Borhan. P (2002), Dorothea Lange: The Heart and Mind of a Photographer. Paris: Editiond di Seuil

‘A good photographic document was a certificate of existence:it proposed evidence of existence: it proposed evidence and allowed for proof’ (Borhan 2002: 17)

‘ but to be good, photographs have to be full of the world’ (Dorethea Lange in Borhan 2002: 17)

‘Humanity is a hypothesis that has run it’s cource’ ( Aragon 2002:21)  – Dorothea Lange: The Heart and Mind of a Photographer

Sources used:

Dorothea Lange – the heart and mind of a photographer

Photography at the dock  – Abigail Solomon – Godeau

British journal of photography

Photography: A Critical Introduction Third Edition Edited by Liz Wells

Planning

I want to photograph Nana dressed up in her Salvation Army uniform. The Salvation army is something which my Grandparents shared and something which was an important part of shaping and defining their marriage. Both Nana and my Granddad were officers in the Salvation Army. My Grandfather served as a Major, and through her second marriage, Nana was promoted to the position of ‘Lieutenant Colonel’. She still attends weekly Salvation Army meetings and wears her Uniforms proudly each time.

For this shoot, Nana has agreed to dress up in her Salvation Army Uniform and pose for a few portraits. It will be interesting to photograph her in her Army Uniform. I am not able to photograph any of my Granddad’s old uniform because it is what he is buried in. By photographing Nana in her uniform however, I find this is a good way of substituting this gap in a way which is subtle and poetic. I am slowly starting to ease down on the number of photographs I take of Nana, and instead am starting to move onto other aspects of the project. This shoot which explores the theme of the Salvation Army I find is a good opening to explore the theme of the Salvation Army, which undoubtedly was a significant aspect of my Granddad’s life.

Evaluation

I am very pleased overall how the images turned out for this shoot. I only took about 50 images in total however I carefully considered different aspects of the shoot beforehand, such as composition and form. Unlike last week, Nana was more willing to help me out this time around and so it was more to my advantage to plan out my location and theme beforehand.

Something I though was quite effective was having an ‘African theme’. In Nana living room there is a painting of zebra in South Africa. I decided therefore to construct a setting linked to this theme by re-arranging the mantle piece to include two Kenyan statues of Massai ladies, as well as a traditional African carving of a tepee tent.

The main disadvantage I was faced in this shoot was the lighting. It was a very dull day which was unfortunate because I was relying on a lot of light coming in from the window. As a result I was forced to put the camera’s ISO setting up to quite a high 800 in order to compensate for the naturally low level of lighting. This means that some of my images are very grainy. This isn’t ideal as it affects the quality and crispness of the images.

Plan

This Sunday my Dad is going to drive me around to various places across the island connected to my Grandfather. The plan is to photograph these places in order to gain a few more outcomes, aswell as hopefully learn a little bit more about my Grandfather. I am aiming to go to 5-6 different places for this shoot. I am aware that we may struggle to find certain areas which is why I am propbably going to complete 2-3 types of these shoots in total, in order to get the quantity and variety of images that I require.

For this particular shoot I want to photograph landscape and still life objects.

• My Granddad’s grave
• The Windmill in St Peters
• ‘Maitland’: the house where he was born
• ‘Sommerlie’: the house he grew up
• The farm he brought when he was 20, situated in an unknown location in St Peter’s

Evaluation

Overall this was a very fun and interesting shoot to complete. The lighting was very consititent throughout the day which meant that I could shoot with an constast ISO 400.

The main difficulty we encountered was finding where ‘Maitland House’ was. My uncle told us that it was somewhere along Trinity Hill ut in the end we couldn’t find it. Other than that we got to most of the other locations with relative ease, apart from the farm that my Grandad work on. We think we got the right location however we may need to check on this.

After going to all the designated locations, we went for lunch at St Ouens. After this I decided to photograph a little bit in the St Ouens area. My Granddad grew up in St Ouens and so I thought it would be relevant to take a few landscape shots around the La Braye and L’Tacq area.

I am pleased with my overally outcomes and beleive that I have a good variety.

