Contemporary Photographer

http://www.mikehollman.com/galleries/architecture-i

Mike Hollman is a commercial photographer based in Auckland, New Zealand, Mike is a commercial photographer, specializing in:

  • Architectural Photography
  • Hotels & Resorts Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Travel Photography


Mike’s passion for photography is well recognized and awarded within the photographic industry both domestically and internationally.  He is a Grand Master of Photography (GMNZIPP) with the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography.   In the past four years, Mike was selected to represent New Zealand at the World Photographic Cup and was a Finalist in 2013 & 2014.

Mike’s unique style of architectural photography, not only was well respected by his commercial clients worldwide, but also was named the 13 World’s Best Architectural Photographers in 2015 by the Interactive Design Institute in UK and the top 7 Architectural Photographers in 2013 by the [Framed] Award in USA.

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Artist Archive Reference

Image result for Ernest BaudouxOriginally from France, Ernest Baudoux born 1828 worked in Jersey from 1869 at 11 Craig Street and 51½, 56 and 59 New Street. In 1885 he was joined in business by his son, but two years later they sold out to John Stroud, a young photographer from London, who in turn sold his business, including many of Baudoux’s glass-plate negatives, to Albert Smith.

There are about 1385 photographers of Baudoux’s photographers in the archive, most of these or portraits of jersey families as this was his specialty.But he also could be classified  as a documentary photographer, as his work includes expensive family  houses at the time, and many other events, such as land being reclaimed etc. 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.

File:Lib15BaudWeighbridgeSide.jpg

Baudoux’s was easily the most prolific Jersey studio. He seems to have drawn his clients mainly from the Jersey born and French speaking population. During his last year of operation he opened a branch establishment in Guernsey.La Société say that of a total of 3298 images attributed to the Albert Smith studio in their archive, they estimate that as many as 500 are in fact by Ernest Baudoux .Baudoux images are very collectable, and frequently appear for sale on on-line auction sites. In addition to the Societe Collection, there are two large collections of Jersey photographs and postcards in South Africa and the United States, to which Jerripedia has access. This has enabled us to build up a substantial gallery of Baudoux images, some of which are shown below, others being located on appropriate subject pages.

 

Photoshoot Plan

For my first photoshoot I want to focus on urban structures and infrastructure around the Green area I’ve been assigned to explore.  Focusing on this will allow me to show how new buildings and constructions are becoming central theme of St Helier’s future and it becoming less and less about the history and atmosphere of Jersey itself.

Whilst on my shoot I will also focus on photographing smaller details that may not be noticed by people passing to represent how people in St Helier are forgetting Jersey’s heritage. This is taking inspiration from the photographer Luke Fowler where he uses two-frame juxtapositions of two images.  I also want to incorporate the idea of juxtaposing two extremes next to each other e.g. the chaotic urban structures compared to the more natural and calm. I think this will be effective as it will show people how the heritage of Jersey is juxtaposed with the future of St Helier and how they are opposites.

The first place i want to visit on my shoot is Fort Regent.

Fort Regent is a 19th-century fortification, and leisure centre, on Mont de la Ville (Town Hill), in St. Helier.

  • The construction of the fortress we see today on Town Hill began on 7 November 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars The fort was built using local workers and men from the Royal Engineers, with an average of 800 men working at any given time.
  • This enabled the substantial amount of work to be completed 8 years later, in 1814.
  • It was given the name Fort Regent in honour of Prince Regent, who was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at this time.
  • During the German occupation of the Channel Islands, the German forces made some additions to the fort, including flak cannons. Some of these concrete structures remain today.
  •  In December 1967, the States of Jersey made a decision to adapt the site into a leisure centre. The swimming pool located on the glacis field, which opened in 1971 and closed in 2009,was the first modern addition to the fort.

The second place I want to visit is the old harbor as their is a lot of history and jersey heritage associated it.

  • The harbour development which was completed by 1850. A few years earler the South and North pier had been built by the States, creating a harbour significantly bigger than the previous English and French Harbours. But all of this dried out for several hours around low tide, and thoughts were already turning towards further expansion.
  • Work on a new pier to the south of the existing harbour was already under way in 1843 when the eminent English engineers James Walker and Alfred Burges were commissioned to produce plans for a further enlarged harbour, and they proposed removing the outer arm of the old South Pier, and widening and extending the narrow North Pier towards it to create a new harbourmouth.

