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A2 Personal Investigation, AO2 Explore Ideas, Case Study

Albert Smith- Photo Archive

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Albert Smith is the best known and probably the most prolific of Jersey’s early photographers, although a significant number of pictures attributed to him, and particularly those used for his postcards, were taken not by him, but by employees or by Ernest Baudoux, whose business he acquired when he arrived in Jersey from London

Thousands of his images survive as glass plate negatives and subjects include studio portraits and portraits of cattle. Many of his views were sold as postcards. He and his staff not only worked on commissions, but also captured many scenes of island life and events of historical importance. Nearly 2000 of his images can be seen on line in the photographic archive of la Société Jersiaise, out of a total of nearly 3,300 held in the archive.

Among these are undoubtedly many not taken by Smith. Not only, as mentioned above, are there images acquired from Ernest Baudoux, and others taken by employees of Smith, but some are also dated after he closed his business in 1931. It is not clear whether he continued to take photographs after that date, which are included in the Société Jersiaise collection, and private collections, or whether they were taken by staff. There is little doubt that they have been correctly attributed either to Smith or a (former) employee, because there are photographs, bearing his signature logo, taken at the Battle of Flowers in the mid-1930s and at the opening of Jersey Airport in 1937.

The Albert Smith business’s photographs were taken to sell and, in addition to those in negative format in the Société Jersiaise collection, many thousands of prints remain in circulation, notably in two collections in South Africa and the United States, to which Jerripedia has been given access.

Link to photo archive:

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Albert_Smith

This link to a  gallery of photographs shows the extreme diversity of Albert Smith’s work. Although all of these photographs may not have been taken by him personally, they are all attributed to his business. Many are overtly commercial, but others constitute a fascinating documentary of life in Jersey in the late 19th and early 20th century. Although an early advertisement promoted portrait photography in clients’ homes, Smith, unlike many of his contemporaries in Jersey was not predominantly a portraitist. He preferred to work out of doors, photographing groups on carriage and charabanc outings. This gallery only contains a limited selection of the hundreds of Smith photographs to be found throughout the site.

Smith published a book in about 1910 of 102 Views of Jersey and the Channel Islands, which includes pictures of early Battles of Flowers, and a selection of pictures of Guernsey. Among other advertisements in the book is one for his own series of Hartmann’s coloured Jersey postcards.

A2 Personal Investigation, AO2 Explore Ideas

Future of St. Helier

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In my opinion,  the future of St Helier needs to be more diverse and cultural to allow it to be a place originality and authenticity . I would like to see more art e.g. galleries and public murals so St Helier could be known as a place of identity and atmosphere, which could also attract tourists as well as make St Helier a better place to live. Some parts of St Helier do keep Jersey tradition and heritage which contrast with the development of modern offices and constructions, going from one extreme to another, creating a mismatched style of buildings throughout the town. Going from extreme quiet to business could make it a hard place to live and visit. The future of St Helier could include sustaining more of the history of jersey through modern buildings and not losing jersey heritage as it still needs to grow and develop. The architecture within St Helier could develop and be more original to Jersey creating a stand out building only only seen in Jersey to attract more tourists. It could also focus on creating more of a sense of community for the people who live there, creating more community areas and open spaces, as well as more social areas for the youth.

Masterplan

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A masterplan is a 5 year project (2016 – 2020) using photography, film and archival research to tell the story of Jersey’s economic growth and development in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It 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.

The island of Jersey is one of the world’s leading offshore International Finance Centres. In the second half of the twentieth century Jersey’s economy has experienced a radical transformation from one based upon agriculture and tourism to a financial services industry which today commands over 50% of total economic activity. 104,000 people live in Jersey in 2017 and over 13,000 islanders are employed within the finance sector.

History of St. Helier

Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of about 33,500 and is roughly 34.2% of the total population of Jersey. The parish covers a surface area of 4.1 square miles, being 9% of the total land area of the Island (this includes reclaimed land area of 494 acres

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 Helier and the adjacent marketplace (since 1751, Royal Square). La Cohue (a Norman word for courthouse) stood on one side of the square, now rebuilt as the Royal Court and States Chamber (called collectively the States Building). The market cross in the centre of the square was pulled down at the Reformation, and the iron cage for holding prisoners was replaced by a prison gatehouse at the western edge of town.

This picture shows the grand ceremony held in the Royal Square in 1881 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jersey.  It shows the Square in very early years, before it was surrounded by buildings; at the end of the 18th century; throughout the 19th century when major chages were made to the buildings on the east of the Square, gradually expanding the line of government buildings; and into the 20th 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. n 1995, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jersey’s liberation from Nazi occupation, and thus 50 years of peace, a sculpture was erected in what is now called “Liberation Square”, in front of the Pomme d’Or Hotel, the focal point for the celebrations when the island was liberated.

