The early 1960’s featured a number of diverse trends. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the time. During the late 60’s there was a backlash by radical feminists in America against accouterments of what they perceived to be enforced femininity within the fashion industry. Instead these activist wore androgynous and masculine clothing such as jeans, work boots or berets.
Plan:
For this photoshoot I will be taking the images in the studio to give me the best lighting for recreating these AD’s I will use two different subjects one in each of the images. I am going to be dressing the subject in clothing that is almost exact or close to what the subject in the original image is wearing.
For the first recreation seen below I have found someone I feel will work best to take on this photograph and I have asked them to dress in a way similar to that of the original picture for the best possible recreation I can gain.
I will be trying to show my inspiration from Cindy Sherman by the way I am having my subjects try to embody the way the original subject was standing and acting.
First recreation:
60/70’s
Above shows the photograph that I have chosen to recreate. I had my subject stand against the wall and try to recreate the pose that the model was standing in herself. What I feel could have been done better would be to find an actual wall to take the photographs against rather than in the studio however I feel the rips on the floor of the studio I feel help with the recreation.
Contact Sheet of Outcomes
Above shows a contact sheet of the images I produced on the day of the photoshoot. As can be seen some of the photographs came out too dark when I began to adjust the light, however this was able to be fixed in the camera settings with some adjustments. Taking and thinking of the inspiration from Cindy Sherman I tried to have my subject embody and look at the original image a couple of times to try and recreate and represent the woman in the original photograph.
Unedited Best Outcomes:
Below shows my 6 personal best outcomes from the photo shoots. After selecting these I will go in and start editing my 2 favorites to be more like the original picture and to enhance them more.
To start my ‘Journeys and Pathways’ project, I began by looking at The Boyle Family. I was intrigued by their approach and was fascinated by their accurate replications and attention to detail.
However, I decided against continuing with my own response to The Boyle Family as I didn’t want my final outcomes to have a similar style to that of The Boyle Family’s work.
Next, I want to look at the works of American photographer, Lee Friedlander.
The aim of this photoshoot is to capture images which are able to capture the contrast of Jersey’s seawall during the war compared to now, the same aim as Gina Socrates. In order to do this I will capture more macro and texture photographs, to capture the war side as it showcase the more unpleasant side of the sea wall. To capture the walls beauty, I will look at capturing more landscape images which outcast onto the beach. I want to be able to show experimentation with camera settings and so I will be adjusting the ISO to create a subtle noise to work with the textured images. Moreover, I will look at experimenting with different angles, shutter speeds and white balances. One thing I noticed from Socrates images was that her images seemed to have a hint of orange/yellow to help show historical factors, by adjusting my white balance and using the Hue setting on photoshop I believe I will be able to achieve this effect within my work. The location of the photoshoot will be down at First Tower// Saint Helier sea wall, as it is a long wall which will provide multiple opportunities to capture different images of the same stimulus. I will also capture St Ouen’s sea wall as that is the wall Gina captured when she conducted her photoshoot.
Contact Sheets:
Evaluation:
To evaluate this photoshoot I believe that I have been semi-successful with the images that I have taken. I believe that I have met my artistic aim by capturing the two bipolar uses of the sea wall, in order to present Jersey’s journey through the second world war. However, I do believe that I could have taken more images in order to have more outcomes to work with during the editing process. I was able to capture my images at different viewpoints, from a straight on angle to a birds eye view (which where not as successful as they where captured on a plain ride create a blur to the images). In order to further develop this idea I am going to manipulate my top outcomes on photoshop. I am wanting to create double exposures, level, adjust curves, hue and saturation in order to not only make my images have stronger links to Socrates, but to further develop my presentation of the change in the sea wall in the second world war.
For this shoot I originally wanted to focus on a recreating the work of John Davies, however when editing, I found that using a tilt-shift lens effect in Photoshop (by using the quick mask tool in Photoshop, then using the gradient tool to select which area I wanted to be in focus, then deselected the quick mask, and finally added a lens blur from the ‘tools’ section of the quick bar) made the idea of ‘Journeys and Pathways’ stand out more than just landscape images. I utilized this effect to show how small everything really is, or at least how small it can seem. The final outcome of my images looked like this:
Final Images
Out of all my images, I found that this one worked better than most others taken in terms of creating a realistic looking tilt-shift effect, in essence making the buildings look like tiny scale models. I think the angle, and visibility of what is behind the subject in focus helps create this effect.
