4.1. Lee Friedlander:
Second photo shoot
In this photo shoot I learned from the mistakes I made in the first photo shoot and took sharper images at more intriguing angles. It was also raining during this photo shoot; which helped reflect lights off the paintwork of the cars and make them more shiny in general, as well as create extra details which make the photos look sharper.
Journeys and Pathways – Introduction + Initial Plan
Here are some of my initial ideas on the exam title of ‘Journeys and Pathways’.
I want to keep this topic on one level so that it all relates to Jersey, this is because I was born here and I’ve lived here over 5 years now, therefore I know the island well, however I don’t know that much about what it used to be like, there are many things which my Jersey relatives would remember and reminisce about which I (being a teenager in the 2000s) would have no idea about. So I want to explore the evolution of Jersey and the journey it has been through over the years, and maybe even talk to some Jersey born people who’ve lived here their entire life, and get their opinions on what’s changed over the years.
I think my main areas of exploration on this topic are going to be related to: the evolution of Jersey streets and architecture over time, street photography=art on Jersey streets and the expectations vs reality of what Jersey can look like to outsiders vs how it actually is.
-urban architecture/design
-street photography
-art into the streets
-drawing & painting over photographs
-buildings/landscapes in jersey, over time
-murals, introduction of art into the streets
-expectations vs reality on how Jersey can be seen by outsiders vs how it actually is.
Beginning with the evolution of Jersey streets over time, I’ve been coming up with some ideas on how I would be presenting this research, other than just having two photos beside each-other as this seems uninteresting to me. I would like to join the two (the old and the new) together somehow. My current idea is to search and find for archival photos of the old Jersey streets and then go into the exact same spot (if i can) and retake the new photo. This would show the development of the streets but wouldn’t really connect them. Therefore I thought I would incorporate a bit of art into it as-well and trace over the new retake photo, using clear plastic paper and a white pen to clearly show all the new additions and the modernity of what has changed but also linking both eras into one piece.
Moving onto the topic of art on Jersey streets. I personally feel like the streets are lacking some murals/street art, of course there are some very impressive ones which I like seeing when I’m out and about, but in my opinion they aren’t enough compared to some places in London/Amsterdam where there is so much art and creativity going on the streets, I feel like the look of Jersey can very much be dominated by the fact it is known for being a ‘tax haven’ and a financial industry area. So sticking with my initial idea of painting and drawing over some street photography photos in Jersey, I would like to experiment and ‘play around’ with how Jersey could’ve/still can turn out if the island would have taken a more creative approach instead of a standard finance/business look.
For my final idea, I really want to explore the expectations of Jersey as a supposedly well-off, tax haven island, with lovely beaches and complete safety vs what it actually is like to live here now + what it was like in the past, and see the realities of things. Such as some disturbing past and recent crimes and why the island is regarded as being ‘full of secrets’. For this specific idea of comparing the expectation vs the reality, I looked at the work of Alice Wielinga, an artist which I will be doing a case study and response to in the near future as a part of my project.
This is a brief mood-board from some of my initial ideas about street photography, which I made before looking into other ideas.
Kristen Lewis Information
Kristen Lewis is based in Denver and classifies herself as a ‘documentary family photographer.’ Her work centres around families or travel because she is very close to her family and often travels with friends or family. The majority of her work comes from these sessions she does called Day in The Life sessions where she spends twenty four hours with a family and documents their daily journey and what they do for a day.
She’s been using Nikon cameras since 2000 and her dominant lens is the Nikon 35mm f/2.
Daniel Antunes More Edits (not finished more to add)
Photoshoot 2 – Bunkers
Planning:
For my second photoshoot I want to capture Jersey’s bunkers in order to show another stage of Jersey’s journey through the second world war. The aim of the photoshoot was to showcase different camera techniques in order to showcase the use of the Jersey bunkers during the second world war. I am going to capture the bunkers down at Noirmont, as there are multiple bunkers to capture providing many photograph opportunities. Moreover, the background of the bunkers are almost empty down at Noirmont which makes my images more like the artists I studied, making stronger links. I intended to take landscape images to capture the whole bunker, but I also intended to capture portrait macro shots. I will be capturing the images at a straight on and worms eye angle to showcase Jersey’s bunkers. With regards to camera settings I will be using a quick shutter speed, low ISO (so I do not have an intended blur), the daylight white balance, and manual focus in order to create a short depth of field like my case studies used. Furthermore, I intended to explore the bunkers (so I am not just capturing a landscape image of the whole bunker) which provides my own exploration towards a subject matter. I am doing this to provide more images and different content to work with as well as being able to showcase different camera techniques.
Evaluation:
To evaluate this photoshoot I believe I have managed to produce some strong outcomes which show my ability to use different camera settings (shutter speed, ISO, white balance) to create different effects. Moreover, I have been able to show my recreation of my artist that I researched and further images showing my style of photography capturing the same subject. I think that my images present the theme of Jersey through the second world war as it showcases Jersey’s defence mechanisms and how they have been almost abandoned and isolated since the war presenting them almost like ruins showing there importance of the second world war, providing another aspect of Jersey’s journey through the second world war. As an action plan I intended to manipulate my stronger images like Virilio and Andrew’s photographs. Moreover, I want to experiment with different ways of showcasing Jersey’s bunkers, allowing me to experiment with photoshop to provide evidence of my knowledge and skill using the software.
Editing – Journeys And Pathways Test Shoot
Some of my best images of the shoot were close up, almost macro photography and as such I have cropped them to emphasize the best qualities of the composition. I increased the exposure on most of the images as they were taken in the CR2 format and thus were rather dark. I also experimented with the color more than normal as I chose to carry out this photo shoot around noon with a grey sky, this resulted in images with flat lighting which allow colors to be easily adjusted. Individual colors had their hue, saturation and luminance manually adjusted. Other general edits include removing chromatic aberration and accounting for any distortion caused by the lens using light rooms lens correction filters.
Image Selection – Journeys And Pathways Test Shoot
I have noticed a recurring pattern that of the images taken my best include some form of boundaries. Whether it is a physical barrier such as a fence or gate, or a sign restricting activity such as signs indicative of private property or road signs.
Of the photo-shoot, the images I have decided I will be editing are 4669, 4670, 4683, 4688, 4689, 4692.
Journeys And Pathways Test Shoot
First photo shoot – final images
These are the final images from this photo shoot. They aren’t as good as I wanted them to be, but I have learnt from this photoshoot so I won’t make the same mistakes in the next shoot.