Analysis, AO4 Present Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Final Image

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Out of my final outcomes I chose this as my final image because i think it represents all the aspects i explored in this project where i looked at how conventional objects having stories and personal connections to them. The mirror in this photo was owned by my grandma, the piano music is something which my granddad sent me in a letter when i was younger, and the newspaper background, which is seen in most of my images from the 3rd shoot, is newspaper dated back to Feburary 16th 1973 which i found in a box where my great great grandma’s silver tea set was kept. This shows how i took inspiration from Mari Mahr  when photographing this image as I’ve collected objects owned by past family members and displayed them all together, representing a part of myself, like she did in her photos. I edited this image black and white to interpret Mari Mahr’s work , but also it emphasises the interesting details and textures of the objects within the image. Like the crease and folds of the newspaper which is from 1973 showing how the condition over the past 45 years has deteriorated and the crease edges of the piano music. The black and white also emphasises the shadows created from the natural light coming from the left, shown on the right side underneath the piano music. I used natural light when taking this photo to give it a more authentic, eclectic effect like most of my images did in this project and didn’t want it to look too manipulated, giving the effect that someone could still be using these objects to this day.  The colour of the newspaper links to the other images as they all contain brown and yellow undertones, emphasisng the fact that what is being photographed is old. This contrasts with the off-white colour of the piano music, which also shows signs of ageing around the corners. The tones of the newspaper link into the colour of the outsides of the box containing the mirror. This makes the overall image more aesthetically pleasing as the colours and tones all complement each other and make for a more balanced image. I also reflected newspaper in the mirror so it wasn’t completely white and so it complements the newspaper background. I arranged the objects in a way so that the angles each object were placed at balanced each other out, e.g. the piano sheet music angled to the left, complemented the box with the mirror angled to right, together creating horizontal lines and different layers and aspects in the photo. I chose to take this image to show how an photo containing conventional objects can have historic links and also personal ones and that there is more to an object the  what meets the eye as there’s probably a story or personal connection to it.

Project Conclusion

Overall I think i have worked consistently  throughout this project, linking my images to the concept of how personal possessions and conventional objects have stories behind them. For example, in my fourth photo shoot I think the images I took represent the passage of time and absence, showing furniture and beds of people in the 1860’s, but the absence of people in the images show the history and how a conventional objects within a house can have more meaning than the purpose of what it was built for. This also links to my 3rd photo shoot where i took objects from my own family and photographed them together. I used objects such as my great great grandma’s tea set and my great uncles camera. These all link into the history side of photography and how conventional objects can also be passed down through families. This also links to my first photoshoot where I looked how the lives of people living in Jersey were affected by the occupation in 1940s,the overall concept of the images to represent daily life for islanders during and the idea that history and memories can be represented though conventional objects.

 

Analysis, AO4 Present Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Final Outcomes

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Image 1:

My first image is an edit from my 4th photo shoot. I cropped the original images to focus in on certain section of the original images. I did this to focus on the different textures created by the different materials on the beds in the Merchants house set in 1860’s at the Jersey Museum. I think the way this is displayed is more interesting than the images by themselves as it compares the different colours, tones, textures and patterns. I tried to emphasise the contrasting colours by using the different images containing different colours in each e.g the top left has cold blue colours, the top right has red curtains with pink tones in the bed sheets, the bottom left has green curtains with yellow undertones, and the bottom right has brown and yellow undertones. These colours would have been noticeable if the images were displayed by themselves separately, but are emphasised when displayed together. The concept of this image is to show how conventional objects and furniture have history and stories connected to them. The objects and furniture shown in these images create the impression that someone still uses them based of the casual appearance the settings give. This links to Walker Evan’s images where he pays particular attention to the inanimate objects that are present, almost representing them as characters themselves, also representing absence and the passage of time. My images show furniture and rooms like someone is living and using the furniture, but there aren’t any people, also representing, like Walker Evan, absence and the passage of time

Experimentation:

Displayed above is the original images that were cropped. Below i have displayed how i experimented with the cropping on each image.

This image has natural lighting which emphasises the yellow and brown undertones within the image. I specifically tried to make the images in this shoot look natural so the setting would not look manipulated and staged like it was in real life. I used a fast shutter speed when taking this image as i wanted it to be clear and detailed with no blur. This photo has a range of light and dark tones within it, the bottom left corner is dark brown and contrasts with the lighter colours of the bed sheets and the light shining through the window. When experimenting with cropping i decided to focus on the textures created through the materials of the bed sheets and draping around the bed.

