Zine Review: Botanical Photography

Botanical Photography
Jessica Jane
www.jessicajaneillustration.com
IG: @jessicajane.illustration

For me, photography is like art and poetry: I don’t know a lot about how it works, but I know what I like and what I don’t like. Everything else gets lost in wondering what the creator intended…

Botanical Photography is a photo zine featuring pictures of flora around Victoria, Australia. There are flowers, trees, sunshine, and lovely little things that make this state beautiful. I may be a bit biased, but if you’re going to take pictures of nature, Victoria is a great place to do it.

While I do really love photo zines, I felt like some of the impact of the photos is lost in the production quality. The pictures were a little washed out sometimes or a little too dark. I found myself thinking more than once that a little higher GSM could go a long way, but…

Therein lies the problem for me: intention.

Were the photos meant to be a little blurry or washed out? Is this meant to be the mark of someone still learning? Or perhaps it’s all due to the paper and ink used in printing. The slightly washed out quality of the last photo adds an ethereal quality to it, so it’s harder to guess than you might think.

If this wasn’t the intention, the suggestion of higher quality paper isn’t necessarily a simple one. With the zine already at $7, I don’t know what better printing would do to the price.

I really liked the touch of the sewn binding. With a zine that’s all about nature, I may have not really thought about staples, but the sewing adds to the ‘closer to nature’ feel in a way that metal staples wouldn’t.

I love photography, and I like to see a beginning (I think) photographer’s work. I think Jessica caught some truly beautiful shots, and I’d like to see more. But I must admit I’d also like to see it printed in a way better suited to photos.