Here are my outcomes from this shoot..

Plan

Photograph old images around Nana’s house of theme relating to old photos of my family and grandad. Re-photograph prints of imgaes Nana has, my Dad’s old family album and look online for any photographs of my Grandad

The conversation I had with Nana whereby I asked her a few questions about my Grandad a week ago has inspired me to look into aspects of my Grandfather’s past, and therefore I decided to exploe old archival photographs that relate to my Dad and Grandparents in thee.

Evaluation

This shoot has been a very interesting one. I find I have learned a lot more about my Grandad and the life he lived by looking at these old photographs. In additon, these photographs have helped to illustrate different aspects of my previous conversation with Nana.

Here are the photographs I found…..

My Dad in 1984age 17  with his bike just before he tok his test . This was taken in 1978, not long after he left home

Left: Photograph of my Grandfather in the 1970

Right: My Grandparents pictured together whilst being posted in France

My Grandparents at my Uncle Phil’s christening in 1955. Uncle Phil is the oldest of the four children

Taken after my Grandparents returned from France. One of the last photographs of my Grandfather – he died a few weeks after this was taken

Taken on my Grandparents wedding day in 1947

Left-Right:

Left-Right: Uncle Steve, my Dad, Aunty Cathy and Uncle Phil, This photograph was taken in 1984 in Nana’s garden – on the day of my Grandfathers funeral 

My Grandfather in the 1980s with his prize cow, Honey

Plan

Continue to photograph Nana

Evaluation

This week I decided to return to the theme of vanacular photography. I have got a lot of formal photographs of Nana lately and so I decided to make this shoot more spontaneous. Nana wasn’t feeling very well today so it waan’t a good day to geta lot of portraits of her. Instead I decided to explore much more of the house, going into different parts included upstairs and a few images in her bedroom.

I am pleased with the images I have produced today.I think that I am starting to develop an effective style, balancing vernacular photography with classic composition. The work of photographer Julian Geramin has greatly influenced me recently and I aimed to photograph in a similar manner that he achieves.

Here is an audio only version of my interview with Nana. As a start to take more photographs, I will begin to select a few images as visual aids to go over this audio. I will then incorporate these images in with film that I will take next week. This will go to create one of my outcomes for this project. I will give this audio credit for the time being as an outcome. In a way I like its simplicity. It is very basic and sounds authentic and natural. I find that this interview is very fascinating and revealing both about my Granddad, as well as about Nana’s life in general.

BEGINNING OF CONVERSATION

Me: Hi Nana.

Nana: Hello, how are you?

Me: I’m good thank you. As you know I’m doing a project about my Grandad. I’m trying to find out more about him. You knew him better than anyone else, would you be able to answer a few questions about him?

Nana: Yes, certainly.

Me: Okay thank you. Could you start off by giving a little background about him?

Nana: His name was Arthur Maitland Le Feuvre, and he was born on June 4th 1921. He was the ninth and youngest child of Francis and Lydia Le Feuvre who were farmers from St Peters. He was born at Maitland House, Trinity Hill. So he was named after his house. But they moved to St Peters when he was 10.

Me: Okay that’s really interesting. (Question 1) What year did you and Grandpa first meet?

Nana: We met in January 1947.

Me: So while a while ago now?

Nana: Yes, quite a while ago now. (laughs).

Me: (Question 2) What first attracted him to you?

Nana: Well naturally his good looks.

Me: (joking) well obviously I take after him then?

Nana: Yes you do! (laughs).

Me: (Question 3) What do you member most about your wedding day?

Nana: Well it was on April 14, 1949 – it was on Easter Monday, and we are married at the Salvation Army. And it was a bright and sunny day.

Me: So lots of happy memories then?

Nana: Oh yes some very happy memories!

Me: (Question 4) You brought up 4 children together. How important was your relationship in getting through this aspect of your life?

Nana: Well our home was a loving one so as we both pulled together we got through it. This continued right through our married life. It was no hard chore.

Me: So it was quite important?

Nana: Yes it was quite a peaceful, happy home.