This image contains warm and cool colours, the bedding having yellow tones contrasting with the cooler green colour of the draping from the four post bed. There are vaeriety of patterns created in this image, from the squares on the wardrobe door contrasting with the vertical lines created by the material of the green drapings. When cropping this image i wanted to incorporate the pattern created by the green draping but also she the texture of the bedding.The image on the top left has cold tones from the wallpaper behind which contrast with the dark metal bars in front. The bars from the bed create bold geometric shapes within the image and shadows behind, adding more depth to the image. When cropping this image i wanted this image to contrast from the other cropped images so looked at the geometric shapes and lines compared to the texture and patterns of the material in the other images. I also wanted to show the shadows created.

This image contains pink tones and shows the red draping from the four post bed. I cropped this image, focusing on the bed sheets on the left side rather than the window and light on the right side as I think the lighting is too bright and intense. By cropping the audience doesn’t get distracted by a bright light, but the bed it still lit up naturally from it. I like the contrast on the red draping to the bed sheet that has yellow tones and also the pattern of vertical lines created by the draping and the pattern printed on the bed sheet. I wanted to incorporate all these features when i cropped the original image

Compare and Contrast

One similarity between mine and Walker Evans photography from his book ‘Message from the Interiors’  as we both pay particular attention to the inanimate objects that are present, almost representing them as characters themselves. I think the images I took represent the passage of time and absence, showing furniture and beds of people in the 1860’s, but the absence of people in the images show the history and how a conventional objects within a house can have more meaning than the purpose of what it was built for.    One difference between mine and Walker Evan’s images are that my images are of settings recreated of the 1860’s, whereas his images are actually depicting the 1960’s, the time he was living in. He uses black and white photography presenting the bed as they are in that time in single photographs, whereas I display my images as a collection of coloured images. I decided not to edit my images black and white as when i was editing i focused on the contrast between the warm and cold colours between each picture and the contrast in textures. If i had edited the images in black and white it wouldn’t show the contrast in colours and therefore the textures wouldn’t be significantly different.

Image 2:

This second image is from my 3rd photoshoot. The mirror in this photo was owned by my grandma, the piano music is something which my grandad sent me in a letter when i was younger, and the newspaper background, which is seen in most of my images from this shoot, is newspaper dated back to Feburary 16th 1973 which i found in a box where my great great grandma’s silver tea set was kept. This is my favourite image from the 3rd shoot as it includes different aspects of my family that are important to me, combined together and shown in one image. It also links closely into Mari Mahr’s work using deeply personal objects and resoning behind her images. I chose to take this image to show how an photo containing conventional objects can have historic links and also personal ones and that there is more to an object the  what meets the eye as there’s probably a story or personal connection to it. For example, in this image I used objects from past family members displayed together in one picture showing how what might just look like objects arranged in a certain way  actually have personal and autobiographical meaning with stories behind them,

I experimented with both artificial lighting and natural lighting and found that natural created a more authentic, personal look, compared to the artificial that made the objects look staged, manipulated and in the spotlight. The natural lighting coming from the left side lights up all aspects of the photo but focuses more on the left side of the image, emphasing the folds and creases in the newspaper and creating a small shadow on the right side from underneath the piano music.This allows for a range of tones to be presented. For many of my images in this photoshoot i used a tripod, but for this image i didn’t as it’s taken from an above angle, so i used fast shutter speed.

The newspaper, used as one of the background layers in this image, creates an interesting texture as it dates back to 1973,  showing how the condition over the past 45 years has deteriorated. The colour of the newspaper links to the other images as they all contain brown and yellow undertones, emphasisng the fact that what is being photographed is old. This contrasts with the off-white colour of the piano music, which also shows signs of ageing around the corners. The tones of the newspaper link into the colour of the outsides of the box containing the mirror. This makes the overall image more aesthetically pleasing as the colours and tones all complement each other and make for a more balanced image. I also reflected newspaper in the mirror so it wasn’t completely white and so it complements the newspaper background. I arranged the objects in a way so that the angles each object were placed at balanced each other out, e.g. the piano sheet music angled to the left, complemented the box with the mirror angled to right, together creating horizontal lines and different layers and aspects in the photo

Experimentation

I edited the image in different ways, one way to interpret Mari Mahr’s work more, one to emphasis the shadows in the image and others to experiment with the tone of the image.

I decided to choose the black and white image as my final piece as it interprets Mari Mahr’s work, but also emphasises the mall details within the image, like the shadows created by the creases in the old newspapers and shadows that have been created on the right side of the box by the light shining in the left.

