Sophie Harris-Taylor

Sophie Harris-Taylor

MTWTFSS Chapter 1

Self Published
174 pages
Leather-effect binding cover
Embossed text on Cover
16 x 20 cm
Offset Lithograph Printing

Sophie Harris-Taylor book ‘MTWTFSS’ was a wonderful surprise for me once I opened the package.
Its dark green cover, it’s thickness and its embossed text was striking.  The book has a feeling of a notebook, a journal. I was worried that once I open the book, it will fall to a cliché of a diary type book – messy, hand written, collage type book that might come with this type of notebook cover. I was pleased to see that it was not the case. Although some hand written text is on the first page, it adds an individual touch to the book, that doesn’t overpower the images or concept.

The book, edited in a peaceful, delicate way, tells an intimate personal story.

There is paleness to the images that I personally found charming and nostalgic. Although I know the photographer is present in these images, the book, with its design and yellow tones pages, create an illusion of memories captured in her mind, and not only her camera. 

She described her work and book with these words :

“MTWTFSS is an autobiographical, fragmented, sporadic photo diary. It is a reflection of myself and those I know and love. In familiar, often mundane surroundings I seek to capture some element of truth of our lives. For me these everyday, forgotten nothings are more important and truthful than any other. These are the moments between the momentous.

MTWTFSS is the most personal to me. It’s only become apparent recently that although I’m representing aspects of other people, I’m seeking the aspects I’m familiar with and which I can relate to the most. So I’m really using them to express myself. “

The book moves in and out – inside homes and intimae spaces to outdoors and nature. They blend together naturally, creating a space that is unique to these people, and this story. It is not a fantasy place, but it is not really a specific place, it is the space of memory, love, and pain.

One of the most significant component in the images is the light. It feels as if the light is just another character in this journal, another story to tell. It is unforgiving sometimes, but often gentle and graceful. Sometimes I felt as if the light is the camera, the photographer, and I, as a viewer – it is that outside component looking in to the story.

This book is exquisitely constructed together. Its design, from top to bottom elevated the images, convinced me as a viewer that this is in fact a journey of a photographer in her search for singular, intimate moments with her surrounding and loved ones. 

Please consider purchasing a copy here