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Independent Study, Research and analysis

Jonny Briggs Activity Review – Fear in the Process of Creativity…

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On 04/07/17, Jonny Briggs came in to school to give us another talk and include us in his style of work again. He had more tasks set up ofr us to immerse ourselves into the style of photo collage and he gave us a briefing about his work again to refresh us. The more intimate and inclusive experience was really helpful and beneficial to my development in the field of photo collage and producing work int he style of both Jonny and Tanja.

The session began with Jonny asking us is we had any primary questions for him to answer. Then he began to talk to us about his recent works in Jersey and what he is doing in his residency that could provide an influence to what we produce. The most prominent topic of discussion was the thought of fear within work and if it is an aid to the creative process. A heated discussion on this concept leas to many different views about the question Jonny asked us – whether fear is a good thing, or if something good can come from mistakes in a creative process. Jonny began to tell us about a piece of work he is really focusing on in his residency and tat he feels has the most relevance to his life. He told us that he has a focus on creating series of works in locations of authority and an explanation he provided for this was that an authoritative figure was missing from his family when was younger as his relationship with his dad was lost but he re-gained this sense of authority in his life through the school he wen to being very strict. He said that he has a plan to produce a photoshoot in the old police station, in particular in its evidence room where there are empty shelves throughout the room. He plans to cover the room in red lipstick and says that this freedom to essentially create a mess makes up fro the strict upbringing he had where at times he would feel dislocated. This gives him freedom to make something that has an association with desire and something that possesses a sexual connotation into a thought of disgust if shown in large quantities – as in this sticky mess. I found this relation to family, although strange and unpredictable very interesting. He told us that fear should not be a thing that hinders the creative process and you should embrace it. He then transferred the question to us and told us to give our opinions on whether fear is a good thing and something that helps us move forward with our work. I personally believe this is true because a good artists will take the idea of fear and use to their advantage to produce something that questions the normalities of art. I said that in my personal experience, if I came across something that scared me, and if I did not not know what I wanted to do in order to advance and complete something, I would freak out and essentially implode with stress and fear but this would spur me onto to do better – I would use it as a tool of determination and use it to motivate myself. The idea of forcing myself to achieve a goal even it requires me to go outside my comfort zone is a determiner of success because it means I am trying new things and the risk you take as to whether the outcome will be a success is all part of the creative process and how you learn from your mistakes. This idea made me think more about how I can use fear to improve my work and I think I will take into account that when I don’t know what I’m doing, I should fight that and remove the blanket of comfort – as Jonny described it and move forward.

Jonny then set up a task for us to do and he told us to draw a face – any face at all – a generic face, but with our eye closed. He gave us 3-4 minutes and then we had to open our eyes and see what we had produced. It was very weird to see what we had drawn because obviously the image was not what a face would look like because usually when you tell someone to draw a face, they would spend lots of time finalizing the intricate details of the features but crating s simple drawing with no boundaries apart form the limitation of us being blind created much freedom for me experiment and go wild with my thoughts. Although it looked very odd, there is no rule that states something does not look how it should or that if something does not provide a direct representation isn’t good. Breaking boundaries can result in a pleasing result and differentiation is a tool for creating new work as it can encourage new thoughts and new ideas from seeing things in new perspectives. I really enjoyed the task as it allowed dot be free in what I produced with no one to tell me that it is not good – and this is how everyday art should be.

blindfolded drawing of generic face
blindfolded drawing of someone’s face

I then drew an image of someone in the room, I chose to draw Harrison. I found this task much more difficult than the first because I was given a criteria to fill and limited my freedom for creativity in a way because I was not allowed to draw anything knowing that it would be accepted either way; I had to draw someones face and use my memory to put the features in the correct position. This task limited me more so and I therefore did not enjoy it as much. I would prefer to be told to get on with something and then do it in my own personal way that suits my style. This is how many photographers and artists get by nowadays because creativity and uniqueness is key. However, there is a theories who stages. His name is Kirby Ferguson and he says tat you cannot create without being influenced by others. I can totally agree with this but he also goes as far as to say that there is no originality in art today because each idea is derived form something that already exists. He describes the idea of copying as ‘simple-mimicry’ which I find quite fascinating and amusing because, yes, to some extent it is true.

Overall, I really enjoyed the workshop with Jonny because he is a modern day photographer who suits my style of work and he addresses personal issues through his now art which I admire and think is very brave – which I will have to become as I unveil my own archives gradually. He also wanted us to use the objects and images we brought in to create some photo collages or photographic scenes that mean something to us and gave us a task for homework to find five was to destroy an image. I am eager to get going with this and hope to conjure up some weird and ‘outside of box’ methods. I will publish these once finalized.