Me: Okay nice. (Question 5) Obviously you lived in Kenya for 10 years. Could you describe 3 fond memories you have got of this time?

Nana: Well we had a wonderful time in Kenya, Kenya is a beautiful place. We were very privileged to go there. I think three memories (pause)…

…Firstly, getting used to the children who are not at home, but were at boarding school. It was quite difficult, it sort of broke up the family a bit…

…Secondly, I did a woman’s meeting. Teaching my ladies, 36 of them to knit. That was quite an experience…

….And then the best one, looking after the Jersey Calves, they were my responsibility. Because we had a Jersey heard.

Me: Wow! That is really, really cool! (Question 6) Meeting Grandpa meant that you you were introduced to the Salvation Army, is this right?

Nana: No, I met your Grandpa at a special meeting. That was the first time that both of us had been in the Salvation Army.

Me: So you were both new at the same time?

Nana: He was a Methodist local preacher actually, and I was not a Christian at that time. Joining the Salvation Army was calling for us both, not just a job, and it was a joy to serve the Lord together really.

Me: Okay, so you would say that it was quite important in shaping both of your lives?

Nana: Yes. It was very important.

Me: (Question 7) Is there anything you regret about moving to Kenya?

Nana: No, not at all. It was the best thing I think we did, going to Kenya. I mean life was hard at times, away from home. But you know, it was just another experience of life.

Me: So it was a big life choice?

Nana: Well helping the people to learn to farm properly, and to make a living was a joy. It was quite wonderful to help these lovely people, because they are lovely people.

Me: Okay, wow! (Question 8) So obviously Grandpa dedicated a lot of his life to the Salvation Army which obviously brought you to Kenya. If he had not been an officer for the Salvation Army, is there any other ambitions Grandpa had?

Nana: Well. (pause) He was a farmer all of his life. That is why we went to Kenya, because he had the experience as a farmer.

Me: So it was were his strengths lay?

Nana: Yes. He used those skills for the Lord and the Salvation Army. After the war, he had been offered commission with the RAF. But he never took it up. He came back to Jersey, hadn’t seen his people for six years, and his dad didn’t want him to leave the island.

Me: So he never wanted him to have this career?

Nana: No.

Me: (Question 9) That’s interesting, because I do you gather that Grandpa did actually fight in World War Two?

Nana: Yes he did.

Me: Do you know anything about this?

Nana: Yes, he was 19 when the occupation began. Despite a lot of persuasion to his father who was against it, he left the island on the last coal boat. When he reached the UK, he joined up and was in the RAF and eventually became a navigator. At the end of the war he was in Germany as an interpreter because he spoke German and French.

Me: Oh wow, so he actually went to Germany?

Nana: Yes so he went to France and then Germany with the troops. He never talked much about it. The one thing he was proud of though, was that he was in the RAF football team.

Me: Really?

Nana: Yes. (laughs).

Me: Awesome! So obviously he could speak French. (Question 10) You went to France didn’t you?

Nana: Yes, we went to France in 1982 to Paris. That was a different experience altogether. We worked with alcoholics and drug addicts. Grandpa loved it but I struggled with the language. I liked being there, doing the work, but I struggled with the language, couldn’t speak it. That was a tough assignment actually, because we were getting on in age.

Me: But you got through it?

Nana: Yes, we got through it.

Me: (Question 10) you mentioned that you had some retirement plans which were never realised?

Nana: Yes

Me: What was the plan?

Nana: Yes. (pause) Grandpa had a brother called Frank in Australia. Frank, he was five years older and grandpa and he left the island when grandpa was 11 years old to go to Australia and so they never saw him after that. A couple of the brothers and sisters went to Australia when they found out where Frank was after the war, and we planned to visit Frank when we were retired in 1986.

(My Grandad passed away in 1984. He was looking forward to a well earned retirement but sadly never got the chance).

 Me: As you know I do you like to wind people up.

Nana: Yes. (laughs)

Me: (Question 11) Did my Grandad share any similar humour to me?

Nana: Yes he had a good sense of humour

Me: Did he get up to many pranks?

