The photo book called ‘The Middle Of Somewhere’ is a family journal that Sam Harris kept of his children, Yali and Uma growing up in their remote home in the South West corner of Western Australia. This photobook is a follow on from his previous work called ‘Postcards from Home’- this project was based on his family migrating from London to Australia in 2008.
“As I witness my daughter’s transformation in what feels like the briefest of moments, I’m compelled to preserve something of our time living together”
Sam Harris is a photographer and educator. As a teenager he taught himself photography, turning his London bedroom into a makeshift darkroom. Throughout the 90’s Sam photographed portraits and sleeve art for numerous recording artists. He also worked as an editorial photographer for publications such as The Sunday Times Magazine, Esquire, The Sunday Telegraph Magazine and Dazed & Confused.
Sam’s photobook Postcards from Home (a self published limited edition) has received several awards including the Australian publishing industries Galley Club Award ‘Australian Book of the Year’ 2012.
I really like the style of photographs that Sam Harris takes, he try’s to capture the excitement of a moment, which in some of his photographs means; not all of the subject are in the photograph, it might be out of focus or there could be movement blurs. He pieces his photo books together by using other resources other than photographs. For example he has shopping lists and post-it notes also included.
This is an image that I have taken from Sam Harris’ photo journal. This photo tells a story of the mother telling the child off for something. The little girl is upset and is crying, there are motion blurs from the girl crying which I think are very effective as they emphasize that the girl is upset and make the photograph more relatable.
This is a very busy image; as well as the two subjects, which is the main focus of the image, there is also a busy background of a family home. The overall coloring of the photo is fairly dull and contains neutral colors, this is so the main attraction to the image is the two girls.
I have decided that I would like to carry on with my personal study, about my grandparents and continue to photograph them over the Christmas holiday. I really like theme of ‘Eternal Love’ between a married couple who have been together for fifty one years. I aim to carry on photographing them in their daily routines and creating portraits of them in their different environments eg; at home, in the car, at church ect. I am very close to my Grandparents therefor I am able to photograph them intimately and give insight into the photographs. The main theme I have chosen for my project is Eternal Love which I think my grandparents have for each other, therefor I am going todo my best to capture it.
The first shoot I will focus on will be on Christmas day. This is the most family based holiday of the year, therefor I will photograph my Grandparents and the rest of my family, and try and capture the atmosphere of the day. This christmas will be spent at my aunties house where most of my family will spend the day.
Secondly I would like to finish my interviews. I would like to interview my grandparents together and ask them about the five main things that i then are most important in their lives; Music, Faith, Family, Jersey and Wales. O need to edit and publish these interviews and also take my favourite quotes from them which I can use in my picture book.
Thirdly I will go down to my grandparents home and photograph it with their Christmas decorations up. As well as taking photographs of both my Grandpa and Grumma I would also like to take photos of their home and their estate.
I decided to interview my Grandparents as I think as well as photographing them, it is important to hear what they have to say. I was unsure of what to interview them about, so I selected 5 topics which I think are very important in their lives. These five topics are also the main areas in which I would like to associate photographing my grand parents with. The five topics are; Faith, Family, Wales, Jersey and Music.
I want to include, quotes from these interviews into my photobook, as I believe a stronger image is produced when it is alongside some dialogue.
These are my three favourites from my Christmas Day photo shoot. During this shoot, I experimented using the flash, which I think worked effectively because it produced crisp clear images. My Christmas day includes a christmas lunch with my whole family, and games. I have two little cousins which lift the excitement of the day.
My first final, is of my Grumma and Grandpa. My Grandpa is sitting on a chair with my Grumma standing at his side. This gives the photograph levels and allows both of their faces to be seen my the camera. They are both wearing Christmas cracker hats which I love, because I think it gives a stereotypical Christmas day feel to the photograph. I also really like that there is shadows behind both of them which I think creates a thick texture to the picture.
This portrait is of my Grandpa sat at the dinner table, he is still wearing his christmas hat, which provides a reoccurring theme through the photographs. The background to the photo is a children play set, which gives the photograph a playful feel. It also adds a lot of colour and shape. The image includes lots of colours which makes it interesting to look at.
This image is one of my favourite, however it doesn’t include either of my grandparents. My parents, are reading a story to my two younger cousins. This photographs contains comedic features such as the santa’s hat, and the bear slippers. However it also tells a story which is easy and accessible by the viewer.
My first shoot that I have done this holiday was on Christmas day. I chose todo a shoot because it is a very family orientated day, therefore I had the chance to photograph my grandparents surrounded by their family. Family is so important to my grandparents so I think I defiantly need to capture them in their family environment.
How did Yury Toroptsov use the Jersey archive to help create his Fairyland exhibition?
Recently I have been to visit the Quintessence photography exhibition at the Jersey art centre. This exhibition has been created in celebration of contemporary photography in Jersey and to mark a 5 year milestone for the Archisle. The work that was used in the exhibition was by artists who’s work was based on or inspired by our Island, Jersey. These artists were then asked to nominate a friend or a colleague to also participate in the Quintessence exhibition, these nominations were chosen in relation to their own work. The exhibition held a wide variety of photographs, which all held interesting context. All of the work was presented in clusters of each artists and were positioned next to their nominated colleague. I particularly took an interest in Yury Toroptsov, he presented some of his work from his FairyLand collection. As well as his own work he also included some of his research materials such as Jersey Archive photographs.
Yury’s ‘Fairy Land’ collection was created in 2014 when he came to stay on the island for 6 months. His first impression of Jersey was as well as it being a gorgeous Island, with lovely sunsets and beach’s he also came to the conclusion that “Jersey was a very mysterious and discrete place” (Toroptsov in FairyLand video 2014).