The development of St Helier Harbour

More areas to focus on:

Themes to consider:

  • Old vs New vs Development
  • Make use of your senses : see , hear ,taste, smell, touch
  • Typography and graphics
  • Art and culture
  • Two-Frame Film | Juxtapostions

Jersey achieve history of red section and Tom Pope

The red section I have been given, to me, this divides into two main areas;This being the old police station and the Savoy jersey and then up towards St Thomas church.The area throughout is focused upon old buildings and more urban and deteriorating areas typically ignored by governmental property developers as they do not hold a public interest within the main section of town or the finance sector.As previously spoken about all these areas have jersey ‘masterplans’ since 2011 That have not been accomplished,I will use comparisons between these images and try to enhance the need for mordenisation. Although i do believe there are many small communities within these areas to which I could take images of the people as a representative of the area itself. My main three intentions wihtin this shoot will be, old vs new,abstract urban visions and finally gentification and derelication.

This is a map of the area that I will concentrate my work around. Most of the developments architecturally around this area are old and not fitting with a style, most of the buildings were built in the 80’2-90’s and do not hold a historical value or price.Although this would be good to conceptualise my ideas of capturing urban landscapes.

Jersey Archieve:The jersey archive is an area in which historical photos over decades have been kept and tracked in order to preserve our history the lives of the people. Many of the images track specific days in time such as liberation day,however many are purely to tell stories of the people and places at the time. The area  in which I am looking into has also been a pivotal area of jersey as this is where many large hotels and churches were begun to be made and allowed citizens to come together as a society and grow as a community.The Savoy hotel is the centre of my area and one of the largest buildings of jersey history being around for many decades through jerseys history. Tom Pope is a photographer for Société Jersiaise, Jersey.His aim through his work is to show the world and people around him and he does not see himself as the artists but everything surrounding himself as the art and inspiration. Although his word is not concentrated so much on a location but the people living there, this has inspired me to be less concentrate whtin the buildings and growth of architecture but the way in which the minds of people have expanded due to the futuristic advances.The Archive is the Island’s national repository holding archival material from public institutions as well as private businesses and individuals.I think a main focus for jersey archive is to track jerseys progression of architecture and the way we can keep and expand on jerseys history.

Tom Pope

Tom Pope,has an interesting conceptual view of when presenting a location he does so through the people living their in interesting conceptual methods. I think he will help me develop from just architecture to a feeling of an area itself, showing off urban landscapes in more creative methods.

6. Photo Shoot Plan

We were split into groups and allocated a sector of town each, my ground was given the pink section on the map which included things such as Springfield sport centre, the mason temple and various churches. We decided to look at the area on google maps before we went out on the shoot to get an idea of what we wanted to photograph.

This tower block is currently under development, it could be an interesting subject and link to our project of the future of St Helier. It is also one of the tallest buildings in Town and sticks high above all the other block buildings which are all at the same level.

 

Concept: I want to explore the area I have been given and take inspiration form what I find and scenes I witness. I aim to show how the area currently looks and anything which shows how it might develop in the future.

Location: I will take photos in my allocated area of St. Helier, there are different areas that i have looked into on google earth which I defiantly want to take photos of but i will also wonder around the streets to see what captures my attention.

Lighting: I will use natural lighting whilst outside and depending on the environment inside I might use flash to illuminate any dark settings.

Brief history of St Helier

It is thought that the site of St Helier was settled at the time of the Roman control of Gaul.

The medieval hagiographies of Helier, the patron saint martyred in Jersey and after whom the parish and town are named, suggest a picture of a small fishing village on the dunes between the marshy land behind and the high-water mark

18th Century

Until the end of the 18th century, the town consisted chiefly of a string of houses, shops and warehouses stretching along the coastal dunes either side of the Church of St Heller.

19th Century

Military roads linking coastal defences around the island with St Helier harbour allowed farmers to exploit Jersey’s temperate micro-climate and use new fast sailing ships and then steamships to get their produce to the markets of London and Paris before the competition. This was the start of Jersey’s agricultural prosperity in the 19th century.