Here are the objects I brought in:

teddy given to me by my sister when she was born
teddy I had when I was a child
apron I used to wear when I was a child
bag made by Nan which I used to put my toys in
cricket ball given to me by my Dad when I was younger
Independent Study

Archive Research: Albert Smith and Ernest Baudoux

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Albert Smith

Background: Albert Smith is preferably the most iconic photographer for the islands early archives. Although Smith wasn’t born in Jersey, his work was sold as commercial photography in a local business that he set up in Broad Street, St. Helier. This business started in  1892 were Albert Smith employed people to capture certain locations around Jersey, as well as himself. Usually printed on postcards, this was how he presented his photography of not only scenic landscapes, but also island life and major dates of historical importance. He also worked on capturing the development of mobility and transport throughout his years on the island; photographing a range of groups on either a horse and carriage or charabanc outings.

Portrait of seated man and woman and a man in uniform with sword standing between them outside a house 1898 – 1903

In this archive, we can identify a status of hierarchy exposed through the suited attire shown; representing the couple either side of this officer as somewhat guarded in the environment. Meaning that this archive must have been taken to show wealth during the late 1800’s. The hierarchy being of a high standard, the officer framed in the center of this photograph shows general authority with his sword placed by his side. I believe this photograph was well-taken in the sense of composure, lining the individuals inside the rule of thirds can suggest Albert Smith was clearly aware of the theory within the early years of photography and in relation to culture, this photo gives off an immense sense of power between the seated couple.

View of Portelet Bay at mid-tide, with Portelet House in the distance 1898 – 1902

In this picture, Smith has captured the tide either entering or leaving the bay of Portelet. We are looking at the vast and foreseeing mist that overhangs the clifftops in the distance of Smiths view, giving us a panoramic dimension of where we was stood, which seems to be overlooking the bay at some height. I believe the meaning of this archive was very scenic, giving a pleasing impression towards the islands proximity and how grateful Smith is to witness the island. Judging this photo, I believe it’s aesthetically pleasing to gather a sense of flow within the pictures composure; how the clifftops swirl around the bottom half of the image up towards the mystic view of Portelet house. This is art, I believe the context of this archive was intended to capture the early beauty of the island.

Six men and women with horse and trap, ladies wearing elaborately decorated hats and men with neckerchiefs and cummerbunds 1900 – 1905

In this photograph, the group of people identified alongside the horse and carriage can be profiled as wealthy, with their elaborately decorated hats and neckerchiefs and cummerbunds. Showing this type of transport alongside their uniform suggest they was definitely wealthy enough to travel in luxury. Due to this, the meaning of this photograph suddenly has a sense of power that is exposed through the appearance of the individuals. However, the quality of this image is slightly washed out, giving it a faded tint; therefore the quality of this image somehow erases the power that rises from the context.

Ernest Baudoux

Born in France, Baudoux worked in Jersey from 1869 was the first significant archivist of island life in images, a role which later influenced Albert Smith, the photographer researched below.

There are 1385 photographs by Baudoux available on line from the Société’s archive. They are mainly portraits, which was the photographer’s specialty. Many of his portraits exist in two versions, one of them retouched to hide facial blemishes and wrinkles. Baudoux also undertook photographic commissions of clients’ houses and, working with his sons, he photographed views of the island.

Group portrait of 6 women with parasols and 4 men with walking sticks 1885-1890

In this photo, we can identify another group of individuals that present the middle-class environment with their presented clothing.  Meaning this archive is about the working-class that existed in Jersey during the late 18th century. In reference to the theme of family and environment, I believe this archive is a perfect representation of both topics as it presents the intimacy between the individuals whereas most archives from this era are usually very formal and hard to comprehend the emotional context. I believed this occurred through the culture within this archive, due to the class of individuals we can suggest that Baudoux allowed an informal approach and therefore this archive can benefit towards the history of photography and how natural appearance developed into the theory of photography.

View across Plemont Bay at mid-tide with rock stack in background 1874 – 1876

This view across Plemont Bay demonstrates the vast scenery of the islands natural environment, capturing a moment in which the photographer – Ernest Baudoux has appreciated this enough to create an archive. Therefore suggesting this archive is an attempt of art, rather than culture; as Baudoux is not capturing an particular event taken from the islands history, nor is he revealing any family context, he is simply freezing a moment of the islands vast seafront. Evaluating this archive was easy enough to make a positive judgement of Baudoux and his ability to angle the given scenery, approaching the view across Plemont Bay with the intention to break up each element into three specific segments; starting from the intimate and textured rocks that creep from the bottom and gradually fade into the over-exposed, blank sea and then finally framing the elements below with a sharp cut of the horizon that divides the archive.

