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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, Externally Set Assignment AS

Mindmaps Of Themes

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Exploration Of Secrets

Adjective/Noun
1.Something not known, seen or not meant to be known by others.
The word ‘secret’ evokes many thoughts in the viewer’s head, secrets may be verbal or physical; good or bad and in most cases, it is up to the person to decide on how they’re handled. Secrets could link to hidden identities – photographs can be taken of the same person in many different roles and such. Secrets could also explore landscapes – things such as a secret hideout.
When I initially searched for ‘secrets’ on google images this is the sort of thing that showed up; the images are predominately black and white – creating an atmosphere of suspicion and mystery. Most of the images are also rather plain and the focus is on one subject in each. A common theme is also the simplicity of the photographs; a lot is left the viewer to imagine and interpret.

Mindmap

Exploration Of Codes

Noun/Verb
1.A system of words, letters, figures, or symbols used to represent others, especially for the purposes of secrecy.
The word ‘code’ nowadays is mostly used for programming and computing situations, codes could evoke imagery of long complicated chains of letters and numbers; codes could also mean lines or simple patterns that translate into a message.  Photographs under the theme ‘codes’ could consist of long chains of characters being projected onto people or different subjects.
 These are the photographs that come up when I search for ‘codes’, unlike the ‘secret’ search results, these differ majorly from each other – some seem to be just general photographs of computer codes while others are focusing on making a bold statement about our lives and society overall.

Mindmap

Conventions

Noun
1. A rule, method, or practice established by usage; a way in which something is usually done.
Conventions in photography could apply to the rules and guidance used to take ‘successful’ photographs, an idea for exploring this theme could be attempting to break away from these standards and take wonderful photographs that don’t follow these rules; in order to prove that the success of a photograph is not always determined by the basic rules. Conventions could also apply to social standards such as manners or perception/views on people based on things such as appearance or behaviour.
Externally Set Assignment AS

Secrets, Codes And Conventions Introduction

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Secrets

The term ‘secret’ means to hide something or someone from others  as a way of making sure it is not seen or known about by those you with to keep it a secret from. Ideas I have from this term revolve around the idea of opening or revealing something previously hidden to others, to do so I could use software such as Photoshop to manipulate imagery into a sort of surreal picture which includes these aspects. Other ideas could include hiding something from plain sight, such as a hidden areas in the landscape which would be easy to do in Jersey from the amount of historical places present.

Codes

The term ‘code’ means a system of words, letters, figures or symbols, this however can be used for terms such as religious codes and codes present in modern day society. To explore this I could take imagery of codes in modern day life in town that helps the running of the overall system, this could consist of lights, signs etc that I could then develop into a final piece. Other ideas could be based around religion and law, where I use imagery to show how their codes of conduct are reflected on their own lives.

Conventions

 Convention means a way in which something is usually done, or a meeting or formal assembly for discussion and action on matters of common concern. To explore this topic I could photograph social norms and those who live on the fringe of society such as the homeless etc. By doing this it would highlight the separation between classes and how many live their life.  

 

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.

Externally Set Assignment AS

Monday tasks and reminders

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Good Morning

I will not be in school today due to illness : so here goes with a few reminders and prompts

  • Good to see new and fresh imagery coming in…please keep adding your responses and photo-shoots
  • Select carefully and edit according to your influences
  • Be selective with your contact sheets too…there is no need at this stage to over-load any blog post with too many contact sheets.
  • Respond to the teaching from Miss Hearn and I last week…some of you will benefit from multi-media approaches and showing an awareness / understanding of conceptual approaches too.
  • See you tomorrow hopefully!

(PS : do not worry about exam clashes…we are aware of them and can work around them)

Case Study, Externally Set Assignment AS

Giorgio Morandi

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Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting apparently simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, bowls, flowers and landscapes.

Although he painted generic household objects, critics noted how his representation of these objects conveyed a sense of Morandi’s personality, monastic habits, and Bolognese environment. His tightly unified body of work would be 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 represents himself through his paintings and the objects he displayed which links which links to my theme that conventional objects can represent the history of a person.

With his attention to technique and painstaking precision, Morandi extended the legacy of Italian painting into the 20th century, but gave it new relevance with his minimalist style and non-narrative focus. The sparse palette, clean lines, and careful brushstroke of Morandi’s still lifes are unmistakably modern and his attention to technique and the physicality of the painted surface connected later painters with the grand traditions of the still life and landscape genres.

