ФОТОКНИГА: ДО ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ ПОНЯТТЯ

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the main approaches to the definition of the concept of a photo book and to outline the essential properties of the content of this concept. The article reviews the alternative definitions of photobook, considers the difference between photobook and photo album, suggests the classification of photobooks based on the analysis of the balance between their structural elements. A detailed discussion is given on the essential and nonessential characteristics of the photobook definition and the characteristics of the author's photo book as of a product of design and artistic practices. The reasons for standardizing the design of a modern photo book are analyzed and the originality of the design as an attribute of a modern photo book is considered. After a careful review of the literature related the article is concluded with an original definition of a photobook. A photobook is defined as a product of publishing, artistic and design activities that ensures the preservation and broadcasting of ideas, values, feelings and meanings of the world’s space-time continuum by achieving plastic unity of text, photographs and design. In the context of publishing and printing, a photo book is considered a type of a photo album. However, careful comparison of these two notions suggests that a photo book is broader than a photo album. In addition to text and photographs, the notion of a photo book in terms of structural approach includes artistic and design elements. The presence of text is not an essential for a photo book. The graphic concept of the publication is crucial for in the realization of the purpose of the photo book. The role and place of design in the process of creating a photo book is understood as a tool for concise and aesthetic design of the content (concept, idea) of the book, and visual communication. Author's photo book is a life narrative of a photographer, a person of a certain historical time, which reflects specific social relations of the cultural-historical period. The photobook communicates information, serves as a carrier of storage and transmission of information, as some sort of time capsule. Defining a photo book as an art object, a work of art provides an opportunity to reveal not only the aesthetic values reflected in the publication, but also the feelings of the author, his concern for social processes and phenomena.