Portrait of Major John De La Taste in uniform

With no date labelled to this archive, we cannot identify the time period of this image, yet Baudoux has captured portrait rather than a memorable occasion in Jersey society. We are looking at Major John De La Taste, a man of the military and therefore importance. Wearing this significant uniform, we can also suggest this archive was taken to capture the power held by this individual, appreciating his status and authority to the people of this time period. This is definitely relevant to the viewers of today, this archive is good in which we can still appreciate the uniform of those who served for the Island proudly. In context, this archive supports the theory of photography as it follows a direct response to the formalism of portraiture, present a composed and stiff figure, it also strengthens the background of the individual, based on his given uniform.

Independent Study

1000 word essay- whose archive is it anyway?

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All quotes were taken from text by theorist David Bate: Archives, Networks and Narratives 

An archive is a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people. They are used to preserve memories and fulfill the human desire of never forgetting the past. However, ‘archive photographs not only record objects and events, they also produce a meta-achieve, with meanings that can be mobilised in other times and new contexts.’ Most state governments, schools, businesses, libraries, and historical societies maintain archives, these are usually public archive. Every day individuals and organisations create and store information about their personal and business activities, which ‘has expanded exponentially since the invention of the internet.’ Photographs are particularly important for providing an insight into past lives, events and forgotten places, however not all photographs accurately represent the truth. In reality the photographs taken are highly influenced by the perspective of the photographer. However, it is more important to ask ‘what does the image do?’ or mean to a person rather than ‘is it true?’ because it could represent a human memory and culture even if it contains biases or misrepresentation.

Societe Jersiaise, which is our local photographic archive includes over 80,000 historical images. The collection provides visual record of the developments of Jersey landscapes and social history dating back to 1840’s to more current images.

In the text by David Bate’s he explains how Museums and Art Museums usually used archives and collections of public and private artefacts for display aiming to ‘serve particular interests, whether personal, cultural, regional, national, international or global.’ Museums can act as ‘repositories of cultural memories’ of the past and they organise historical narratives of culture. This have actually inspired Tanja Demans work, ‘Temples of culture’, which was created in 2014. It is a photo collage series examining different public institutions that collect, preserve and exhibit knowledge and culture such as theatres, libraries, museums, art pavilions and galleries. These are spaces of public education, accessible to all citizens, and function as a cultural mechanism for shaping society.

Photography often performs a ‘double role’ within institutions such as museums, photographs can function as both ‘a collected artefact’ which is put on display and as a way to ‘collect the museum band its artefacts’ since the photograph is a ‘form of archive’ in its own right.

Photographic archives are valuable for contemporary photography and art because of the idea that the most successful art and photography understands the history to predict the future. Many contemporary artists and photographers have used photographic archives as the starting point of their work by re-interpreting the histories and challenging the images by constructing new narratives. In this way archives can become a way to rethink what happened.

David Bate’s mentions Susan Hiller’s collection ‘Dedicated to the Unknown Artists’, which is a collection of 300 postcards. They were all of the coast around Britain. They are all black and white and have been hand-tinted. The photographs are all of ‘waves crashing over different parts of the coastline.’ The pictures became a part of an archival display of ‘how culture sees itself.’ Hiller’s work suggests that these images are ‘worthy of attention’ and she also celebrates the  authors of the postcards as ‘unknown artists’ which raises the question of their status as part of cultural and social memory. Hiller’s work seems to question whether these humble, anonymous   postcard images tell us anything important about a popular concept of the British Isles and the collective ideas they represent. This piece of work has changed how this art work has been viewed as postcards often are places ‘on front of a fridge, propped on a shelf or mantelpiece, stuck on a wall or on a door.’ Now, after this art work was displayed people view this differently.

In present day, the internet and new forms of technology has changed our archiving experience. This is because of the ‘wide availability of mobile phones and camera’ which has begun to transform the speed and quality of ‘visual recordings’, which has increased the quantity. This has led to people taking and storing their photographs digitally and publishing them online on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. This is a different type of archive as this is seen as your own private and personal archive. Your personal archive will be produced according to the ‘particular interests of those involved.’

