Gina Socrates:

Gina Socrates is a current photographer who is based in Jersey.

• “As a photographer, I draw inspiration from the island of Jersey on which I live: its sometime soft and delicate, sometime harsh and rugged coastline. Its traditional and contemporary architecture, its abundant flora and the individual characters of the locals.” – Gina Socrates
• “This series of photographs contrasts the horrors of war implicit in the wall with the beauty of Jersey’s coast and the life which goes about upon it. Through the use of multiple exposures, other surrounding elements are brought into relief; elements which both modify the wall’s surface and its meaning: the beach, the sea, deckchairs, and shadows.”  – Gina Socrates

Contextually. the sea wall was built by the Nazi’s during the second world war, in order to prevent the British from reclaiming the island of Jersey. The wall was built by prisoners from Russia and Spain, who where hold captive by the Nazi’s. The sea wall has now become a key feature of Jersey Channel Islands, with it useful uses of prevent the island from being flooded at high tides. The seawall holds a lot of history which many islanders are not aware about. Photographer Socrates wanted to capture the seawall in order to present the history of it and to show the “contrast the horrors of war implicit in the wall with the beauty of Jersey’s coast and the life which goes about upon it.” Thus, presenting her artistic aim.  When first looking at the image my eyes are immediately drawn to the center of the image, where the subject of the wall/rocks are located. They then move around the image taking in the rest of the detail and scenery found. As an emotional response I can clearly see the metaphorical message trying to show how the sea wall has developed and how it was effected during the second world war, which can be considered emotional as it reflects the negative impact the war had to how beautiful the wall is in Jersey now a days. The image above is an example of a double exposure where two images overlay one another in order to make an overall abstract looking image. In the case we are able to see Jersey beautiful coast line (nowadays) and what looks to be a macro shot of dents and holes (presenting the horrors of the war). The main formal elements which have been presented seems to be space, texture and shape which are mainly presented through the double exposure technique. Both images are presented in color, however the hue seems to have been adjusted as the images look more yellow, which creates a vintage and rustic effect towards the image. This could have also been done by adjusting the white balance on the camera. The overall image seems to be in focus, which suggests that the shutter speed is likely to be quick. It is hard to tell, however I believe that the coastline image presents a large depth of field, which helps to maintain the image being completely focused. It seems that there is an intended blur, which could be because Socrates raised her ISO for one of the images, this has added to the overall vintage effect being created. On the other hand, the blur could have been added using a photograph editor on the computer.  Moreover, the aperture could have been set low, as the images seem quite light, which helps the two images to blend in nicely with one another. The two images captured are landscape and follow similar camera techniques, which makes the double exposure seem more natural, the two images fit nicely together. When visiting Socrates work at Jersey’s CCA Gallery, I discovered that the double exposure was created with the camera settings. She changed the settings so she took one image and then another and the camera merged the two images together. The contrasting images are put together to create an overall metaphorical image which successfully meets the aim of the photo shoot. In my opinion I really like her work as I believe that camera settings and her editing work together to create interesting and eye capturing photographs. Her image begins to present the idea of Journey and Pathways, as this is one element which impacted Jersey Channel Islands during the Second World War.

Action Plan:

As an action plan I am wanting to recreate Gina’s photo shoot on Jersey’s sea wall. I want to be able to show the contrast of what the wall is used for now and how it was in the second world war. This will begin to develop my interpretation of Jersey through the second world war. I will look at using a double exposure and different techniques when manipulating my images on photo shoot.