Compare and Contrast

I think it  is hard to compare photos to the style of Mari Mahr as each of her photographs is so different, unique and represents a different part of herself and her life within it, being deeply personal. So i’ve displayed a selection of her photography above in comparison to mine. One similarity between our images is that we both used personal objects that have meaning in our lives. She uses objects from her family, photos and objects that remind her of her mother, and objects that remind her of her childhood in Geneva. In my photos i used objects that were owned by me and my family members. For example, a tea set owned by my great great grandma in 1896, piano music my grandfather sent to me in a letter when I was younger, a camera owned by my great uncle, and my grandmas mirror, all linking to me my family history. Both me and Mari Mahr’s photos are autobiographical and have connections to out families and childhoods wishing the images. On difference between mine and Mari Mahr;s work is that her work addresses universal human concerns regarding where it is that each of us come from, and where it is that we each belong. My work does not do this as much as i focused on linking my images to my family history, although does address how where each of us comes from in terms of my family.

Image 3:This 3rd image is from my second photoshoot, taking inspriation from the artist Giorgio Morandi where his painting have contain simple domestic objects with solid colour background creating a simplistic yet detailed image. I decided to use these images as one of my final outcomes as it significantly contrasts with my other images from this project and shows the variety within my work.  The others taking a more authentic, eclectic style looking at the history of objects and the personal connections and stories behind them. This image however still links in to the idea of objects having a story and personal connections, but look at it in a much more modern way, using bold colours and geometric patterns within the image.

The lighting used in this image is artificial, i used this so the whole image was lit up rather than a certain section. This emphasises the bright colours and the objects in the foreground of the photo. The second image of this collection is closer up than the first, gaining a different perspective on the same scene. Most of the colour used in these images are cold, which is another aspect that contrasts form my other images form this project where they mostly use brown and yellow tones creating an authentic look. The cold colour used make the images seem more modern, although the objects in these images are not. This demonstrates how a certain backgrounds can change the concept of the image, and even make the audience think the photos are taken in a different time. These images create geometrical shapes and focus on the straight lines eg. the horizontal line across the background contrasting with the vertical lines on the vase showing how it’s 3D. When arranging these domestic objects I looked at the levels each objects where at, placing the vase in the center as it’s the tallest and the main object because of it’s colour. I placed the smaller white objects either side of the vase to complement it , putting them at different angles to gain different perspectives of each image. In the second image I took the photo with sides of the two objects coming of the photo, creating a different composition than the first image so I could display them together. The concept behind this image is linked into the theme coneventions like all my other photoshoots in this project, looking at domestic household objects and looking at how an object may only be seen as the purpose it was made for, but can have personal stories and connections behind. This reasoning is the same as my other still life photographs, except this photo shoot was more staged and planned.

Experimentation:To edit and experiment with the original images i decided that the solid colors in the images could be easily change so i could see if warm or cool colours would look better. I adjusted the hue in photo shoot and change the colours on each of the images. The original images contained the warm colour orange, yellow , and red, wheres the best edited versions had blue and green changing the overall tone of the images from warm to cool.

Compare and Contrast

One similarity between mine and the artist Giorgio Morandi’s work is that we both looked at domestic household objects, presenting them simplistically with plain background and solid colours. Although his painting’s were simplistic they were detailed at the same time looking at the tone and textures of the objects he was painting. I also think i have achieved this in my photographs, for example I emaphasised the dark vertical lines  going the the vase in the center of the image to create depth and show how the object is 3D. One difference between mine and Giorgio Morandi’s work is that where he uses neutral tones like cream, brown, oranges for his background and objects, I used bright bold colours. My original image had a bright yellow and orange background, but i edited so it’s blue in one image and green in the other. I did this as i think the bright colours emphasise the objects in the foreground. Another similarirty between mine and Giorgio Morand’s work is that in nearly every still life painting, he has a horizontal line creating a division through the center of the image, splitting it in half. I also tried to achieve this in my images, showing the contrast from the darker tones behind the objects and the lighter tone underneath. Creating this horizontal line adds more depth to the image as it make the set the objects are placed look 3D. If the background was only one colour than the image would look 2D.

Analysis, AO4 Present Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Edits

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To experiment with the presentation of my images and to start displaying images from all the photo shoots combined I explored different layouts and arrangements of the photos.

This first layout are images from my fourth photoshoot where i went to the Jersey museum and took photos in the style of Evan Walker. For this edit I focused in on smaller sections of the images and cropped them into square shapes so the overall layout would be square and symmetrical. Focusing in on certain sections of the original images. I did this as i liked the photos as single images but think more of a concert is formed when the are displayed together.

I also tried editing the images into different arrangements like horizontal and vertical rows seeing which ones looked the most aesthetically pleasing. I found that this worked less well that the display of 4 as the composition in each image is too similar but adding the fourth image balances it out, also making the overall display symmetrical and balanced.