For this image, I liked how the wider angle helps this it in showing much more than some of the other images, making it look more like a smaller model city. However I think that the shot would have looked nicer if the houses in the foreground weren’t there. Despite this, I do think it once again supports the message of showing how small we are, especially seeing the Avenue in the background, stretching into the mist on the other side of the island.
Unlike the first 2 final images, I wanted to show a more close up view on the buildings, and personally I find this image looks most like a model building set, and really emphasizes the miniature/model look that I was aiming to create. However, I struggled in photographing more interesting buildings for these shots as they were taken around the Fort Regent area, and therefore meant I had very little to work with in terms of getting nice buildings at the right angle, yet I still think this image works for the message I’m trying to put across.
Viola is a contemporary video artist who usually incorporated a mixture of audio, visual and spacial features in order to present his artwork. His work often focuses on conveying visual representations of basic and fundamental human experiences such as birth and death, while also experimenting with attempting to convey different aspects of human consciousness and spirituality using a visual format. Viola often works with contrasting images such as life and death, or different images conveying the opposite themes of one another in order to draw attention to the polar ends of human experience, and the contrast between the different stages of life.
Life, Death, Rebirth – Bill Viola
Viola’s exhibition “Life, Death, Rebirth” looks into the 3 different stages of life; birth, death, and the events that occur in the space between the 2. Viola uses imagery of his own mother, lain in her hospital bed during the last days of her life, in order to convey the blunt truth of death, while at the same time uses audio clips of heavy breathing to further reinforce the reality of this stage in life. The first frame depicts a newborn child, or in some cases a clip of a woman in the late stages of labor. Accompanied by the audio of crying intertwined with the audio of heavy breathing, Viola is able to merge the presentation of different stages of an individuals journey through life in a more sudden, and almost sensory overloading manner. The presence of the subject suspended in water in the centre frame is used to represent the “suspension between birth and death”, or the journey of an individual between the 2, which Viola uses to represent the majority of an individuals life experience with a single frame. By presenting a subject as broad as “Life” simply and starkly through the use of 3 frames and overlapping audio recordings, Voila is able to present the journey of life in a very realistic and blunt manner, while at the same time allowing the viewer to experience a very engaging visual spectacle.
(Left) Bill Viola Fire Woman, (Right) Tristan’s Ascension
Violas work will influence my own as I am looking to experiment using 3 different photographs depicting the journey from youth to death, with the depiction of a life changing event as the centre image. I will be taking influence from Viola to do this, as the images will carry the same concept of his work, and will be laid out in a similar way, however my images will focus less on the conceptual, hidden meaning of being “suspended” between birth and death, and more on a meaning that can be easily deciphered from the visual images.
For this photo shoot, I wanted to look at landscapes and movement. I also want to look at portraits as I can also show journeys and pathways with people. I wanted to convey the idea of going on a mental journey and discovering yourself. I also wanted to look at physical journeys such as going out on a walk or going on trips to places around the island.
I chose Andrew S Gray because I really enjoyed playing with the technique he uses and experimenting in the style of ICM. I already have some photos that I took at the start of this course which I think are some really great photos and shows the technique off really well.
Photos from Pre AS Task:
I want to work with this style of taking photos, I really like how these photos came out so in this photo shoot, I want to achieve the same look.
Contact Sheet:
Final Images (unedited):
I chose these images because I think they show the technique of ICM really well and I think they look the most visually appealing. I am really happy with how these photos turned out, but I think that they do need a bit of editing to enhance the strength of them. M camera was set to shutter priority, my ISO was 400 and the F number was between 4-10, depending on how much sun there was.
Final Images (edited):
I used Photo Shop to edit these photos.
I really like how these edited photos turned out. I feel like I have captured the theme of journeys and pathways well as these photos were taken when I went to the beach with my parents. I’m also happy with the editing of these as I believe they now look a lot better than the original photos, as some photos were too over exposed.
