T2. Camera, paper, photo book: Photobooks as a creative tool and means of publicizing photographic work

In a world saturated with screens, where photographs are compulsively posted, it makes sense to continue publishing them on paper. This way, they can be regarded at a more leisurely pace, enjoying the physical experience of a book and printed photos. For just over a decade, photo books have become the most popular means of disseminating contemporary photographs.

Toni Amengual has extensive experience publishing photo books of his own and those of others. At this workshop, he plans to form a workgroup where the participants can discover and put into practice all the tools and different stages involved in the production of a photo book, from the initial concept and production to the presentation and dissemination of the final book once published.

Aim

The purpose of this workshop is for the participants to find out and put into practice all the creative stages involved in the publication of a photographic publication/photo book through to its dissemination. The workshop will be held at the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, taking advantage of its facilities and privileged setting for creativity.

Programme

Part 1: Introduction & presentation of the workshop.
Viewing the participants’ work from their portfolios.

Part 2: The creation of a photo-essay in the foundation’s different spaces.
An assessment of the ideas to be developed photographically.
The creation and review of the photographic material.

Part 3: The edition of the photographic material. The layout and printing in the form of a photo book/fanzine. In parallel with these creative tasks, we will also work on the strategy for the publication’s communication and dissemination, aimed at the public presentation of the workshop and end project.

Part 4: Public presentation. The end of the workshop and published project.

Requirements

Each of the participants must bring their camera or mobile phone as a work tool. We are interested in creativity more than technique. The foundation has some computers with software for editing images and creating layouts, although participants with a laptop should bring it with them.

Toni Amengual. Mallorca, 1980

After being awarded a degree in biology by Barcelona University (2003), Toni Amengual went on to study photography at the Instituto de Estudios Fotográficos de Cataluña (1999-2002), followed by an M.A. in photojournalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2003). He decided to devote his life to studying the most complex species on the planet–one to which he belongs, homo sapiens–and photography turned out to be the perfect work vehicle for doing so. Since then, Amengual has worked on an independent basis, exploring human relations with the environment and today’s world.

His photo books have received high praise, and his publications have been singled out for prizes like the 2015 PhotoEspaña Award for the best self-published book and the ArtsLibris Banco Sabadell Award (2015, 2019). His latest photo book, Flowers for Franco, was one of the finalists of PhotoEspaña’s best photo books of the year and a finalist at Les Reencontres d’Arlés festival. It was named one of 2019’s top 30 photo books by TIME magazine. Toni Amengual’s work can be found in collections and libraries like those of the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB), the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), the New York MOMA, Foto Colectania and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

More information: Toni Amengual