The image on the right  depicts a display of five domestic objects arranged on a flat table surface: a bottle, a jar and three porcelain bowls of various sizes. The objects are arranged in two horizontal rows, with the three smallest objects situated at the front of the composition and the bottle and a taller bowl at the back. In this work, Morandi uses a muted colour palette that ranges from light and medium grey to cream white, beige, pale yellow and mauve. The ball-shaped container in the front row at the lower left corner of the painting has a top section with yellow grooves and a bottom section with white grooves. The cup in the centre of the composition has a red brim and the bowl on the right side has purple grooves. Still Life is inscribed with the artist’s signature at the bottom right of the canvas.

Morandi kept a supply of vases, bottles and jars in his studio, which he used as models for many of his still life paintings in a variety of arrangements. In a letter dated 7 July 1953 the artist wrote that there were ‘several variants of the present work and the same objects also appear in other pictures’

 

The image above is an oil painting. The canvas is divided into two horizontal segments; the upper half painted pale olive green, the lower, lavender-grey. Three objects – a white vase, a short round container and a conical-topped bottle – rest on the surface. They are arranged close together, one in front of the other, and appear to merge. A sense of spatial depth is introduced through a shadow of the objects, represented by dense strokes of darker paint, that appears on the right-hand side of the composition.

Morandi's studio at Via Fondazza

Morandi painted these familiar objects in his bedroom studio at Via Fondazza in Bologna through almost the whole of his career, only shifting to a rural house, at Grizzana, in 1960. Many of the still lifesof the last four years of his life were made there, alongside paintings of the landscape, and achieve an ethereal quality in which formal similarities are found across the two genres.

The Metaphysical painting(Pittura Metafisica) phase in Morandi’s work lasted from 1918 to 1922.

Metaphysical art:  a style of painting developed by the Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. The movement began in 1911 with de Chirico, whose dreamlike works with sharp contrasts of light and shadow often had a vaguely threatening, mysterious quality

This was to be his last major stylistic shift; thereafter, he focused increasingly on subtle gradations of hue, tone, and objects arranged in a unifying atmospheric haze, establishing the direction his art was to take for the rest of his life.

I decided to chose the artist Giorgio Morandi to take inspiration from when taking still life pictures of objects as his style and arrangements in his paintings are what i want to recreate in my photos with conventional objects. He uses a collection or objects with simple backgrounds and neutral colours to create a simplistic yet detailed paintings.

 

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Secrets, Codes and Conventions – First Shoot

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Planning

Task – Take 150-200 photos exploring the theme of tunnels/caves under the key work ‘secrets’

Props – I will mainly be using only the tunnel/cave and its contents as the subjects but there may be people that feature in the photographs.

Camera Settings – Due to the extremely dark nature of the tunnel I will have to use flash in most of my photographs in order to illuminate the subjects enough. I will be using this with an ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 1/40.

Lighting – I will be using strong torches, flash from the camera or natural daylight in order to capture my photographs.

Location – Jersey War Tunnels

Context – I am looking at the theme of exploration which includes caves and tunnels for my AS level externally set assignment.

Concept – I hope to take photographs of secrets within these tunnels that would not usually be seen whilst taking inspiration from both Robbie Shone and Gregory Berg.

My Response

Contact Sheet

My Edits/Top 5

My Favourite Photograph

In this photograph I used flash lighting in order to illuminate the dark tunnel. The use of flash helped to bring out the highlights in the photograph but also create contrasting shadows within the photograph. A deep depth of field was used to capture this photograph as the whole of the photograph is in focus even the subjects in the far background. A shutter speed of 1/40 was used along with an ISO of 100 which allowed the photograph to best the best quality that it possibly could be.

I used a black and white filter for this photograph as I felt that it brought out the shadows and contrast within the photograph more. It is also more suitable for the theme of mystery and exploration. There is a very wide tonal range within this photograph which creates a more dramatic and interesting image. The texture of the dirt and rust on the subjects can be seen which makes the photograph seem more contextual and shows how forgotten the subjects are. It is quite a 3D photograph and there is a clear distinction between subjects in the foreground and the background.

This photograph was taken inside one of the tunnels that was made by the Nazi’s during the occupation of Jersey. This particular tunnel was intended to be used as a munitions storage and never reached the finished stage. This photograph shows the ruined state that the tunnel was left in and the railway system that they would use to transport materials.

From this set of photographs I am trying to look at the unexplored areas of Jersey that people would not usually see. This photograph contains old secrets of Jersey that have remained untouched and it shows that there are many of these secrets around the island that people are not aware of.