20th Century

In the 1960s, income from the Jersey States Lottery was used to excavate a two-lane road Tunnel under Fort Regent, enabling traffic from the harbour to the east coast towns to avoid a torturous route around the fort. About the same time, the Fort was converted into a major leisure facility and was linked to the town centre by a gondola cableway – closed and demolished in the 1990s.

21st Century

Liberation Square is now a focal point in the town – the former terminus of the Jersey railway housed the Jersey Tourism office until 2007.

 

5. Michelle Sank Research

Michelle Sank is a social demographic photographer who was born in Cape Town, South Africa and lived there until 1987. She takes photos which reflect human condition and can be seen as a style of documentary photography regarding social issues and cultural diversity. She captures, collects and re-tells her encounters with people in certain communities. She is well known for her work with the youth and has various series of photos on this topic. These photos have a sort of coming of age theme where the subjects are dealing with adolescent struggles and trying to find their own identity and place in the world. She allows her subjects to be completely themselves helping their personality show through n the images rather than adapting them to look ‘Normal’. I like the way the subjects look so comfortable and unaffected by the presence of a photographer yet there is also something unnerving about the photos due to how real they are despite being composed and set up.

In 2013 Michelle Sank visited and stayed in Jersey for 6 months working on the Archisle project and Insula. her collection features mainly staged portraits along with some landscape work to help provide context and setting to the collection. Insula is a response to nineteenth century portrait photographers who captured the wealth in the island. The images show the cultural geography of the island from the perspective of an outsider. The photos play around the topic of emotion, culture, politics, economics and island life. They were taken as part of the Archisle contemporary photography programme at the Societe Jersiase photo archive.

Technical: This photo has been taken using natural lighting, due to the harsh shadows, and bright colours it looks as though it was a sunny day. The shadows give the image high contrast which makes the minimal colours in the image pop. The background is slightly blurred which could means a medium aperture was used to subtly change the depth of field so that the camera focuses more the subject. A low sensitivity shutter speed has been used to capture a sharp and still image. The image has a slight cool tone which cancels out any orange tones from the strong sun light making it more of . colour accurate image.

Visual: The colours in this photograph are very simple, blue, green and various shades of brown. This makes us, the viewer focus in on the detail and texture in the image such as the lettering on the bench and the material of the ladies clothes. The composition of this image is interesting, although it looks a bit like a documentary style image of two old ladies sitting on a park bench we can tell some parts of the image have been set up. Firstly the subjects ere aware that they are being photographed and are looking directly at the camera, this subjects they had a conversation with the photographer. the photo has also been taken from a slightly low angle so we are looking up at the subjects. The women are sitting upright with their hands on their laps which looks slightly staged and unnatural but also helps to create a formal tone to the image. I think an interesting part of the composition which the photographer has considered is the word on the bench reading ‘gaze’. The subjects could be considered to be gazing at the camera, the one closest to us has a frown and the one further away is slightly smiling, this could be a coincidence but it also could have been set up by the photographer to create a contrasting mood to the image.

 

 

4. Dunham, Percy Research

In 1873 the Société Jersiaise was formed as a museum and library for all types of records, photos, monuments and buildings. A significant amount of their library is photographic, as a form of recording in a documentary style. Over the last 140 years they have accumulated over 100,000 photos of the island, especially in the late 19th early 20th century when photographers such as Percy Dunham.

there is very little information about Percival Dunham was before 1911 when he came to the island, so his birth marriage and baptism are unknown.  He is known as Jersey’s first photojournalist and took over 1,000 photos during a very brief period (1913-14). He had a photography business at 57 bath street when he arrived in the island and had already taken photos for events such as the Battle Of Flowers. He worked for different local publishers (illustrated weekly and the morning news) and eventually The Evening Post who in the years leading up to the war had not used photographs in their papers. Before Dunham the only photos published in the local papers were portraits or promotional for advertisers. In 1914 he left the island to serve in the 1st world war as a gunner. He survived the war and returned to Jersey, where he had married Miss M Mourant at St Simon’s Church and lived until 1961.

