For our second shoot we left Societe Jersiaise to explore our allocated areas of St. Helier. First I explored my areas on foot and took pictures of the surrounding buildings and people on a street view, then later went to the top of sand street car park where I managed to capture pictures of town, construction workers and the public from a raised view. The car park was the only public point where we could capture pictures from a higher level so we explored commercial street. We asked the owners of multi story buildings for permission to photograph on top floors for alternative viewpoints of St. Helier. The one building that granted us permission was a mechanics warehouse. We never had the opportunity for an alternative high view point but we managed to capture images of the inside of the building where there were many unusual objects in unusual places. We came across old cars and old kitchen units in the derelict upper floors of the building and explored their storage rooms.
Each artist in this collection of images has provided me with inspiration for how I would like to capture the essence of St. Helier. I have selected images from the archive. I noticed a lack of portraits and the few I found were composed by Francis Foot, this has enabled the idea of capturing the people of town rather than architectural and landscape based pictures as I believe that what makes up St. Helier is the people and community.
Another artist I would like to base this project on is Walker Evans and his collection of photos of American workers - 'Labour Anonymous' set out in the style of typology. He used the method of standing still with his camera set up by his waist shooting passersby framed by the negative space of a wall in his location. The collection of images are all candid and even when the subject realised their photo was being taken, their expressions were still honest and they almost give a bigger insight of who they are as individuals. Although all the pictures are set up the same and look alike, each person creates a different mood and emotion.
The last artist I drew inspiration from is Lewis Bush. The images I chose use a technique of cutting and pasting and repeating one image that creates an intense and overwhelming feeling. If I could apply this to portraits I would hopefully like to emphasise the emotion and individuality of each person I capture on the street by repeating key parts of their portraits that add flavour and insight to who they are and what their motives are in that moment.
I think St. Helier has a lot of potential in areas of new construction, community and culture, especially because we are a small island with rich history and opportunity for improvement. Now, it almost gives me the impression as quite preservative with a need for change to improve life in 'town'.
Personally I think that we need to refine our community more than renew a concrete landscape.
In my view St. Helier is made up of the people who work and live in it. For it to become better, the sense of community and acceptance of all people needs to improve. However, the main focus of is construction, due to rise in population and demand for work spaces from the finance industry. I understand in order for the community of St. Helier to improve these steps must be taken, especially with the struggle to house the increasing population of Jersey. However I feel that Jersey thinks it has no room, time, or money for any creative art which essentially richens the islands culture and sense of community, not to mention boosting the tourism industry which once was one of the biggest industries in earlier years. St.Helier is dull and there is little art. Any time a proposal has risen to improve this, nothing has happened.
I feel that Jersey is trying to become something it has never been and this is essentially destroying the essence of the island. Jersey should improve on what we already have.
When we rebuild St.Helier it should enhance what we have in terms of landscape and history through art, photography and architecture, rather then try to be like an existing city.
The area I have been assigned includes Broad Street which was St. Heliers first shopping area with many of the retail establishments opened up by English and French immigrants.
The side of the street that is now consisting largely of financial institutions was originally a row of houses. The opposite side of the street was made up of shop fronts which are now seen as the back entrances of shops on King Street. Overtime this has flipped around with the growth of town, as today the frontage of these shops face King Street. Many of the retail establishments were opened up by English and French immigrants, which leads me to focus on the people that make up St. Helier as inhabitants of Jersey have never been truly Jersey bred.
This is my favourite image of my project. The content of the image is relevant to me quite literally because of the fact that me and my family produced this plastic waste in two weeks and continue to produce this amount because, it is almost impossible to avoid buying into plastic packaging. It is a conceptual photograph that carries a lot of meaning and relevance to the modern world because it brings forth an issue no one likes to see or do anything about. I think this is down to a common trait that everyone shares - laziness.
Using a camera only had a small significance in the process of making this image. If I left the image alone I would feel no satisfaction in its completion. I have learnt during this first year in photography that generating a final image with just a camera isn't enough. Even though a lot of technical work goes into producing a decent image.
It was difficult to achieve the right lighting because I could only light one side of the pile at a time unless I used the floodlights, yet I couldn't achieve my desired effect with them because of the high level of light intensity. I had to manipulate the lighting with colour and use different angles so I could accomplish an image with enough light to capture the detail but not too much to white wash my image or over expose it. It would of been more successful if I had two spotlights either side of the plastic.
For me, I want to reflect my artistic side in my images with colours and playing with the forms and shapes of the objects in a photograph by cutting out imagery from many of the photographic materials I produce from a photo shoot and piecing it together. Editing my images is the most important stage for me because it allows me to produce something that wouldn't possibly be seen in our daily lives.
In this photograph a lot of the imagery is repeated and seen in many areas of the plastic pile. I didn't want to hide this to make it seem like I produced more plastic than I did just so I could prove my point. I kept the repeated imagery visible because it has the implication that we repeat mistakes and the process of this ongoing problem is down to that fact. The dangers of producing so much plastic is known by everyone yet it is an ongoing cycle of production, because we live in a throw away society.
On the other hand, I also had to repeat the imagery because the majority of the plastic could not be seen in a singular flat image. This is one draw back that makes this image have a lesser impact on an audience. With the context of why I created this image some might ignore my points and reasons behind it because it doesn't impinge on that person. If this perhaps was an image of plastic collected over a year, it might of had a bigger impact. However, putting this image into perspective, this was one family out of billions. In two weeks how much plastic did everyone as a collective produce and where did it go?
I want the presentation of these images to keep focus on the images themselves because of the context. The style of these images are very minimalistic and I want the presentation to reflect that. I think the white and black boarders draw the eye away too much because of the contrasting shades and the bright colours.
Below is an example of Krista Svalbonas' presentation. She keeps the images she produces very raw and minimal, almost like the erratic shapes of her images defines itself. With my images, I think that the coloured backgrounds frames the pictures and there is no need for me to mount my pictures on a black board.
