop intended to build self-esteem.

I have thought about a cover for this, and can also see something like this being used in the gallery displayed in large letters on the wall (this is made using the photos from the girl's):

Also, I received some really positive feedback today from Megan, which made me feel good about where I have come with this project.

What's Next:

For Thursday's Crit, I want to have a full version of my book

Next (and last) workshop...March 19th