Jacques Derrida, a French philosopher described ‘archive fever’ as a contradiction at the heart of the idea of conservation. Conservation is ‘driven paradoxically by the possibility of forgetting. Since human memory is limited and  not infinite the retention and registration of impressions within photographs has come to be associated with  the idea of remembering and the desire to return to something beyond the capacity of conscious memory.’ William Henry Fox Talbot anticipated the purpose of photography as an archival practice, ‘useful as a museum in itself.’ Photography is now clearly a highly popular means to ‘register information and to record impressions.’ The human memory is very complex and is not easily ‘reducible to simple binary opposites’ like past and present, true and false, reality and fiction. By consigning memory to  ‘documents, texts, images and objects’ this relieves the human brain of the burden of recording and remembering things accurately.

All in all Archives have various different purposes, I have learnt that it is important to question the images presented infront of you with ideas about the accuracy of the information within the photograph or if it has been influenced by personal experiences or viewpoints. Archives are valuable to contemporary artists as they use pictures from years before as their starting point. I will definitely consider using archival material to help me in my personal study as I like the idea of connecting the past with the present and future.

 

 

 

 

Independent Study, Instruction, Research and analysis

Whose Archive is it Anyway? (Essay)

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Whose Archive is it Anyway?

An archive is something I had only encountered this year – I had never looked or even come across an archive before the start of year twelve, however, I am now fully aware of their purpose and function. I find this crazy that I had never come across the archive that Jersey holds after seventeen years of living on the island, and, with such a rich history, there is such a vast amount to document on the islands history – which archives such as Société Jersiaise and Jersey Archive from Jersey Heritage do so well. I am now very eager to research into the concept more and hopefully use and expand my own archive of my own life to benefit my progress through year twelve. An archive like the Société Jersiaise was founded in 1893 by a number of prominent islanders who were interested in the study of its history, its language and antiques, so set up the program, in order to aid their knowledge – in-turn helping islanders of today understand Jersey in more depth, and I, for one, am thankful for this.

The official definition of an archive, taken from Google, is ‘a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.’  Synonyms of the word include records, accounts, papers, documents, files and history. In my opinion, history being the most important or one that stands out most – because an archive essentially holds history of a location or of someone. An archive can be a document, a certificate of birth, an image from several centuries ago or an object that holds significance to someone. I really like the idea of an object holding much importance to someone, because, for me, there is something very pleasing about having something physical to touch because all our sense can play a part in remembering specific moments of your life and an object can bring back much nostalgia for someone – I know it does for me anyway! This is perhaps why so many photographers nowadays create a photobook, or in fact several photobooks because it is much more pleasing to have your work physically published for people to look at and then keep.

My mum has kept, since I was a little child, even a baby, a memory box or what we like to call my ‘special box’ as it holds all the things that relate to the special moments in my life and therefore, my mum and dad’s life. This box contains objects such as my first pair of shoes, my birth certificate, pieces of artwork I completed when I was child at nursery and my first strands of hair etc. This takes its place in the loft for whenever I or my family feel like they wish to reminisce about thoughts that bring back happy memories – not away to be forgotten forever – it is in there for security, which I feel is something very important with photos – because touching something physical can give you a warm feeling – in my instance, love. So, we all have our own archives, whether they’re public, social or personal, we all have our own documentation of our life and it can be digitally on our phones or physically but in any instance, it can be used to bring people together as I feel photography is a strong concept that has the potential to act as a cohesion tool between the people we love. Actions are so quick – they happen and then they’re gone but taking a picture of a simple action provides a snap shot that can be kept forever.

I have made a short video to accompany this essay. It consists of me talking to my mum, almost interviewing her and asking a her few questions about my memory box and why she started it in the first place. The video is intended to give you more of an insight into our archive and why it exists. My mum reiterates throughout that she has kept all the photos from my childhood as well as special objects for me to look back at when I’m older – this idea sticks with me strongly and my mum emphasizes it constantly. She also said that “if you have ever had children of your own, you can compare what you looked like when you were a child to what they look like”. This notion that I can carry this idea of documenting my whole life through to when I grow up and have kids of my own is very true and encompasses the whole being of what an archive is – is that it is supposed to provide a place where memories and nostalgia can live long in the memory of people to then compare and contrast different lives from a completely different decade or even centuries. My mum also said that she took the photographs of me when I was child on an old film camera, which is what they had back in those days – they did not have digital DSLR cameras so used disposable ones where you would get the film developed. However, this introduction of digital cameras has sparked interest in photographic practices and it is now becoming more and more sought after to take up as a hobby. Although with the introduction of high quality, expensive, technological cameras, there has been a recent boost in the use of disposable and vintage film cameras again in order to take photos that give a sense of nostalgia through the effect they have on the images you take once developed – this is achieved through the colours and textures of graininess. Sticking to the idea of technological advancement, David Bates’, in his book Art Photography states that the ‘awareness of historical accumulation of photographic archives has expanded expositional since the invention of the internet’. I believe this is very true because with the endless possibilities of the internet, things such as photo sharing is ever so easy and can be argues that it almost too easy but is hugely beneficial.