His work has been desplayed in an exhibition at the jersey art centre which contained 40 images. Over 1,000  of his photographs are stored at the Société Jersiaise some of which can be viewed on their website. His photographs show Jersey life leading up to and after the first world war which was a huge even which shaped and effected the island. His style of photojournalism which captured people in a candid style was very new at the time which made his photos different and recognisable.

Technical: This photograph has been taken using natural lighting with a more wide angle lens. It has a short depth of field which creates a slightly blurred background bringing the focus to the two women in the foreground of the image.

Contextual: This photograph was probably taken in 1913-14 when Percival Dunham took most of his photos in jersey. In the image we can see Two women dressed up with big floral hats standing by their bicycles outside the Town Hall.

Visual: It is a black and white image with a high contrast helping to give the image life and character. The depth in the image helps to give it good 3D form with the details in the background helping to give context. The photo has an interesting composition with the subjects taking up 2/3of the frame which helps it look less stage and adds to the candid style.

 

Masterplan

Master planning is about making the connection between buildings, social settings, and their surrounding environments. A master plan includes analysis, recommendations, and proposals for a site’s population, economy, housing, transportation, community facilities, and land use. It is based on public input, surveys, planning initiatives, existing development, physical characteristics, and social and economic conditions

A massive part and the core reason for the success of St Helier is due to the work of master plans. It has played a major role in the development of architecture and economical development and therefore resulted in such projects as the land reclamation. This land reclamation is now one of the Jerseys major attraction areas with multiple leisure facilities, food outlets and accommodation. Masterplans has an important role of determining the shape of an urban environment. If the planning is not done well, it can lead to problems and no success for the future.

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Luke Fowler

Luke Fowler is an artist, filmmaker and musician based in Glasgow.  Luke Fowler’s work explores the limits and conventions of biographical and documentary film-making. This has resulted in comparisons with British Free Cinema of the 1950s, which represented a new attitude to film-making that embraced the reality of everyday, contemporary British society. Working with archival footage, photography and sound, Fowler’s filmic montages create portraits of intriguing, counter cultural figures, including Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing and English composer Cornelius Cardew.

It is said that there is a fine line between film and photography. In 2006, filmmaker Luke Fowler(1978, Glasgow) borrowed an Olympus Pen F to document his artist residency in Bamburg, Germany. Fowler created the double images by using a half-camera frame, exposing two images in one 35mm frame.

  • After developing the first roll, he was struck by the role that chance had played in the resulting diptychs. This signalled the start of a new project, resulting in his book Two-Frame Films: 2006-2012.
  • The book addresses the fine line between photography and film, as the photographs, which are reminiscent of film-stills, question the limits of photography as a medium of representation.

  • In the introduction Fowler discusses how the idea of ‘in the blink of an eye’ has a different meaning for us as human beings than it does with the camera.
  • When we blink and close our eyes, we are blind to the world in that instant.
  • By printing two different images alongside one another, he aims to emphasise the momentary nature of a photograph.

The images that are paired together were taken moments apart in some cases, while they were taken at entirely different times in others.

  • The way in which he combines the images in Two-Frame Films shows that Fowler is first and foremost a filmmaker, creating a narrative of, and an interaction between, multiple images.
  • These new narratives created by the diptychs, question photography’s reliability as a way of documenting ‘real’ life in a single, still frame.
  • He shows us how we can create a story, or tell our own story, through combining the chance fragments as exposed by photographs.

What drew me to Luke Fowler was his attention to detail in his photographs and the way he focuses on what others may not notice. In particular his juxtaposition two frame images caught my attention as the two images

Fowler experimented with different film stocks, subjects and framing, and the images are inextricably linked to his filmmaking as evidenced by the elements of montage, colour and reflectivity that permeate the series. In both still and moving image, Fowler considers how an event might be abstracted by the camera apparatus in a subjective ordering of reality that is emphasised by the dialectic between paired images. The photographs are a means of personally testing the ability of the camera to authentically bear witness to an event, and its fallibility as a medium of representation.

‘Two-Frame Films’:

https://www.themoderninstitute.com/artists/luke-fowler/works/photo-archive-group-1-2006-2009/36/

The link below links to a film, shot on 16mm in Glasgow, shows images of Luke Fowler’s home, studio and neighbourhood along with a commentary in which the Turner Prize nominee describes his working practice.

https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/turner-prize-2012-luke-fowler