Jacob Aue Sobol’s book reveals a candid account of his intimate relationship with girlfriend Sabine and their life together on the east coast of Greenland. In 1999, Sobol went to live in the settlement of Tiniteqilaaq, Greenland, where he lived the life of a fisherman and hunter with his Greenlandic girlfriend and her family.

Taken over three years Sobol’s book records, in photographs and narratives, his encounter with Sabine and their life on the east coast. This was the starting point of Sobol’s photography and has since in 2012  been declared as a Magnum photographer.

My reasons for choosing Sobol as an artist reference, is due to the fact that he is capturing intimate moments within his natural surroundings, non-staged and unedited moments are captured as they truly are. This is essentially how I wish to photograph my own project, in order to encapsulate my very own environment and surroundings.

The image above features Sobol’s girlfriend, Sabine, whom he captures kissing the camera, before her boyfriend was due to leave for a hunting trip.

This photograph, features a snapshot style, that does not follow any of the conventions that make a good photograph, in relation to photography. Despite this, it does contain a very emotive feel, as Sobol has captured an intimate moment, the act of kissing directly towards a subject, that is often unseen in a general scenario, as we cannot freeze the subject or the moment itself.

I feel that the fact that the camera is out of focus only adds to the rawness of this photograph, as we see Sabine throwing herself at Sobol, in an act of passion, something he himself is only experiencing. Which is essentially what Sobol’s work and in particular this project consists of.

Astres noirs is the debut book for both Katrin Koenning and Sarker Protick, artists who live thousands of miles apart whose peculiar photographic wanderings create a hauntingly beautiful dialogue. This book presents photographs taken on mobile phone cameras, devices used to capture their everyday in an impulsive and almost obsessional way, documenting life from their doorsteps to far afield. This idea of communication through photography to present their living environments interests me since I would like to investigate what the difference between the living environment in Jersey is like compared to that of somewhere so close, London. This is contrasting to Koenning and Protick’s work because they were miles apart, however my idea would use the same idea in a different way.

Social media today, such as facebook, snapchat and instagram are all social medias that allow someone to send or post images that they have taken. This fact would mean that using social media I can contact someone who may live in an urban area in London, where they live. Using this communication and social media they would be able to send me and image of their living environment, including their job or friends/family living, in exchange of an image of our island Jersey. Once these images have been exchanged over a period of time I will be able to present 2 images that contrast to each other side by side. For example I could take an image of someone I know in the middle of a country lane, and the London exchange image could be the same image replicated in the streets of London, a completely different environment.

These are the images that Koenning and Protick have made in their collaboration, along with many others. The images present a feeling of paranormal and a sense of the unknown. This is something that is not commonly explored or conceptualised. The image on the left was an image that was sent by Koenning and the image on the right was the response from Protick, which is a pattern continued throughout the book. In my hope this is what I would like to do when i present my work, side by side presenting two responses to two different environments. I plan to make my images high quality and set up rather than spontaneously captured images.