I wish to make the most of my personal archive and look through it as much as I can in order to get a better sense of my own life and the life of people surrounding me. I am aware that also my grandparents have left their own photobooks from when they were younger documenting their life and as they grew older to become fathers and mothers to my mum etc. It is evident that archival imagery can be passed through many generations of family members and the all link us together to create a cohesion – like I mentioned before. However, an idea I am really keen to pursue over the course of this next year relates to how my life on Jersey for seventeen years differs to that of my younger sister, of four years. I am lucky enough to have a sibling and even luckier, in my opinion, that she is thirteen years younger than I am. I think this is amazing and I think it would create a perfect project for me to carry out for my personal study by looking at archives from when I was younger in comparison to what my sister has experienced. This is how I will look at archival imagery to enhance and enrich my experience throughout the A2 course. I have no intention of focusing heavily on public archives of Jersey because this won’t relate to what I want to study – being a personal archive between myself and my family. I think there is something mesmerizing about old photos from when I was a child to see what I actually got up to if I can’t remember certain things. I think it will be interesting to see how her life as a child differs from mine – even more so because we have been raised by different mothers because my sister is on my dad’s side after my mum and dad divorced and my dad found another partner. What I have also noticed whenever I go to see my sister, is that she obsessed with Snapchat on my pone and the filters it offers – she is fascinated by them and looking though photos of me and what I get up to. I believe this will make the project a lot more interesting.

All in all, however, every archive in the world functions in the same way – in that it intends to provide a rich documentation of the history of someone or something whether it be place or a person. In my opinion, I find personal archive, carried on throughout many generations much more interesting than public ones’ due to the fact that they are so much more intimate and mean so much more when you look at them.

What I have earned from archives is that they are such a useful tool for anyone who wants to discover more about themselves and they can essentially work as a family tree. Archives provide an open door for endless possibilities to re-create and re-live memories you may have partially forgotten about and the nostalgia that comes with archives, more so for the older generation of Jersey due to how influential Jersey was in the 20th century, can spark new emptions they may not have experienced in a long time.

To answer the question Whose Archive Is It Anyway? – I don’t know, you decide. Maybe it’s all of our archives because each and every one may lead back to the same place or have a link in some way. My archive holds much food for thought and I know that I will be utilizing it fully and my memory box is my archive but the wonderful thing, I want to share it with people – archives can be shared, and therefore instantly becomes a personal archive to other people.

 

Independent Study, Research and analysis

Artist Research – Image Analysis – Tom Pope

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Research at least two photographers from the list below in the photo-archive and choose a few photographs that illustrates the themes of Family or Environment from each

Tom Pope

Tom Pope has been short-listed for the Saatchi online art graduates Channel 4 New Sensations Prize and has been artist in residence at the Swansea Metropolitan University and in Jersey back in 2015. I really like Pope’s unusual work, challenging normalities of photography. Tom Pope is a young artist with a promising future.

Tom’s interest in photography lies in its recording qualities and in particular how it can visually document his performances. Clearly attracted to the absurd, he sources his background landscape with great care, but then leaves everything else to chance and possibility. Unable to know what the picture looks like as he takes it, he leaves room for the viewer to bring their own narrative to the photograph. He does not conform to conventions of photography as he takes self-portraits using a shutter release cable, leaving the wire in the image, not photoshopping it out.

files/gimgs/overtheedge/03.jpg

Troika Editions Contemporary Photography website asked Pope a few questions in an interview, here are the ones that stuck out most to me:

When are you at your happiest?

While embracing the effects of gravity.

What is your most treasured possession?

My mind.

What really winds you up?

Technology.

What do you do when not working?

I try to escape from my head by travelling to a city or country I have never been to before. It has the added bonus of offering a new experience and inspiration to my work when I get back home.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Books, films, music, cultures, history, science, mirrors, people, everything, nothing,

How you would you like to be remembered?

The suit-wearing absurdist that made art fun.

Severn Bridge by photographer Tom Pope

Little Solsbury Hill by photographer Tom Pope

Born in Bristol, UK, 1986 Tom Pope’s artistic practice is primarily based within performed photography. Pope’s playful approach rein-acts situations and performed gestures of social interaction. Many of Pope’s works combine performance, photography and moving image.