The images shown below I have edited on photo shop so that the colour in each photo is different. I did this so I could display a selection of the same images together, rather than having a single image by itself. It also develops from the original image. I decided to edit bright colours rather than in the neutral tones that Giorgio Morandi used in hi paintings as I didn’t want to completely copy his style and wanted to make my photographs unique in some way.

I tried arranging the different coloured images in different layouts, repeating the same images more than once in different colours and also incorporating other images from the same photoshoot to gain a different perspective of the same setting. The bold, bright colours I have edited in emphasise the straight lines and geometrical shapes within the image, and also emphasise the objects in the foreground of the image . I found the images that worked best were the ones with the greatest contrast between the two colours in the background from dark to light as it creates a division across the image and adds another aspect, rather than the background being plain like the first part of that photoshoot.

Displaying my Prints:

For the images I printed out i wanted to display them as a collection of images together rather than single images by themselves. If these images were displayed separately I don’t think they would make sense, displaying them together gives the images a story. They also all link together though the brown and yellow tones in each image, giving the display as a whole an authentic and eclectic style. I decided on using a white background as it emphasises the yellow tones within the images and makes the photos seem brighter.

AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Photoshoot-4

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For my fourth photoshoot I decided to go to the Jersey Museum and focus on the Merchant’s house, looking at the old furniture. I wanted to interpret Walker Evan’s photography, specifically the photos in his book ‘ Message from the interior’ where he pays particular attention that he pays to the inanimate objects that are present, almost representing them as characters themselves.

The Merchants house is a recreation of the home of Dr. Charles Ginestet, homeopathic doctor and political activist. The house was built in the English Georgian Style in 1818 by Philippe Nicolle, in what was then the red light district of St. Helier. It has been furnished to represent what it would have looked like in 1862.

Philipe Nicole was one of the most successful merchants pf his time with about 20 ships. He and his wife had 13 children but upon his death in 1836 the house was left to one of his daughters, Jeanne.

At the age of 47 Jeanne met Charles Ginestet who had been imprisoned in France for his political views and was recently widowed with three children to support. Within the year Jeanne married Charles who moved into the house with his children.

Technical
  • The lighting used in this image is natural, the light coming from the window on the right. This gives the image a more authentic look as it doesn’t look manipulated or too intense. I used a fast shutter speed so there was no blur in my image.
  • The angle this image was taken looks at the a four post bed from a sideways angle creating an interesting composition, rather than the image being taken from a front angle.
  • This images ranges with dark brown tones to light ones, dark brown in the bottom left corner, which is then contrasted with the light bed sheets and canopies which have yellow and brown undertones.
Visual
  • The lighting in this image creates light undertones, linking on with my other images from my project where the images look authentic and natural.
  • I specifically wanted to photograph beds when i went to the merchants house as i wanted to interpret Walker Evan’s images of different beds in houses from the book ‘Message from the Interior’.
  • The texture created by the material on the bed is what i focused on when taking the photo which gives the image depth and adds more detail. There’s a contrast in patterns made by different materials on and around the bed, e.g the checked pattern on the bed sheet, compared to the texture of the blanket on top and the pattern on the canopies on the four posts.
  • This image depicts what a bedroom was like 1860, the appearance of the bed looks like a person has just slept in it and the casual placing of the furniture and the ornaments surrounding the bed giving the appearance of a natural setting rather than a staged one. This makes it easy for the audience to imagine that the image was taken in 1860.
Contextual
  • The image is taken of a recreation of a bedroom from the 1860’s in the Merchant’s house.
  • I took these images of the recreation of bedrooms and rooms in the 1800’s as i wanted to show what life was like then and show how conventions have stayed the same and some have changed. E.g some aspects like furniture have stayed similar, but the conventions of how we live have changed from the 1800’s to now.
Conceptual
  • I wanted to take photos of furniture from a house in the 1880’s to link to my projects theme of how conventional objects and furniture have history and stories connected to them.
  • The objects and furniture shown in these images create the impression that someone still uses them based of the casual appearance the settings give.
  • This links to Walker Evan’s images where he pays particular attention to the inanimate objects that are present, almost representing them as characters themselves, also representing absence and the passage of time.
  • My images show furniture and rooms like someone is living and using the furniture, but there aren’t any people, also representing, like Walker Evan, absence and the passage of time.

