A working studio for photobooks and zines
Somewhere to make the work, show it while it is still going wrong, and get a proper response. Two briefs a year for anyone who wants a deadline, and no deadline at all for anyone who doesn’t. Online, all year round, wherever you are.
Open to members of the RPS Photobooks & Zines Group.
Make
Two briefs a year, a fast zine brief and a longer photobook brief. Any format, any level of experience. A run of one is a run.
Talk
Post work with a crit request saying what you want a response to, and get one. Answer two before you post: that is what keeps the space alive.
Show
A monthly open studio day, postal zine swaps, and a shelf where finished work sits whether it came from a brief or from four years of your own.
Ten Minutes from Home
Make a zine from photographs taken within ten minutes of your own front door. The point isn’t the place. It’s what happens when you can’t go somewhere more interesting.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Month 1 | Brief published. Online workshop: How to Make a Single-Page Zine |
| Month 2 | Zine in a Day, in person |
| Month 3 | Zine in a Day Online. Speaker session on editing and sequencing |
| Month 4 | Mid-point review, online |
| Month 5 | Finished work review and reading room. Brief closes |
The spaces
Spaces are organised by the kind of question, not the kind of member. There is no beginners’ space and no advanced space.
Studio
Front of house. Introductions, what’s on, general chat, and what we’re all reading.
Making
The working spaces. Feedback on your own work, technical problems, and everyone’s projects in progress.
Bookwork
Designing, making and publishing. How books work, discussed in general rather than in your own pages.
Briefs
The current briefs. Each one opens, runs to a deadline, and closes with finished work.
Company
Working in company. The monthly open studio day, swaps and meets, and the finished shelf.
Live
Online workshops and livestreamed visits. Questions before, joining link during, recording after.
Alongside the spaces there are four self-paced courses: making a single-page zine, layout basics in Canva, book design and production, and selling, fairs and distribution.
Joining
Four steps, about five minutes.
- Be an RPS member. Membership of the Society is the only requirement.
- Add this group to your membership. Photobooks & Zines is a Special Interest Group, added from your RPS account.
- Register for the Studio. One short form, and you are in.
- Say hello at the Welcome desk. What you are working on, or what you would like to be. Someone will reply, because one of us picks up introductions each month.