The most-part of his may seem improvised and taken in a rather relaxed way to seem as though he has just clicked the shutter button. He rarely expands on his work min post-production. The images depict the excitement and often absurdity that develops through his connections with members of the public who have been active participants within the making process.

Before completing his series of work in Jersey, Pope stated: ‘The work I intend to carry out in Jersey will explore notions of play and how we conduct ourselves in public. Gathering inspiration from the Société Jersiaise Photo Archive and collaborating with the Jersey community, performances and situations will be initiated where the act of taking and making photographs becomes a social event.’

Here are some of the works from his commissioned work in Jersey, entitled ‘I am not Tom Pope, You Are All Tom Pope’:

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files/gimgs/iamnottompopeyouarealltompope/website edit.jpg

Image Analysis

Image result for tom pope photography

This is an image made my Tom Pope and is an excellent example of his spontaneity when taking an image. He breaks the norms of self-portrait by including motion and blur in his photos – most of the time seen to be a determiner of how bad a photo is, he does not look directly at the camera and includes the shutter release wire in each photo of himself to contextualise his work. It is obscure and very abstract – it requires some thought but this is what I like about his work. I have also had the pleasure of working Pope when he was over in Jersey for the artist in residence scheme. He held a workshop and made it as fun as he could and left options open for freedom in how we took out images.

What is actually in the photo?

This is a photo that follows the norms of Pope’s other works, in which he positions himself, most of the time, in the air, as though he is levitating in mid-air – however, as we know, he has jumped and used a quick shutter speed to capture his movement sharply. He has photographed himself in a public location to encourage the interaction of public within his images and this adds a certain novelty and humour to the image as we see an old man look at Pope in confusion as he makes his way back down to ground. Also, it is difficult to tell whether Pope adds any after effects to his images due to the quite bland and often soft colours. There is no vibrancy to the colours and no sharpness to the backgrounds – encouraging the thought that he leaves his images in their raw form. I admire this because it adds to the effect that his images are very spontaneous and he essentially hopes for the best most of the time, considering he can’t actually see what he is photographing – therefore preparation and set up in the first instance on site is vital. This idea that he leaves all hs images in their raw form with very little post prediction reduces the need to put aside the images that may have turned out as you didn’t want and prioritise the more successful images to add effects to. It is more likely that all his images will be of worth to him, especially due to the heavy focus he has on breaking conventions – so over exposure or cropping of his head when taking the photo could actually result in a more interesting outcome.

What could it be about?

It is difficult to derive meaning from Pope’s work due to its such obscure nature. Pope’s meanings behind his photography and what he wishes to achieve from his own work is the interaction between himself and his environment – whether that be a landscape admired by the nation, such as the River Severn or whether it be the interaction between himself and the people around him.

Perhaps he is trying to draw the attention to his surroundings when he photographs himself immersed in them – the landscapes and countryside and the people he includes in his images. Perhaps he wishes for them to be acknowledged as more than just strangers and people who actually influence others’ lives just through a split second nor snap shot – because that is essentially what a photo is – a snap shot and being able to photograph this unknowingly pointless things creates a documentation of something that becomes of much more worth as it has been captured digitally – to live in history. There may not ever be a bad image – they may all be good but you just have to look at it a little deeper to realise the worth – something Tom Pope seems very keen in advocating due to his inclusion of his surroundings.

Judging the photo

Whether the photo is good, is always difficult to tell because someone’s deception of something ‘good’ or whether its ‘brilliant’ can be completely different to someone else’s view. I find it very hard to judge a photo because I feel like no photo can be judged without the chance of misinterpreting the message the artist wishes to get across. I personally really like this photo send all of Pope’s work because of is complete weirdness – it is very out of the ordinary but that is what you need to so in order to make a name for yourself, essentially. I like art and photography that can make me question what it is or what it means etc. I don’t want the answer to be right in front of my face or for the actual content of the photo to be explicitly directed to the audience. It is vital for you to look at it in different perspectives in order to build a range of thoughts about a photo. This is what I believe Pope’s photography does – therefore, in my eyes making it a good photo because it provokes the thoughts of viewers and doesn’t provide you the answer – therefore making it boring. The obscurity of Pope’s work makes it interesting. This adds to the idea that no image is bad or should be hidden away due to worry that it may get the wrong reaction from audiences because all images have scope for the thoughts of the audience to complete what the photographer may not actually know himself.