AO2 Explore Ideas, Case Study, Externally Set Assignment AS

Mari Mahr

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The work of Mari Mahr 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.

Her work has been exhibited worldwide including at the Serpentine, London and is held in numerous important collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

I chose Mari Mahr as a photographer to research as many of her images contain a variety of objects: clocks, birds, fish, books, picture frames, eyes, stars, buildings etc. This could link to the theme of conventions as they seem to be relatively domestic objects suggesting the life of a family or community.

Mari Mahr constructs her photographs from artefacts of her past life and that of her family. She was born in Chile, grew up in Hungary and moved to London in 1972. Her father was an architect but died when she was twenty four. Her mother was a translator; work that brought her into contact with Che Guevara and Pablo Neruda. These diverse origins are represented in her work by an equally diverse selection of objects

This series Between oursleves: ‘My Daughter, My Darling’… and ‘Time for Sorow’ all use the same stage and the same backdrop within their seires; the only variations being in the lighting and in what is displayed. This simplicity is her strength, for she needs little to tell her stories; leaves for the time of year, but also for her memories. Her photographs are therefore both imitations of remembrances and completely artificial. This is clear in her use of old photographs. A story is told as if it were a myth or nursery rhyme combining a landscape and objects that carry a symbolic meaning

NEW PLACES – NEW CODES (2000)

“These are based upon recollections – sometimes vague and sometimes quite specific from that miraculous time when as a child I was trying so hard to make sense of all the people and all the things around me.”” So, existing in a kind of limbo, these images of mine might be seen as reality re-considered – things that I might or should have said at the time.”

SYMBOLS OF OURSELVES (2002)

“All through the ages and in all cultures there have been effigies made to represent us – sometimes for religious reasons, sometimes for commerce and sometimes just for play. My house is full of them.”

“I see these faces around me not as specific representations of particular people, but representing all people. This generic quality has made them especially suited to their being cast as characters with universal significance in some of my previous works.”

“These portraits are a tribute to this international ensemble that surrounds me.”

Here is Mari Mahr’s website and a link to one of her series that links into my interpretation:

AO2 Explore Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Still Life Photography

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Genre: Conceptual / Installation Photography

Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. It is the application of photography to the still life artistic style.

This genre gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition compared to other photographic genres, such as landscape or portrait photography. Lighting and framing are important aspects of still life photography composition.

Still life images can be just about anything that doesn’t move. The definition of a still life is an inanimate object but other subjects are loosely termed as still life as well. These include flowers, food, etc. They are life forms but they don’t move. Because the subjects are smaller, lighting coverage is less and alternatively less power is need.

This goes back to a bit of photography history. In the early days of photography, exposures were pretty long, which made it ideal to take shots of inanimate objects. Of course, as technology improved and time wore on, still life photography is still incredibly popular because of product shots. Whether it’s for magazines, catalogues or websites, product shots and still life anything is very much in-demand.

The still life has always been a key tool for experimentation and development for the artist and photography adopted this tradition as well. Still Life Photography has its roots all the way back to Henry Fox Talbot (member of parliament, scientist, inventor and a pioneer of photography). Many of the early practitioners of still life photography adapted Fox’s examples and mixed them with traditional painting models. Most of this was in trying to get photography accepted as a serious art form. For example, many of the early Roger Fenton works involved typical subjects of fruit, themes of abundance and victorian style lighting.

Examples of Henry Fox Talbot’s Photography:

Still life became distinct genre and professional specialization in Western painting by the late 16th century. Still-life paintings also often are in the interior of ancient Egyptian tombs. It was believed that food objects and other items depicted there would, in the afterlife, become real and available for use by the deceased. Ancient Greek vase paintings also demonstrate great skill in depicting everyday objects and animals.

As photography matured into the twentieth century, photographers such as Edward Weston incorporated still life photography in experimentation with organic forms and connections in nature.

Examples of Ed Weston’s work:

Lighting’s always important in photography, but perhaps it’s even more so when still life is concerned. The pros normally rely on either a light box or a soft box to shoot their still lifes because it provides even light on the subject matter. Even lighting makes for better, more attractive images.

In landscape photography, there isn’t much we can learn about how to set up and control light. We generally have to work with what is there and about the only control we have is the time of day. In portrait photography, we have all the lighting options: main light, fill light, background light e.t.c, but we are restricted on the amount of time we can take. If we tweak and adjust too long, our subject will get tired of waiting and leave.