For this shoot, I wanted to focus on the areas involving security/ surveillance, as well as things that have been left behind(preferably something that has a story, or at least seems as though it does). During this shoot I also tried to get detailed shots of car wheels and rims, as these are the objects in contact with the ground whenever someone gets into a car and drives wherever they need to go. I found it interesting how each wheel had a distinctive look, from the large alloy wheels of a luxurious Bentley, to the unique yellow and purple wheels of a Mitsubishi 4×4. I also found that a lot of signs throughout town were in a poor and dilapidated state, showing the metaphorical journey of time has slowly destroyed or covered up the signs.
Final Images:
For this set of images, I noticed an old tractor that was left parked in an overgrown car park. I wanted to show the aged and tired red/orange paintwork and to give the vehicle a story. Following on from my original idea of photographing old, forgotten objects, and this fits perfectly into that category. Despite the warm colours of the tractor, I personally find this set of images to be quite sad, as they have an atmosphere of abandonment.
I wanted to try and use elements of psycho-geography, using ideas of surveillance and security, combined with old discarded items such as newspapers and other litter people have left around. When I was compiling these images together, I liked the idea of having the security cameras surrounding the newspaper, where the only visibly clear word is ‘convict’. I also like the use of colours used in this image, as each picture inside of the final piece has a similar colour palate as the one diagonal to it.
1st Experimental Shoot Contact Sheet:
In this small shoot I wanted to try and explore some of the ideas I was having around Journeys and pathways, most notably light trails from the back of cars. I have done a small amount of this kind of photography before, but this time I had a better idea of what I was doing, as well as bringing a tripod to hold the camera steady. I also used a wireless remote trigger for the camera to avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button down. I also used the “BULB” mode on the camera to capture some of the images and found it was easier than having to set a certain amount of shutter speed, as it was easier to time the picture with cars going past. I also tried experimenting with photography on public transport, unfortunately, as I took these pictures late at night, there were no other people on the bus, which meant I couldn’t quite get the kind of photos that I wanted. I also tried experimenting with the contrast Between old and new buildings, but as it was dark, it was difficult to capture both the lit up modern architecture in the same frame as the darker, dimly lit older buildings.
2nd Experimental Shoot Contact Sheet:
For this shoot I wanted to utilize a macro lens to get very close up pictures of circuitry and computer components, however I didn’t have access to a real macro lens and instead used a trick that I found online when researching. I found that by taking the lens off of the camera and flipping it around (so that the part that is normally attached to the camera is facing away, towards the subject) created a very zoomed in, macro effect with a very shallow focus. The outcome of this is the ability to create images that are much closer to the subject than any other lens I own.
3rd Experimental Shoot:
Contact Sheet:
I wanted to include a some images involving old and new buildings, and while out on a more recent shoot, I found an interesting way of doing this; I used the reflections of the glass from newer buildings to show the older ones. I found this to be quite effective in terms of exploring the concept of journeys and pathways, due to how it is like the newer buildings are looking down on the older ones, as the are much taller, as well as much more reflective/shiny and new. Even though I did not take too many pictures like this, I think that it turned out how I wanted it to after doing some basic adjustments in Lightroom and making the B&W.
My initial idea for this project was to look at the Journey of Jersey and how it has developed into the way it is today. This lead me to a wide range of approaches and ideas, but with conducting research I have been able to narrow down this idea. I want to look at Jersey during the Second World War and how the island developed over the 5 years. This will provide me with the opportunity to explore the different styles of landscape photography by gaining inspiration through landscape photographers. Moreover, it will broaden my understanding of photography as a whole. Within this planning I wrote down a variety of locations which have a connection between WW2 and how it effected the island. This list includes:
Jersey War Tunnels
Jersey Bunkers
Royal Square
Dolmans
Jersey Sea Walls
Fort Regent
Fields of Poppys
Channel Island Military Museum
These places will all help to present the journey Jersey underwent during WW2. Furthermore, I have considered different photoshop and photograph ideas I could implement into this project. These ideas include:
Tableaux Photography
Photo-Montage
Landscape Photography
Double Exposures
The use of a disposable camera
1940 – 1945 Jersey CI:
30th June 1940 Jersey was invaded by the Germans. On this day they sent a squadron of bombers over the islands and bombed the harbors Jersey.
lack of news from the mainland after the Germans had outlawed the use of crystal radio sets.
The island was also moved to Central European time. In the months following D-Day, as the Allies regained control of France, the source of supplies fueling the islands was now no longer available.