Theorising the photo

All photography is an art form and possesses its own intended message shown through different features. I would say that Pope’s work shows more of straight photography or contemporary photography more so than any other theories. This is due to the message it intends to get across as the artist wishes to get his audience to view the world in a new way from new perspective – that is why he has chosen to photograph himself in this weird and wonderful. In straight photography, these photographers strove to make pictures that were ‘photographic’ rather than ‘painterly’, they did not want to treat photography as a kind of monochrome painting. I believe Pope wishes to show photography as a new medium and make people see it as a way to show life and how people react to different things that on around them – becoming contemporary due to this message. It’s a thought that doesn’t really have any relevance, but, for example, if Tom Pope put his work into an archive that holds photos that relate to the history of the place it is located, people would probably turn their noses up at it as something that breaks boundaries according to what photography should be where the subject is looking at the camera or the environment is the focal point of the image.

Independent Study

Independent study- Photo-archive

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These artists/photographers work has been published in the Jersey Archive from many years ago and can still be seen in present day.

Morel Phillip Laurens

Morel Phillip Laurens was born in Jersey in 1869, the only son of Philip de Caen Morel and Mary. His mother died when Philip was two and he went to Australia with his father and sister. Fifteen years later they returned and in 1890 Philp took over the family stationers and bookshop in Halkett Place. He married in 1907. He took 56 photographs, which can be viewed online.

These are some of his images:

    

Analysis:

This image fits the theme of environment as he has clearly captured a photo of the environment around him on his travels. In this image there is a long path that runs through the middle of the image, it almost looks like it never ends, as if it is continuous. The path is sheltered by trees and plants, which almost makes an arch or root above the path. The photograph is presented in black and white and the photo looks old and vintage. To me this image is showing a person following the path and that there is only one route or option that can be taken, this could be  a decision a person needs to make. The trees act as walls so they don’t stray from the path they should be taking, which is the decision which is best for them. The path is white to symbolise peace and good and the trees and sky contrast this, empathising the white within the path. This photo is slightly blurred, this may be due to the photograph being old as the technology was not developed around the time this photo would have been taken. I personally like the effect the photograph has as it almost looks like a drawing or painting instead of a piece of photography, which I like as It made me question what it was. I also like how the image has contrasting shades of white and black, which create an almost eery feel to the path as there is a lot of dark areas above the path making it seem enclosed.

Martin Parr 

He was born on the 23rd of May 1952 and is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He came over to the island of Jersey in 2013 to document Jerseys liberation day, where we celebrate each year on 9 May, to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. It is celebrated as Guernsey and Jersey’s national day.

These are some of his photographs:

GB. Jersey. St Helier. Liberation Day Tea. 2013.
GB. Jersey. Liberation Day. 2013.
GB. Jersey. Liberation Day. 2013.
GB. Jersey. Liberation Day. 2013.
GB. Jersey. St Helier. Liberation Day. Wreath laying ceremony at the crematorium for forced workers. 2013.

 

Analysis:

This photograph fits the theme of family. In this photograph there is an elderly lady shaking a man’s hand, who has clearly served in the army when the war was on. This is them celebrating liberation day, which was when we were freed from the war and the soldiers no longer had to fight. They are inside a hall, which has the english flags hung from the ceiling, celebrating being english and showing there respect to the english soldiers. This image shows a lady showing her respect by shaking a  mans hand who has fought for her country, she looks emotional and grateful for his service. She may have known this man before he went away to fight as he looks shocked to see her, which could be taken  one of two ways that he is overwhelmed by the love and appreciation he is being shown or that he is being reminded of his bad experiences within the war. This image is very warming and a happy image as it’s looking back to Jersey’s past and seeing how the people and the place have developed from the war. The image is very clear and the brightness is high although it is using natural lighting from the hall. The photo contains bright colours from their clothing and this is contrasted with the white and brown background. This empathises the bright clothing at the front of the image. I like how the background is slightly blurred as the two people are the main focus and this exaggerates that, making them the primary focus.

Independent Study

My Wedding Photographs – Family – Starting Point

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I have done previous work which relates to family and could be a starting point for my personal study surrounding the area; recently I have had the privilege of photographing of a family relatives wedding. This is not my first family but is still relatable to the topic.This was my first ever attempt at weeding photography and it took place at Corbiere Phare at the beginning of June. I am also photographing another family member’s wedding next month which I am very keen for after my first responsibility for such a big event in someone’s life; essentially a milestone that they will treasure for the rest of their life. I felt very privileged to be assigned to documenting tat life event, as well as a weight on my shoulders, it was a good experience and I thought it would be useful to use the images as a starting point for my journey as well as sending them off to the bride and groom for when I may not ever look at them again – therefore I am going to make the most of them and show you my journey from the first wedding to the next one. I hoe this type of photography will encourage me to think I a new way about photographing certain topics to tell a story or narrative through what I do as I really like this idea. I also thieve off the fact that these photos will be historical in the eyes of the people they are intended for and I love recording the history for my own images to then be remembered in years to come. It wasn’t until now that I realised the photos would be a great example of documenting something that will essentially live in an archive of someone else’s life – the main focus for the fist part of my A2 study for photography – it links perfectly to family and how time can influence the events of someone’s life. Here are some of the images from the very beginnings of the day, within the first couple hours. I took over 500 throughout the day. I will show some more as the project continues.