Rooms shown in the pictures:

Anne Nicolle’s bedroom:
  • Her room is decorated in red, reflecting her family’s association with the Rose party.
  • Gas lighting was installed in the 1830’s but paraffin lamps and candles were still used.
  • Her was an ‘Albert’ with a partial canopy curtained for privacy and warmth and four posts.
Sydney Nicolle’s bedroom:
  • His father (Jeanne’s brother) died and his mother remarried and movies to England, too he stay in Jersey and lived with his aunt Jeanne.
  • His room was very simply furnished with a brass bed and various Militia items- uniform and sword.
Berthe and Alice Ginestet’s Bedroom:
  • They shared the albert bed for warmth, and it was unusual for everyone to have their own bedroom in 1862.
  • The room is typically floral with French wallpaper, drapes and privacy screen
Schoolroom
  • Education in 1862 was not compulsory but those wealthy enough employed a governess to educate their children at home.
  • Toys were designed for an educational purpose or to develop skills to take you into adult life.
  • In a horse drawn society, a young boy would need to know how to ride a horse which is what the rocking horse was for.
  • Jigsaws orientated from cutting out maps and scenes and fitting them back together, and the cup and ball encouraged hand/eye coordination and was known to be played by Queen Victoria.
  • Children’s clothes did not exist before 1860 an they wore cut down versions of adult clothes i.e. sailor suits.

The flooring throughout the house is mahogany, imported from South America on board one of Nicolle’s ships. The floors were caulked with tarred string, like the deck of the ship. Victorians liked to show off their wealth, particularly if they were ‘new money’. The clothes they wore and the buildings they lived in demonstrated this. Paintings were often displayed in the hallways indicating the occupant’s wealth and status because this is where the guests were received.

I edited some of the images from the photoshoot black and white to better interpret Walker Evan’s work and displayed them above. Below I have shown some of his photography to compare our images. I think I successfully interpreted his work paying particular attention to the inanimate objects that are present, almost representing them as characters themselves. I think the images I took represent the passage of time and absence, showing furniture and beds of people in the 1860’s, but the absence of people in the images show the history and how a conventional objects within a house can have more meaning than the purpose of what it was built for. In one of Walker Evan’s images shown below it displays a bed where it is clear someone is living in it as the bed is unmade like someone has just slept in it, which is also what I think i showed in my images. One difference between mine and Walker Evan’s images are that my images are of settings recreated of the 1860’s, whereas his images are actually depicting the 1960’s, time he was living in.

 

Analysis, AO1 Develop Ideas, Case Study, Externally Set Assignment AS

Walker Evans

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Walker Evans (born November 3, 1903) was an American photographer and photojournalist whose influence on the evolution of ambitious photography during the second half of the 20th century was perhaps greater than that of any other figure. Evans had the extraordinary ability to see the present as if it were already the past, and to translate that knowledge and historically inflected vision into an enduring art

His principal subject was the vernacular—the indigenous expressions of a people found in roadside stands, cheap cafés  advertisements, simple bedrooms, and small-town main streets.

Evans began photographing regularly in 1928, while living in New York City.  It was his goal to become a professional photographer, although it was difficult to find work.  His first big break came in 1930, when three of his photographs were selected to be published in a poetry book by Hart Crane, titled The Bridge.  This early work foreshadows his life-long interest in the imagery of urban architecture and industrial construction.

In 1933, Evans traveled to Cuba to take photographs for The Crime of Cuba, a book by American journalist Carleton Beals.  Beals’s goal was to expose the corruption of Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado.  For this project, Evans produced a number of portrait photographs using laborers, miners, and dockworkers.  He also documented the urban street life in Cuba, including images of vendors, pedestrians, and signage.  All of these themes would reappear in Evans’s later work for the FSA.

Mature Period

Photography flourished under the Great Depression, thanks to Roosevelt’s New Deal, which paid artists to work. The Farm Security Administration hired Evans alongside other photographers to document the government’s improvement efforts in rural communities. Unconcerned with the political ideology behind his assignment, Evans spent the better part of 1935 and 1936 eloquently capturing the aesthetic texture of ordinary life via rural churches, bedrooms, faded signs, and rumpled work clothes. He avoided using upscale equipment. Despite being familiar with and capable of affording the latest technology, Evans used an outdated camera with a very slow lens.

Evans’ interiors function like landscapes that open up towards other worlds, largely through the particular attention that he pays to the inanimate objects that are present, almost representing them as characters themselves

His book titled – Message from the interior – is both open and reserved, preparing the reader not only for its subject matter, but also for the atmosphere of intensity it contains. Here, through objects and places, the he speaks to us of absence, the difficulty of communication and the passage of time.

Walker Evans picks out details that unsettle our delicate balance with portraits set in living rooms, kitchens or bedrooms. On first impression, the meticulous layout of the images leave room for the disciplined and temporarily deserted places that they depict.

None the less there is resistance, in spite of all of these codes and the apparent passivity of these empty, predetermined spaces. Life is indeed present, in the smell of the wallpaper, the sound of the wooden floors, the slight movements of dust particles and the lengthening of shadows.