As in the composition arrangement, one of the main benefits of the still life photography lighting setup is that we can take as long as we want. We can tweak and fiddle until it is perfect.

Analysis, AO1 Develop Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, Externally Set Assignment AS

Photoshoot-1

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For my first photoshoot I decided to go to the Jersey War Tunnels to look into the history side of photography and to see if any conventional objects where displayed from the past. Many of the displays were settings e.g. dining rooms and kitchens, linking into the theme of conventions and secrets.

In 2001, a permanent exhibit called “Captive Island” was unveiled in the tunnel complex, detailing everyday life for civilians in Jersey before, during and after the occupation of Jersey.

As restrictions and shortages increased, daily life for islanders became more difficult. The image below show the recreation of a Jersey home during the occupation gives an insight into the make do and mend mentality that kept residents going throughout these dark years.

I decided to display these images as a set of three as they present the recreation of a Jersey home from different angles. My favourite image out of the three is the third one as its the most natural looking one and doesn’t look like a artificial set. I also prefer this composition to the others as it has a main focus (the chair) and still represents the atmosphere of the room from a closer perspective. It focuses on the details of the objects in the corner rather than the room as a whole, like the details of the chair and the patterns within the image (the wallpaper etc) showing the historic side. The warm colours of the chair and fireplace contrast with the cold colours in the wallpaper creating an interesting juxtaposition, the blue colours emphasising the main focus of the image which is the furniture. The lighting in this image is artificial and is too harsh on the right side of the wallpaper, to fix this I will edit the image further to creating an aesthetically pleasing image that looks natural. The overall concept of the image is to represent daily life for islanders during the occupation and the idea that history and memories can be represented though conventional objects.

Picture below taken from https://www.jerseywartunnels.com/history-stories/spreading-the-news/

For those who listened to their hidden wireless sets in secret, repeating any thing they had heard was dangerous.  Words could be whispered in open spaces where there was no risk of being overheard, but some people went a step further in their efforts to spread the latest news, putting themselves at great risk of imprisonment and probable deportation.

A local schoolmaster was able to note down BBC news bulletins and type out a summary, making copies on an old duplicating machine. If the news concerned Allied positions overseas, he would trace a map from a school atlas and make copies of that too, ready for distribution to a favoured, trusted few.

Below I have displayed some conventional objects that would be found around a home in the occupation.

In the final months of Liberation, Islanders became desperate. Food shortages were acute and with no knowledge of when the war would end, the Island entered its darkest times.

A farmer's widow

One day during the Occupation, a farmer’s widow living in the country went to her shed to collect potatoes for a family meal, but was startled by an intruder. A thin, dirty man appeared out of the gloom, and looked at her imploringly, miming the act of eating - for he was starving. One of the many enslaved workers, he was clad in ragged clothes, topped with an old army overcoat.

Feeling slightly nervous, she shouted at him and indicated with hand gestures that he should stay in the shed whilst she went to fetch a piece of bread - all that she could spare. When she returned, he uttered thanks in his own language, whilst stuffing the food hungrily in his mouth.

With compassion she watched him eat, then with words he did not understand, and gestures, made it clear that he should go, fearful the Germans would discover her helping him.

A few days later the man returned and knocked on her door. Again she gave him a little food, and he smiled at her. She was once again afraid - if discovered she would be in serious trouble. She indicated that he should leave, but he stood his ground, carefully removing a needle he had concealed in his coat collar. Grinning, he gave it to her - the only possession he had.

Although these images do not contain people it is easy to imagine families using these conventional objects and living in settings like the recreation of the living room. The fact their is no evidence of people in these photographs adds to the effect of the image like the objects have been abandoned.

9 May 1945. After five years of occupation, British forces arrived to free the Channel Islands. Scenes of happiness and relief characterised this most wonderful of days, which is still marked by a public holiday and celebrations today.

Doing a photoshoot at the War Tunnels has made me realised how the stories of those who lived around that time link a lot more into the themes secrets and conventions than i originally thought. For example, those who listened to secret wireless sets were in danger if they repeated what they heard and could only do so discretely, but some people went a step further in their efforts to spread the latest news, putting themselves at great risk of imprisonment and probable deportation. Linking to the theme of secrets as people were willing to risk their lives to spread information to others that they had discovered in secret. It also links to the theme conventions as I got to see many everyday objects that were used in homes and how  many have history and stories behind them that may not be obvious at first. Also how islanders became desperate as food shortages were acute and with no knowledge of when the war would end and how they were deprived of conventions they were normal to them before.