Food shortages on Jersey were finally relieved by the arrival of the Red Cross ship SS Vega, bringing food parcels to Jersey. Before then, substitutes had been used to replace everyday foods, with seawater replacing salt, for instance, and a mixture of parsnip and sugar beet replacing tea.
Hitler ordered the conversion of Jersey into an impregnable fortress. Thousands of slave workers from countries like Russia, Spain, France, Poland, and Algeria built hundreds of bunkers, anti-tank walls, railway systems, as well as many tunnel complexes. In late 1943 the Tunnel Complex Ho8 (now known as the Jersey War Tunnels) in St. Lawrence was converted from an artillery workshop and barracks to an emergency casualty clearing station able to cope with up to 500 patients.. All of the fortifications built around the island were part of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall”. Today, traces of Jersey’s defenses and wartime occupations can be discovered across the island, especially in St. Ouen’s Bay.
By 7 May 1945, the German army had surrendered and the end of the war in Europe was announced. During the week leading up to 6 May islanders had been hearing reports of Hitler’s fall in Berlin by way of their hidden radios. In spite of the fact that the island was still officially under occupation, rumors began circulating of an imminent end to the war in Europe.
On 8 May the units that made up Force 135 received their orders to move to their marshalling camps in Portsmouth. The main body of the Force was due to arrive in the islands on 12 May, however, a small contingent of Force 135, including their Commander, Brigadier AE Snow, left for the Channel Islands aboard HMS’ Bulldog and Beagle the morning of 8 May.
At 7.15am on 9 May, on the quarter deck of HMS Bulldog, Second-in-Command for Guernsey General Siegfried Heine signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the German Command of the Channel Islands, effecting their capitulation. On completion of this, General Heine was then ordered to “immediately cause all German flags and ensigns now flying in the Channel Islands to be lowered”. At Midday an overjoyed Bailiff Coutanche accompanied a German delegation led by the island Commander, General Major Rudolf Wulf, aboard HMS Beagle anchored in St. Aubin’s bay, where the separate surrender of Jersey was to take place. Arriving at the same time in St. Helier’s harbour was a small naval inspection party sent to report on the health of the islanders, who were promptly overwhelmed by an enthusiastic crowd delighted at seeing their first liberators landing on Jersey soil.
Information taken from: https://www.jersey.com/discover-jerseys-occupation-story
After conducting this research I have come upon different aspects of the war, which I could capture within a photograph in order to present the journey of Jersey through the second world war. Moreover, looking at the history has provided me with some artists which could be used in order to help inspire photoshoots. These artists include:
Martin Parr – Liberation Day
Dorothea Lange – Affect of War on People
Gina Socrates – Seawalls
Don Mcullin – War Photographer
CriticalMass – Ruin photography
As I go through this project I will realise what works and what does not work, which will lead to more/different artist inspiration being used.
As humans we constantly make journeys. We travel along pathways (both literal and abstract) each and everyday. We are fixated with documenting journeys too (travelblogs, instagram etc) and become very adept at observing unique and fascinating aspects of “our journey”.
Example : Political instability can often cause mass migration of populations and considerable human distress, which provoke artists to respond with powerful visual statements. Mona Hatoum’s displacement from Palestine to Britain influenced many of her pieces that comment on her personal experiences of such a traumatic event. Ai Weiwei and Sebastião Salgado recorded compelling accounts of refugees and their plight, whilst Dorothea Lange documented the devastating effects of the Great American Depression.
Dorothea Lange – Migrant Mother – 1936
Assessment Objectives
You should provide evidence that fulfils the four Assessment Objectives:
AO1 Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed
by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical
understanding
AO2 Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and
processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops
AO3 Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically
on work and progress
AO4 Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where
appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
Preparatory studies
Your preparatory studies should show evidence of:
• your development and control of visual literacy and the formal elements (tone,
texture, colour, line, form and structure)
• an exploration of techniques and media
• investigations showing engagement with appropriate primary and secondary sources
• the development of your thoughts, decisions and ideas based on the theme
• critical review and reflection.
Period of sustained focus
During the 10-hour period of sustained focus you will produce your final outcome(s)
responding to the Externally Set Assignment theme, based on your preparatory studies. The period of sustained focus may take place over more than one session. You will not be able to access your work outside of these sessions. Once the 10-hour supervised period
has ended you will not be able to add to or alter your work
Inspiration: JOURNEYS AND PATHWAYS
In his installation Nantes Triptych Bill Viola simultaneously shows three videos of people at different stages on the journey through life.