These spaces, now emptied of their occupants, rediscover their own life, perspectives stretch out or become flattened; shadows recompose themselves into sculptures, as the objects take over the roles of the missing occupants and complete the story.

Most of Evans’s best work dealt not with people but with the things they made: he was concerned most of all with the character of American culture as it was expressed in its vernacular architecture and in its unofficial decorative arts, such as billboards and shop windows.

In Evans time, there were essentially two competing philosophies of photography: Documentary vs. Pictorialist. Documentary strove to represent the world as it was, flaws and all; Pictorialism produced a selective, transcendent view of the world, akin to traditional Western painting. Evans’s work, a blend of these two philosophies, brought greater nuance to the practice of photography. As he put it, “What I believe is really good in the so-called documentary approach to photography is the addition of lyricism… produced unconsciously and even unintentionally and accidentally by the cameraman.”

During the winter months between 1938 and 1941, Evans strapped a camera to his midsection, cloaked it with his overcoat, and snaked a cable release down his suit sleeve to photograph New York City subway passengers unawares.

For Evans, the subway portraits  were an attempt to capture the ultimate purity of a recording method without human interference.  He sought to reflect ordinary life in an organic and natural way.  The subway portraits were also, in many ways, a rebellion against studio portraiture and the commercialization of photography.  Evans criticized the inherently artificial nature of typical portrait photography, with its use of costumes, make-up, props, and posed stances.

 

Analysis, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Photoshoot- 3

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For my third photoshoot I wanted to develop the idea from my 2nd photoshoot and improve it, taking conventional objects and adding more aspects into the images like backgrounds and multiple objects and layer them together. I also wanted to take inspiration from Mari Mahr and take personal objects from my life so they have conceptual reasoning into why i took the images.

Throughout this photoshoot i tried to arrange the objects in as many arrangements and compositions as possible, experimenting with the white balance and natural and artificial lighting to see which would produce the most aesthetically pleasing image. I also tried to emphasise the warm undertones of the objects so they had a more historic and aged look to them. I found the natural lighting work best for most of the images so it didn’t look so intense and harsh. I used a tripod for the photos where the angle of the image is from the side to make sure the photos were clear and detailed, but didn’t use a tripod where the photos are taken from a downwards angle. Many of the objects used in these images relate to my life an family.

Technical
  • I experimented with both artificial lighting and natural lighting and found that natural created a more authentic, personal look, compared to the artificial that made the objects look staged, manipulated and in the spotlight.
  • The natural lighting coming from the left side lights up all aspects of the photo but focuses more on the left side of the image, emphasing the folds and creases in the newspaper and creating a small shadow on the right side from underneath the piano music.
  • This allows for a range of tones to be presented. For many of my images in this photoshoot i used a tripod, but for this image i didn’t as it’s taken from an above angle, so i used fast shutter speed.
Visual
  • The newspaper, used as one of the background layers in this image, creates an interesting texture as it dates back to 1973,  showing how the condition over the past 45 years has deteriorated.
  • The colour of the newspaper links to the other images as they all contain brown and yellow undertones, emphasisng the fact that what is being photographed is old. This contrasts with the off-white colour of the piano music, which also shows signs of ageing around the corners.
  • The tones of the newspaper link into the colour of the outsides of the box containing the mirror. This makes the overall image more aesthetically pleasing as the colours and tones all complement each other and make for a more balanced image. I also reflected newspaper in the mirror so it wasn’t completely white and so it complements the newspaper background.
  • I arranged the objects in a way so that the angles each object were placed at balanced each other out, e.g. the piano sheet music angled to the left, complemented the box with the mirror angled to right, together creating horizontal lines and different layers and aspects in the photo.
Contextual
  • The mirror in this image was owned by my grandma, the piano music is something which my grandad sent me in a letter when i was younger, and the newspaper background, which is seen in most of my images from this shoot, is newspaper dated back to Feburary 16th 1973 which i found in a box where my great great grandma’s silver tea set was kept.
  • This is my favourite image from this shoot as it includes different aspects of my family that are important to me, combined together and shown in one image.
  • It also links closely into Mari Mahr’s work using deeply personal objects and resoning behind her images.
Conceptual
  • The reasoning behind this image is to show how an image containing conventional objects can have historic links and also personal ones and that there is more to an object the  what meets the eye as there’s probably a story or personal connection to it.
  • For example, in this image I used objects from past family members displayed together in one picture showing how what might just look like objects arranged in a certain way  actually have personal and autobiographical meaning with stories behind them.

For this final image I displayed all the objects i had for this photoshoot together and arranged them in a symmetrical like layout. Most of the objects in this photoshoot were old silver conventional obects (tea pot, candle holder, teaspoons etc). In some of the images i included actual photographs, adding another element and layer to the image, making it more personal.

