Beginner's luck?

Late last week I started to pull some negatives together from Pakistan. In an impulse I fired up InDesign (which I hadn't used at all up to that point) and drafted a layout for an 18x18cm book. So I dragged the pictures in more or less chronologically, varying between two-page spreads (2:1 ratio, so quasi-panoramic), full page (square) images and standing (portrait) pictures with the original 2:3 ratio of the 24x36 and 6x9 negatives. And suddenly the portfolio started to live ... 

Bringing it all together within the covers of a virtual book created a view of the whole. The spreads brought extra dynamism to many pictures, contrasting nicely with the more restrained square images. A number of themes started to emerge: most conspicuously the human element vs the inhuman coldness of nature. I prefaced the book with a quote from philosopher Jacques Derrida. In his "Foi et Savoir" (Belief and Knowledge; which I had with me on the trek) he writes about three unchartable places: the island, the desert and the Promised Land. This topographical element too is a red thread through the portfolio. 

It still needs work, though. There is a middle section which plays too much on "isolated figure in landscape" and towards the end the succession of landscapes lets the attention flag. Also, a postface needs to be written and lots of the finer points of the design need to be attended to. But it is not bad for a pure beginner's work.

I've had the design printed on the lambda to see what a hardcopy would tell me. I've also sent the electronic version to a number of people. The general feedback is very positive. And I got some useful suggestions for improvement. To be continued.