Nana: Yes, he used to tell jokes that no one else could understand. It was like a dry humour but we laughed anyway. One prank he did was to phone up members of his family and pretend to be someone else, and he always spoke to them in Jersey French.

Me: (Laughs) …. (Question 12) You and grandpa had some very close friends. Did you share fond memories with friends?

Nana: Yes, we had some lovely friends. We met Doug and Lil Phillips when we were stationed on the Welsh Valleys. We had lots of holidays together, before we went to Kenya, and when we came back. It was always great fun, always laughing

Me: That’s nice, I never met Doug

Nana: You’ve met Lil though?

Me: Yes I know auntie Lil, of course.

(Auntie Lil is an old family friend. She is probably Nana oldest and closest friend. Her and her sister Auntie Pearl usually come for visit once a year. They both live in Wales. It would be good to speak to either of them about my Grandad over the phone and record it).

(Question 13) From what I’ve heard Grandpa had a very difficult relationship with his father, is that right? 

Nana: Well I wouldn’t exactly call it difficult. No, because he loved his father. It was a good relationship. You’ve got to understand his dad was very strict, and the problem was when he said we were going to London to go to the Salvation Army college, he wasn’t very keen on him leaving Jersey. It was so we could become a full time officer. But we got over that.

Me:  Okay. (Question 15) What sports and hobbies did Grandpa have during his life? 

Nana: Grandpa was a great athlete, and of course a footballer. He played for Jersey before the war actually. And he was a great cross country runner when he was at Victoria College. He won a lot of prizes.

Me: Ah cool, he did a lot a running then?

Nana: Yes.

Me: Oh that interesting.

Nana: If you go up to the college (Victoria College) you can see his name everywhere.

Me: Yeah. I might go and have a look. That really interesting that.

(Question 16) Please could you state three good traits about Grandpa?

Nana: Well this is a difficult one. He was a kind, caring man. He didn’t like a lot of fuss. Arthur Le Feuvre was the same at home (pause) same person at home that people saw outside as well. A most gracious man actually.

Me: So you couldn’t name any faults?

Nana: No I couldn’t really, we were very happily married. For 36 years.

Me: (Last Question) If I ever had the chance to meet him, do you reckon we would have got along?

Nana: Oh, like a house on fire. You would, he would have loved you to bits. He was a very family orientated man, he loved his family

Me: Okay, I think I’ve got some really good information there

Nana: Yes you have, haven’t you!

Me: Thank you Nana!

 Nana: Now you know a little bit more about him.

Me: Yes I do, thanks very much.

END OF CONVERSATION

Plan

• My plan for the course of this week is to conduct a 10-15 minute interview with Nana whereby I ask her a few questions about my Grandad.
• I will start of by writing the questions out.
• I will then give Nana a few days to think about the questions.
• We will then conduct an interview based on the question.
• The plan is to make the interview as natural as possible, like a conversation.
• She knows the questions and has written down a few thoughts but we have agreed she will not read anything  she has written on paper, as to make hers a my responses as spontaneous as possible.
• We will take as many takes as possible until we are both happy. The interview does not have o be perfect however as it will be like a normal conversation and so I want to reflect this.

Evalution: I think that the interview went really well. Nana improvised fantastically and her answers were flowing and well developed. Personally it is a relfief as she has been quite anxious about the project recently but today she seemed a lot more happy and reassured about it. The answer I got were very fascinating and interesting, espacially after the interview when I went for a walk and played the conversation through my heaphones. The fuzzy noise in the background I wasn’t happy about at first but after reviewing it I actually quite like it because it creates  a very natural and authetic feel to the coversation

Plan

• Continue to photograph Nana
• Take some photographs outside in her garden
• Get some old, archival photographs
• Ask a few more question about my Grandad – prepare for interview next week

