Over the past half term, I have been working with the Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive implementing key ideas to developing the Archive to my own personal project. These skills have made me develop various creative perspectives involving Archive extraction, research, experimentation and documentation. Exhibition and presentation design.
Some of the skills, which I have been contributing to my Archive experience, consist of:
Scanning & storing images
Image manipulation, resizing, creating composites
Producing teaching materials for Photo Archivist’s Workshop
Re-purposing images for Jersey Projection Gallery –(Ex. Skip ton Arts)
Archive Searching database
Outputting digital prints, labeling and marking images from the
Understanding copyright policy
Retrieving original images from vintage collection in strong room
Working in secure areas, safe practice in the archive environment
Appropriate handling of original archive materials
My personal project has allowed me to evolve, as with help from Gareth Syvret, I’ve been able to manipulate photographs which relate to the history and period of my new house and how I can contrast the changes and traditions in everyday life today.
These are the selection of photographs that I am going to be using for my photographic essay. I feel like out of all my photographs this selection includes my best photographs and the ones that I feel portray my idea for my photographic essay the best.
These are the selection of photographs that I think could be used and that I personally like, however feel like I may have better photographs that I feel could portray the story that I am trying to tell with my photographic essay. However I have made this selection as there may be some photographs or perspectives that I may want to include however didn’t make the cut for the photographs I am definitely wanting to use.
These are the selection of photographs that I wasn’t too sure whether I want to get rid of them completely or maybe use them. However most of the photographs in this selection have the potential to possibly be used in the case that I made the wrong decision on one of the other photographs that I choose to keep.
These are the selection of photographs that I do not wish to use in any way for my project. The reason as to why I did not want to use them at all in my project was because they were either poorly composed, or were distracting from the main idea that I have for my picture story, therefore having a poor or no link to my idea, or simply because I took too many photographs and had many that were very similar in composition.
The layout of the page is very important when presenting your photography. For our images we can apply them onto an A3 size of paper. Here’s a mood board of a few magazine spreads showcasing photography that i found:
I have produced a two page spread that includes my favorite documentary outcomes. I’ve placed the pictures in a fairly varied layout. The photograph’s are all different sizes and dimensions. Accordingly, the angles at which I took them vary. I enlarged the image that I wanted as the main focus, because it intertwines the theme of ‘Family, Faith and Community’ in the best way. All of the photographs are edited in some way or another. I included some very strong contrasts and vibrancy in them.
Here is my main picture:
This particular shot appears to be ‘layered photography’ due to the many subjects in one. In fact, no changes were made to the picture’s composition and nothing was moved.
Me and my family had just strolled to our car, that was parked in the church’s car park. As everyone was getting in the car, I took the opportunity to spontaneously take this.
I find it quite lucky that my friend was holding the booklet that we got given at our ‘Jersey Museum – 125 Hours’ visit:
“Your story, our history” booklet – Guidebook given to us at the Jersey Museum
I like how it shows the task booklet and gives a small detail about the photograph’s meaning. I believe that this manifests the theme of ‘community’, because it shows the assignment that our school was given to complete as a whole. Additionally the church in background adds depth whilst embodying the theme of ‘faith’. The girl in the picture is representative of the subject of ‘family’ in that I consider her to be my family.
I’ve tried out various designs in Photoshop as a form of ‘trial and error’ so that I could find the one design suited to illustrate my story.
Original layout:
Magazine spread – Original with no text
This was my initial magazine spread but i decided to alter it. I found that some of the images were out of context and didn’t relate to the overall subject.
Second layout:
Magazine spread – 2nd try with no text
For my second copy, I removed the picture on the bottom right-hand side as it was sort of an anomaly. I then moved some of the picture to create a balance. I aligned the photograph’s so that they would look more proportioned.
Third layout:
Magazine spread – 3rd copy
For my third alteration I expanded the titles so that they went across the top border of the A3 page. I wanted the writing to be spread out and aligned with the pictures.
Fourth layout:
This is my 4th try at the layout. I have added the text to go along with it and included some inspiring quotes associated with the subject I was doing. I also moved the two detail shots from the middle of the page to the top. This gives the layout more space for the writing and looks more balanced. Additionally, I altered the titles changing the color into purple. Purple is representative of imagination and individuality. ‘Impulsion Du Moment’ means ‘Spur-of-the-moment’ and this explains the whole spread, since I took the picture quite spontaneously as I wasn’t expecting to experience certain scenarios.
I have created my own story boards using my own images, similar to typical picture stories this story has the 6 or 7 key image categories – Person at Work, Relationship Shot, Establishing Shot, Detail shot, Environmental Portrait, Formal Portrait, Observed Portrait. Making these story boards proved harder than i thought as you have to make sure everything is aligned properly and sized well.
I was asked to take photographs of the year 10 Enterprise day, which I think fits in well with the community theme for this project, because the photographs show not only the school community but the ‘business’ community within school. Most of the photographs I took were environmental and observed portraits. I’ve made a contact sheet with the photographs I took.
These are the photographs I am entering into the JEP exhibition at the Jersey Museum. There will be Channel 103, Channel T.V and lots of members of the school at the event.
This is one of the main photographs in my picture-story because it is a portraiture shot of my grandfather, there are not many images of him on his own. I think it shows off his personality massively, he was a very strong and brave individual who fought in the war and raised eight children. I like the texture of the image and how it looks old and vintage. There are creases through the middle of the photograph and it is slightly discoloured around the edges but I think this adds to its style.
This is one of my favourite images from all the photographs from the albums, I think the the way the man is just sitting reading his paper makes everything look very casual and everyday. The black and white style is also representing the time period the photograph was taken in, as my grandfather did not have the money to afford photographs in colour.