Other photographers and film makers are also interested in recording changes brought by the passing of time. Richard Linklater’s film Boyhood was filmed over 12 years to show the actual development of a boy into a young man.
Christian Boltanski shone lights on fading images of people killed in the Holocaust.These suggest an interest in the journey that the photographs themselves make on a path to obscurity.
In the book We English Simon Roberts records a two year journey in a motorhome around England. The resulting images are lyrical and calm, as he often found beauty in mundane situations and in the exploration of the relationship between people and place. He
purposely avoided the tendency to satirise the English class system in ways that have almost come to be expected by photographers such as Martin Parr.
Walker Evans, David Meadows, Guy Bourdin, John Davies, Dorothea Lange and many other photographers have gone on extended journeys to record their view of the country or their immediate surroundings.
Creative journeys can derive from ideas that link diverse objects in unexpected ways. These reflect the individual preoccupations of the photographer. Edward Weston’s obsession with abstract form led him to transform vegetables, chimneys and toilets into
objects of great formal beauty. Rinko Kawauchi’s image of a dead wasp on a windowsill and a drop of milk on a baby’s chin are both connected by her interest in the poetry of ordinary moments.
The daily grind can be a test of endurance. In Tokyo Compression, Michael Wolf recorded the extreme discomfort of Japanese commuters pressed up against windows dripping with condensation on their journeys to and from work.
In Harlem Trolley Bus, Robert Frank showed the divisions within American society in the mid-20th century. Dryden Goodwin
took pictures of exhausted travellers on London night buses and wove a protective cocoon of blood capillaries around them.
Matt Crabtree transformed commuters on the
London underground into 16th century portraits of praying saints.
Richard Long walks through landscapes, making subtle changes along the way.
Theo Gosselin documents friends / models / muses on various journeys in urban and rural areas
J.Grant Brittain, Warren Bolster and Craig Stecyk documented skate culture throughout the 1980’s and beyond…
Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore and Henry Wessel, Jr. explored man-altered landscapes…often connected by road and rail systems in the USA, UK or Europe.
Ansel Adams – Snake River – 1942
Ansel Adams explored vast areas of America’s National Parks, preserving the notion of their grace, beauty and purity despite changes to their condition and use…
Miklos Gaal employs tilt shift techniques to create toy-town-esque scenes of everyday hustle and bustle life in urban areas, distorting our sense of space, proportion and time.
Here are some other suggestions that may stimulate your imagination:
• trains, cycles, boats, planes, coaches and cars • hiking, camping, caravanning, hotels • obsessions, desires, pursuits • adventure trails, treks, mazes, maps, tunnels, caves • oceans, rivers, canals, motorways, bridges, corridors, staircases, packed lunches, service stations, mobile cafes, drive-thrus, airport lounges, bus stations, train stations • escapism, fantasy, science fiction, books, comics, quests • tracks, footprints, jet trails, bow waves, oil slicks • detectives, clues, pursuits, bloodhounds, foxhunting, treasure hunts, geocaching, orienteering • Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Hero’s Journey • internet, optic fibres, cables, communications, text messages, emails • letters, shipping containers, parcels, presents, trade routes • protest marches, processions, pilgrimages, hustle and bustle, street life (street photography)the journey of life > death
Remember that you must :
Complete 1 x response to Journey and Pathways
Complete 3 x Photo-shoots
Take 150-250 photos per photo shoot
Tackle each part of the marking criteria
Provide a minimum of 10 x thorough blog posts
explore the use of semiotics, metaphor and inter-textuality in the work you research and the images you make
Always ensure you have enough evidence of…
moodboards
mindmaps
case studies (artist references-show your knowledge and understanding)
Above shows a contact sheet of the images I produced on the day of the photoshoot. As can be seen some of the photographs came out too dark when I began to adjust the light, however this was able to be fixed in the camera settings with some adjustments. Taking and thinking of the inspiration from Cindy Sherman I tried to have my subject embody and look at the original image a couple of times to try and recreate and represent the woman in the original photograph.
Evaluation:
Final Images (unedited):
