Parallel || Planets: Sunday Singles Club in Zineology: A Showcase of Photography

A Parallel Planets piece by Unknown

Parallel Planets presents Sunday Singles Club

in the Zineology Series: A Showcase of Photography

Zine Review by Nicole Lane

Mentioned: internet artists, bed island books, and visual project

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Lucky for us artists, there are tons of photographic zines in circulation due to the active use of Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks that allow creatives to hear and respond to call for entries--sometimes for zines. My experience with zines has mostly been over the internet. I find out about a cool new project, founded by some cool new people, and I decide to submit my work to it, whatever the theme may be. Sometimes I hear back, sometimes I don’t. The process of submitting to a zine is more about the connection and the contribution to the community that it supports rather than just getting your work out there. It’s really something personal for the readers, contributors and creators.

Sunday Singles Club/Bed Island Books are two pretty prominent figures on Tumblr due to their ability to create zines at a quick and sufficient rate--Bed Island Books, being the publishing operation and Sunday Singles Club, being the actual zine title.

Currently, I have in my possession Issue #3 of Sunday Singles Club. This issue is one that I purchased all the way from the UK to have in my humble zine collection at home in the US. Photographic zines take some work and skill due to the image sizing, the quality of the image and the overall content. If the images are too small, the entire zine will look pixelated and completely gross (unless you’re going for that gross feel) but Sunday Singles Club is so professional and polished that it really blew me away when I received my package in the mail.

The quality of this zine is something that is immediately present. To begin, the zine came in a wonderfully packaged clear sleeve and included a sticker, a personal note and two precious pin backs--can you say impressed? The zine itself is printed on high quality paper and is incredibly sturdy and professional. There are nine photographers featured in Issue #3 and they are listed in a simple font on the left side of the opening page. From then on, it’s a free range of photographs--black and white, portraits, landscapes and figures, fill the paper of the sixteen page issue.

If I had to pick a flaw--and it would be an extremely tiny one--it would be the white space introduced in this issue. It makes for a sleek, clean and soft zine, however, I feel as if some of the space or the pages could be utilized by adding more photographs or possible text/names/camera equipment used. I really enjoy the images that take up entire pages, or even two. Those are the most stimulating photographs for me personally but I believe it is due to their presentation, not so much their content.The only text that remains is on the cover, the inside of the first page and the back which states where you can order Sunday Singles Club and the Bed Island Books logo on the very back page. Overall, the zine is primarily photographic, there are no short stories or poems to go along with these images--it is a completely visual project.

Sunday Singles Club is always taking submissions which you can find in the links listed below. Bed Island Books also works with various other zines as well which keep them active in the zine community. They also offer subscriptions to keep yourself in sync with upcoming and emerging photographers. If you’re simply waiting for the next issue, keep yourself updated by following them onTumblr!