Here are also some collage edits I produced as a side project for myself to let me experiment with my graphic design side along with the photography.

 

Independent Study, Planner & Tracking, Research and analysis

Visit to Grosnez & L’Etacq Review

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On 20/06/17, we took a photography trip around the north-west coast of Jersey with photographer in residence, Tanja Deman. I found it very enjoyable because it forced to me to tame images that were outside of my comfort zone and what I would not usually photograph –  being landscapes. I also had to, throughout, the day, think about how I would use the images I capture to create a unique and creative series of work relating to what Tanja Deman has shown and told us to show my understanding of her practice. I believe that creating some photo collages will be a fun task because I have no done this before, even on the academy in took part in during Easter I stuck with plain images. Therefore, with the images form yesterday I think I will try out some photo collages and after looking through what I have produced, I shot some good frames which included quite plain and barren landscapes of fields etc which I believe will work well if I was to insert another image on top of this.

at the horse track at Grosnez
along the cliffpath heading towards the Battery Moltke
at the horse track at Grosnez

Before we took the coach to our starting point at Grosnez Castle, we had a talk from. She explained her work to us and went through her overall aim from taking photographs and whats she intends to show from her photo collages – the overall narrative – photo collages are what she solely focuses on. She firstly showed us work that inspired her, being photo collages from the 1900s where artists would use body parts to create works that used a combination of different body parts to create a new being, for example John Stezaker, here’s an example

Marriage LMarriage IV

Here is a link to John Stezaker’s page on the Saatchi Gallery website

This artist would also tell a story through using two images, one being a portrait and the other being a landscape positioned directly on top of the portrait to create a new narrative and meaning behind two completely different images. Tanja said that photo collages were used to create a new space which, after looking at several of her examples and older artists, realized this made sense because old spaces are replaced by updated worlds, often fantasy based. An example of this concept being Italian architecture firm from the 1970’s, Superstudio who specialized in paper architectural design by altering and defacing existing photographs and then collaging different images together to create a new space. As there were nit many new buildings being built and developed during the 1970’s, Superstudio used paper architecture to develop this concept; encouraging the beginning of urban art following WW2.

Old Mask IIImage result for john stezaker

I wish to attempt to try out this style of Stezaker in my own images and took this into account when taking my images by experimenting with self-portarits but using a long-shot to capture my whole body and the landscape behind me and also positioned some models when an idea came into my head about what I could do. I tried to capture some macro shots as well to use. 

Tanja told us at the start that she usually may have to go back to her location to re-take some images if necessary if one or two didn’t match the lighting or composition she wanted. However, we don’t have time to do this so we had to limit ourselves to realistic goals. Which I believe I achieved well because I knew what I wanted to do going into the task and had a clear goal.

When we got down to L’Etacq after a very scenic walk that lead down to the bay and Faulkners Fisheries, the photo opportunities were limited to the beach as we were no longer above sea level where we could capture cliff edges etc so I did not take many images but still some that I believe could help me whit my image collaging. Also, due to the hot and sunny day it was, the sun was constantly shining so natural light was a great source of lighting for my images but it was constantly changing direction so I had to alter my camera setting regularly to adjust to how the sun was positioned. I was always in manual mode and used an ISO of 100 at all times, set my f/stop to f.11 or sometimes f.9.0 depending how if I was taking macro close up in some greenery where the lighting was darker and had my shutter speed set at 1/125 to allow for a crisp and clear image. I used the ‘daylight’ white balance.

on cliffpath looking down onto L’Etacq Bay
rock mound in front of L’Etcq
L’Etacq Bay

Overall, I found the day very enjoyable and thought there were some fantastic photo opportunities which I believe and hoe I used to the best of my ability. Although I have explored outside my style of photographic work, I think it is something that I needed to encounter in order for me to progress and I hope I can create some interesting and eye catching works, preferably photo collages so that I can experiment with the style and get Tanja’s views on it. I wish to use historical example of photo collage work also.

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