Starting January 2025 A Four Week Fully Mentored photobook Workshop Designing a Great Photobook Like a Professional – from Concept to Printing using Affinity Publisher with Stewart Wall

Description

Designing a Great Photobook / Zine Like a Professional – from Concept to Printing Workshop

A Fully Mentored Four-Week Online Photobook Workshop with Stewart Wall

Begins January 12th 2025

Two of the things I love most about creating photobooks is the sense that it makes my photography eternal. In a world where so many photographs remain hidden on hard drives or in prints that few people ever see, I believe that once published in a photobook, my work has a chance to be appreciated by someone, somewhere, in the future. I love that idea. But its more than that, the second thing is that the making of the photography for a photobook changes how I take photographs. Creating photobooks today reminds me of seeing my photographs published in the newspapers when I was a press photographer, a career that I started in 1978.

But I aim for my photobooks is to go beyond simply showcasing my images, like a photo album might. I want them to share the experience of creating those photographs and the reasons behind them. My goal is to craft photobooks with stories—narratives that engage and absorb the viewer. I love the idea of someone looking at my photobooks in 50 years time and seeing what life was like today. Creating a photobook is akin to creating a piece of heritage for the future.

Join Me for a Fully Mentored Photobook Workshop in 2025 starting at on Sunday 12th January between 6pm and 7.30pm
Over four weeks, I will guide you through every step of creating your own photobook. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have produced a compelling, professional looking photobook you’ll be proud to share.

Each week starts with a live Zoom session lasting around 90 minutes to introduce the weeks online modules for everyone on the course. If you can’t attend live, a recording will be sent to you immediately afterward. You will then have access to an easy to follow online course that will guide you through the process. At all times you will have full email support from me, ensuring you have the help you need at every stage.

What You’ll Learn

• Week 1: Concept and Preparation
  We’ll begin by developing a strong concept and preparing your photographs for your photobook. You’ll learn how to sequence images and create text to create an impactful photobook. We will look at some photobooks and why they are succesful. Whilst this workshop is not about the RPS Photobook Distinction genre, I will talk about a couple of the books that were successful and why I wrote the criteria for the assessments as I did.
• Week 2: Mastering Affinity Publisher 2
  Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refresh your skills, I’ll teach you how to use Affinity Publisher 2, the powerful software we’ll use to design your photobook. If you prefer to use a different piece of software that is not a problem
• Week 3: Refining Your Design
  With your initial photobook layout in place, we’ll focus on refining the design, revisiting your concept, and perfecting the sequencing of your images and text.
• Week 4: Printing and Sharing Your Work
  Once your photobook is complete, we’ll explore the best printing options for your project and discuss strategies for sharing your photobook with the world.

Final Zoom Meeting

In Week 5, we’ll come together for a final Zoom session to review your photobooks, discuss the process, and celebrate your achievements.

Throughout the workshop, I will provide detailed, personalised feedback to help you achieve your vision.
Above all, my goal is to share my passion for photobooks and the best practices I’ve developed over years of creating them. Let’s make your photography eternal.I hope this workshop will be the best zine and photobook workshop you have been on, and by th eend will have a great photobook that looks like it was designed by a professional.

The workshop content will include:

• What makes a Photobook great and engaging: A recap of what all great a photobook have.
• Image and Text Preparation: Advanced practices for preparing visual and textual content, and getting the colour right.
• Concept and Narrative Development: Advanced techniques to craft a clear and engaging narrative.
• Projects for Photobooks: The benefit of creating projects for your photobook, and how to find inspiration for projects.
• Sequencing: Advanced methods for arranging images and text in a sequence that creates a cohesive flow.
• Affinity Publisher Workflow: Creating an advanced and repeatable workflow and mastering essential tools.
• Advanced Affinity Publisher Techniques: How to utilise Master Pages, importing and resizing images, linking text boxes, and adding pages to create an efficient way of designing a photobook/zine.
• Finalising Your Photobook / CMYK: Preparing your design for print, ensuring colour accuracy, and choosing the best print option. How to get the best out of print houses like Mixam

Workshop Outcome: By the end of this refresher course, you will have designed your own powerful photobook or zine like a professional and developed skills with Affinity Publisher, have a reinforced understanding of photobook creation, enhanced skills in Affinity Publisher, and more confidence to produce high-quality, professional photobooks moving forwards into 2025.