He wanted to get involved with the Island’s community and try and capture Jersey from his point of view. Yury’s first piece of inspiration was the traditional annual battle of flowers parade. He was digging in the archive and found a float from 1937. The float was called ‘FairyLand’.
This float was created by Percy Vibert and his family, with his daughter Ivy Jean Vibert being the Fairy Queen of the Float. In Yuri’s collection of photographs that he chose to present at the Quintessence exhibition he included a portrait of the fairy queen. This portrait has Ivy Jean in the centre of the photo wearing a white dress with a flower crown. The photograph is in black and white, however it in rich in texture due to her being surrounded by flowers. I think this photo captures the innocence of Ivy Jean, and the innocence of the island. Another image that Yury presented in his collection is something that he found when looking up the Vibert family in the Jersey Archive. He found Ivy Jean Vibert’s juxtaposing portrait from when she was fourteen. This was her portrait from her German occupation registration card. Yury presented the two portraits together to tell the story of Ivy Jean growing up from a flower inspired queen to being a victim of the German occupation.
I really like that Yury has included archive photographs in his collection as I think it gives his work depth. It also gives the audience an understanding of were his idea’s have sprung from as well as making the collection have a wide variety of type of photographs to look at.
Ivy Jean’s two different portraits
Another archive photograph that Yury Included in his work to help complete his collection is by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths called ‘Fairy offering Flowers to Iris’. Yury nominated Frances Griffiths as his chosen photographer, but he decided to include him work in within his cluster of photographs.
This photograph was taken by two children back in 1920, who were obsessing over fairies. They made a series of photograph’s featuring Elsie Write discovering fairies, which were edited on. I really like this photograph, firstly because of its age it has almost gone a sepia colour. Because of the absence of colour, it draws the viewers eye closer to the detail. For example the ringlets in Elsie’s hair, which have gone slightly frizzy, highlights the playful nature of the photograph. Secondly I like that it is surrounded by nature, which is similar to the portrait by Ivy Jean.
Fairy offering Flowers to Iris
The final photo that I photograph that Yury presented is one of his own photographs called ‘Jess’. This photograph is in response to the theme of Fairy Land, with his modern interpretation. This photograph is perfectly composed and I believe it is a strong image.
Jess
I think that the colours used in this photograph are very important; the reoccurring black and the scars left of Jess’s arms are foreshadowing the darker side of teen hood. However the obvious bright pink hair, which immediately catches the viewers eye foreshadows that last bit of playfulness left in teens.
The photograph captures Jess looking up into the sky, which exposes the side profile. All of her facial features are well defined and create detail for the photograph. The hair is being blow backwards which adds another dynamic to the image and introduces a different texture to the eye. However I think this photograph would be more interesting if you could see more of Jess’s face. The expression on a persons face and the look in their eyes, can change a photograph and the story it tells.
In conclusion, I think that the Quintessence was a very good exhibition that provided amazing photographs that were “Socially and Politically Connected” (Gareth Syvret the 9th December at the Jersey Art Centre) all of the work had interesting stories behind them.
I have been looking through my grandparents archive photographs and have chosen a few which are my favourite.
This is my Grandad as a young boy.
and my Grandma as a young Girl.
This is my Granpa’s parents, Fredrick and Doris.
This is my Grandma’s parents, Ted and Claris.
This is my Grandpa when he was around 20 years old. He was at teachers training college.
A portrait of my Grandma when she was around 18 years old. This is my Grandpa’s favourite image of my Grandma as a young lady and he kept this image with him when he was in Jersey and my Grandma was in Wales.
These three final images are of my Grandpa’s several activities from over the years. Consisting of singing competitions and rugby.
This is my Grandparents family photograph; their three sons and themselves.
These are the final four images that I have chosen from my grandparents shoot at their local church. I haven’t had time to edit these images yet, but when I do I would like to edit the lighting as some of the images have a yellow/orange tinge.
This is a photograph of the main feature of the church. The stain glass window was put in, in the year 2000 when the church was refurbished. It was donated by Mourant and Jeune Families. The master piece was created by Neil Mckenzie who as well as being a stain glass window artist is also a great lover of Boarder collies. Neil includes them in everyone of his stain glass window creations.
I really love this stain Glass window because it is the main statement in the church, and everything else inside the building is positioned around it. It involves a great about of bold beautiful colours that are very eye catching. My favourite colour on the window is the purple, because when it is a sunny morning it catches the light and creates a beautiful colour.
This candle is in the main area of the church and is lit every service. my Grandma is usually the person to light the candle as she arrives an hour before the service to prepare the church. The candle represents Jesus being the light of the world, I like that everything in a church has a meaning or a representation behind it. I think it makes everything more interesting and intriguing.
I think this is a powerful image because of the light of the candle reflecting in my Grandma’s glasses, especially because of the strong meaning behind the lit candle. Also the wooden cross in the background of the photograph.
This is my portrait of Rev. Graeme Halls, that I took this Sunday. He usually takes the GeorgeTown services however this weekend he was taking the remembrance celebration at Cenotaph. His wife, Elaine, made him his stole especially for this occasion. The stole is so beautiful and includes so many bright colours which are very attractive to look at.
I like how Graeme is positioned, he has a very straight posture, which makes him very welcoming and nice to photograph. His hands are positioned in front of him, in a very natural way and his face is smiling, but not at the camera.
This is the last photograph from my finals from my church shoot. It is of my Grandpa who is changing into his organ shoes. It is a strong image because it is an action shot, and you can see the movement in the left foot. He is positioned directly in the middle of the image with the leading lines from the steps leading the eye toward him. He is also the darkest thing in the photograph, therefore the eye is attracted straight to him. There is a poppy display to the right of him which is a bold object to have in an image.