I chose the images i thought were most effective from the photoshoot and wanted to have them interpret Mari Mahr’s style of photography more, so i edited each one into black and white. I like the way these images turned out but think i prefer them edited in colour as they give off a more personal authentic feel with the warm undertones of the images. Although the images in black and white do give more emphasis to the small details in the images, like the creases and folds in the newspaper background and the shadows created, giving the image more texture and depth. The black and white also gives the images a more historic appearance like they were taken on a black and white camera at the time these obejcts were being used.

The tea set in this picture above was owned by my great great grandma and dates to 1896 (122 years old) so is late Victorian. The maker’s mark of ‘William Hutton & sons LTD’ is a London silversmith. The style is sometimes called ‘Queen Anne Style’ and is somewhat of a misnomer as the late Victorians reproduced the neo classical style of Georgian period with the tea set. It is also described as ‘half-fluted’ due to the decoration.

I decided to use this tea set owned by my great great grandma as it’s very personal and links into the work of Mari Mahr and how her work is deeply personal and autobiographical, yet addresses universal human concerns regarding where it is that each of us come from, and where it is that we each belong. It also interprets how she constructs her photographs from artefacts of her past life and that of her family.

In the second part of this photo shoot I took my great uncles camera and photographed it using a variety of backgrounds.

I decided to incorporate my great uncles camera into this photo shoot as it shows another aspect of my family, linking to Mari Mahr’s work again. I tried out two different backgrounds for this shoot, the same newpaper from 1973 used in the first part of this photo shoot, and solid coloured paper, creating a division horizontally through the center of my work. The image below is edited in black and white and has the background of two solid coloured pieces of paper. The different colours create lighter and darker tones in the background and emphasise the camera centered in the middle of the image.

I think this is a good continuation from my second photoshoot and shows how my ideas have developed over the two. In this photoshoot i included more aspects and layers to my images, adding backgrounds and multiple objects, rather than a black background, making the images look more natural and not  staged.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Photoshoot-2

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Starting point: taking inspiration from Mari Mahr i decided to interpret her work creating similar concepts. Her work is deeply personal and autobiographical so my plan was to take personal objects from my life and photograph them. This idea links into the theme of secrets and conventions:  secrets as they are objects from my life and show history and conventions as some of the objects are domestic objects used around the house. I first gathered the objects which i have displayed below which i took in a studio setup with artificial lighting. I also wanted to take inspiration from the artist Giorgio Morandi in this photoshoot, incorporating object with simple backgrounds and to experiment using artificial lighting an natural lighting,

For this first part of the photoshoot I used artificial lighting with a plain black background for most of the photos. I used this to emphasise the tones and colours of the objects i was using. In some images I used single objects and focused emphasising that one objects, and for others I used multiple objects in a image (e.g silver cutlery,  silver candle sticks, jewellery boxes, pocket watch).

I like this image from the photoshoot as the reflection on the jewellery box from the lights creates gold and brown undertones making the objects look old and antique. The black background I created draw the attention to the objects centered in the middle of the image and creates negative space around it. To improve this image I would add a more interesting back drop to create a different aspect to my image. The reason i didn’t do this in this photoshoot is because Giorgio Morandi’s paintings all have simple block colour backgrounds and waned to incorporate that element in my photography. The difference being that I used a dark colour whereas Giorgio Morandi used lighter colours, but I think the black brings more emphasis the the gold tones than a white background would.

For the second part of this photoshoot i decided to interpret Giorgio Morandi using simple black colour backgrounds with multiple objects in the foreground. Everything in the image being neutral.I wanted to develop from the first part of my photoshoot by being in more neural colours to the background, rather than solid black. I used yellow, orange and white backdrops to see the comparison. I prefer the lighter backdrop as it gives the images a more natural look and makes the images seem less manipulated. I also used natural lighting in this part of the photoshoot to compare to the artificial lighting and found I prefer the natural as it looks less intense and more like Giorgio Morandi’ paintings.

I prefer my second part of this photoshoot as it looks at a more abstract approach, using bold colours. I used to different coloured card for each image creating a division in the middle of the image like Giorgio Morandi did in his painting. For this image i decided to use a orange and yellow background as i thought it contrasted with the red vase in the center of the image in an aesthetically pleasing way. The lighting used in this image is artificial so the whole of the image is lit up, rather than a certain section where the natural light in coming from. Using artificial lighting helped me emphasise the bright colours within the image. I think i successfully recreated Giorgio Morandi’s painting style in a photograph, which is influential for its close study of unremarkable elements of daily life, imbuing them with implications of deeper significance by emphasizing their painterly beauty and simplicity. He normally displays multiple domestic objects on a table or surface, normally having a horizontal line through the middle creating a division.