The Long Exposure by Gary Turner | My Photo Bookshelf
I came across Gary Turner and his A5 zines when listening to him being interviewed on Euan Ross’s Biblioscapes podcast. With what seems like the rise of the Zine in recent years and with a particular fondness for long-exposure photography, I popped over to Gary’s website and grabbed a copy.
Author’s Synopsis
My (Gary Turner’s) first foray into the world of self-publishing resulted in this limited edition zine comprising 24 pages of beautifully calming black and white, long exposure imagery of water.
My thoughts about the book
What I like about the zine format is how accessible it is for both the reader and the book creator. Zines tend to be less expensive to make and subsequently buy, which means when I come across one I like, I’ll usually buy it there and then instead of adding it to my ever-growing list of more traditional, more expensive photo books.
It might be easy to assume that with a lower price point comes inferior quality and if this zine by Gary Turner is anything to go by, that’s absolutely not the case. The Long Exposure zine is a collection of 24 black and white, long-exposure photos all with one common theme. Water. The collection includes photos taken of natural streams and waterfalls to man-made piers and canals. With 200gsm silk paper pages, the book looks and feels a nice quality and the paper choice works well to ensure the pictures retain a healthy amount of contrast which, for the photos included is important.
I really like the collection of photos Gary has put together but there are a handful that really stand out to me. Rocker Pier (which is on the front cover) is fantastic. It’s an incredibly strong composition, simplified by the softening effect the long exposure technique provides but I think my favourite is the picture of Salts Mill Wier which I particularly like as the long exposure has resulted in some fantastic patterns in the water which in my opinion makes this good photo into a great one.
Being a smaller zine full of strong long exposure photos, it’s hard not to recommend this book but as it’s no longer in print, I highly recommend the eBook version which, at the time of writing is for sale. See the link below.
Book Details
Softcover
Size: A5
Pages: 24 pages of 200gsm silk paper
Availability at the time of writing: No longer in print but an eBook copy is currently available from: https://www.shutterspot.co.uk/product/the-long-exposure-zine/