On Tuesday 9th June 2015 all the year 12 photography students were invited down to the Societe Jersiaise Archives to learn more about the photo archive we have on the island and as an introduction to the 2015 Resident Photographer Tom Pope.
Throughout this workshop we were put into groups to work with. At first we watched a presentation made my one of the people who work at the Archisle Jersey. In his presentation  he taught us that photography is a tool for questioning what art is and what it can be. This can be developed in art history and the sciences.

http://societe-jersiaise.org/photographic-archive

Photography is used for many things, such as; advertising/criminal/passport/travel/family/marketing etc.
The archives can tell a story about you, for example the photos you take and choose to save. The photos that you keep can tell a lot about your personality and what interests you. I like to print out my photographs so that I have a physical copy of them to look at as memories as I grow. I also have a huge archive of photographs on my old laptop and my new laptop. This is where I store the bulk load of photos that I have accumulated over my life and am still gaining more and more each day. I prefer to have physical copies of my favourite photographs so that I can access them and look at them without having to search through my laptops for a load of photos from years ago. I think this is because my family have so many photo albums filled with memories and good times. I like the idea of using photo archives as a way to reconnect with my past and to show how much I have changed and developed to the present day.

A man called Henry Mullins [1848-1873] had the first ever photography studio in Jersey! He was very successful as most people in Jersey came to him for their photographs to be taken. He took photos of the most wealthy who lived on the island, which has now become a large archive for the Jersey people of today. Mullins would put all of his images in rows of four with the persons title below so that he would know who was who which has proved very helpful today as we are able to look at these photo albums and see who was around this island many years ago.

The man from the Jersey Archives also said that the Archives can show how portraits have changed and developed over the centuries. This allows us to see who was around in Jersey in the past. It also shows the difference in social classes from the past and now. It shows how the only people who were ever photographed in the past were of a higher social class whereas nowadays pretty much anyone is able to take photographs.

– photography is always contradicting itself
– Michelle Sank is one of the photographers in resident in Jersey a few years ago [2013].
http://www.michellesank.com

– Yury Toroptsov was the photographer in resident in Jersey last year and was very much influenced by the Battle of Flowers as part of his 6 month project in Jersey [2014].
http://www.toroptsov.com

In photography we need to learn to look beyond just what we can physically see in front of us and instead look at the connotation of an image or set of images. We need to understand what the subject can make you feel and how it influences you as an individual. We as photographers need to anticipate what our audiences’ are going to think and feel about our work.