Evaluation

I didn’t get as many photographs of my Grandma today as I would have liked because she wasn’t feeling to well. I decided instead to get a few still-life shots of the inside of her house. I also went into her Garden to get a few images which I had already planned. It was a good day today do it because the sun was starting to go down and there was a crsip, yellowly reflection. Photographing outisde at this time of year is very good because as it is autumn all of the leaves have fallen which makes for an interesting looking location that conveys a certain gloomy mood which can only be achieved at autumn and winter.  I took about 60 photos of my Grandma in about 4 different locations with I carefully planned out beforehand. I wanted to consider composition this week as I have explored the work of photographers Alec Soth and Jonas Bendiksen for my exploration of the theme of community and so I have tried to mimic their styles of carefully composed composition, which are quite similar. I want my photographs to be a balance of formal and vernacular photography, a bit like the work of Jullian Germain. Mr Toft showed me from a copy of Germain’s book ‘For every minute of anger you lose 60 seconds of happiness’ a I have gained a lot of inspiration from studying this.

I went around different parts of Nana’s house to get old photographs of my Grandad. I went outside were there was natural lighting and unframed the images, placed then on a table of photographed them. I think that this is a good way to photograph the images because there is a candid, natural look to them and it is a very simplistic and clear way of doing so. I was nice to look at these of old photos as I take never really looked at many photos of my Grandad before. Unfortunately Nana said that my Grandad’s sister had a lot of old family photos of my Grandad and his brothers and sisters growing up. She can’t explain why but apparently she threw them all in the bin. A shame to be honest as it would have been useful and generally interesting to see them

Photos I took today …

Plan

• Visit my Grandma
• Explain the project to her.
• Ask a few questions about  my Grandad
• Photograph her

Evaluation

The first week of my project has been quite productive. I started of by asking Nana a few questions about my Grandad. I learnt about his upbringing, early life and time in the RAF serving in WWII. I then started of by photographing her in different locations around the house. Since I have been looking at the work of Richard Billingham quite a bit recently I have decided to experiment with flash photography. This style is known as vernacular photography and is deliberately meant to look amateurish. After reviewing these images with Mr Toft however it is clear that I was quite careless at the time with my image composition. If I want to carry on this style of photographing then I must consider composition more. I think I will carry on this style whilst also experimenting with more traditional way of taking photograph and hopefully gather a mixture of outcomes.

She has been happy to help so far and it is pleasing to make a steady start to this project. One problem which I encountered however was after a while she got annoyed with me photographing. To be honest this isn’t ideal because it limits when and how I take my photographs. I am hoping that as the project progresses she will start to relax a bit more. I think she is more interested actually talking about my Grandad then being photographed. Therefore in terms of my photographs, I will continue to photograph hr every week because it makes sense however I will also need to explore a lot more different avenues I photographing my Grandma is annoyingly becoming a challenge – for example photographing my Dad, uncles, and other members of my extended family. My dad said he would take me to see his cousin, John Le Feuvre who knew my Grandad well.

The information my Grandma provided about my Grandad proved  to be very useful and interesting. For the next few weeks I need to keep asking her questions to refresh her memory as I am going to conduct a recorded interview with her in a few weeks. Here is what I learned so far ….

Arthur Maitland Le Feuvre

• Born June 4^th 1921
• Youngest of 9 children in a wealthy family
  • Born in Maitland House, St Peter
  • Aristocratic family

Son of a landowner and local politician; Jurat

• Lot of authority
• Stern and authoritative
• Cunning
• Had a charitable side

Banished from home at a young age for joining the Salvation Army

• Cut of all contact
• Met his mother in secret
• Ironic because his father’s mother was herself a member of the Salvation Army
• Quite distant from family throughout adult

Victoria College

• Enjoyed his time there
• Inspired by teacher at Victoria College
• People used to leave on their Birthday
• Very sporty: Cross Country and 1st XI team

Served in WWII

• 28 hours on boat to Callais
• Joined RAF in 1940, left Victoria College at 19
• Beckon Field
• Went to France and Germany as an interpreter; was in Germany when the war ended
• Hitch-hiked from Germany to London
• Aspiration to become RAF Officer
  • Father prohibited it, “my father brought me out”

Sense of Humour

• Every Christmas he said he wanted new toothbrush.
  • Nana, Phil and Steve got a big box made present look massive, but only toothbrush was in it

Here are some of the image from my first week …..