Henry Mullins was a Jersey Photographer in the mid nineteenth century. He produced thousands of portraits of islanders between 1848 and 1873 at his studio, located in the Royal Square, St Helier. Mullins was part of a circle of photographic pioneers at the Royal Polytechnic institute, London where the first photographic studio in Europe was opened in 1841. The first record of his professional practice is in Edinburgh in 1843. He arrived in Guernsey in 1847 and decided to live in Jersey the following year. While a number of photographic studios opened across the town of St Helier in the 1850s and 1860s, Henry Mullins continued being a photographer for the members of Jersey Society.
Emile Guiton
Emile Guiton was born in Jersey in 1879. He was an active member of the Société Jersiaise. He was a keen amateur photographer and practiced throughout his life. He experimented with colour at the beginning of the twentieth century in “Autochromes”. His subjects include the recording of archaeological excavations and he was one of the few people in Jersey who was allowed to take photographs during the German Occupation. He also recognised the importance of collecting photographs, both as a valuable historic resource and as interesting artefacts. He donated several images to the Société Jersiaise.
Thomas Sutton
Thomas Sutton, who opened a photographic studio in Jersey in 1847, is one of the most important people in the history of world photography. He took the world’s first permanent colour photograph in 1861 and invented the single lens reflex camera in the same year. He also developed the first panoramic camera with a wide angle lens.
The visit to Societe Jersiaise archive served as a introduction to the A2 project, ‘Bunker Archaeololgy’ and the German Occupation of Jersey. The aim of the visit was begin research on and start to develop ideas for the forthcoming project.
To begin the day we were given a brief introduction into what the SJPA is for and what it is used for, before being allowed to rummage through the many boxes of photographs that documented life under Nazi occupation. For this task we had to select at least 10 images that interested us and write down the reference number so we could later use the high resolutions.
Our second task was to create a narrative using a selection of archive images. To do this, my group arranged the images into three categories; Construction, weapons and living. We then further selected four images from each of the categories before arranging them into a order that showed the Nazi’s integrating themselves into island life.
During lunch we were tasked with waling around town and photographing landscapes, people and objects that related to the Occupation. Many of us, including me, went to the obvious places for this. In the Royal Square there’s a ‘V’ paved into the floor and was to represent ‘V’ for ‘victory’.
Battery Moltke is a costral artillery defense system which is incomplete. It is located in Jersey Channel Islands in the parish of St. Ouens. The site contains a number of bunkers and gun replacements which were designed and used to protect St.Ouens bay, as well as in case of attack as the Island was included in the occupation where the Nazis had occupation over Jersey.
A association called ‘The Channel Island Occupation Society’ is an organisation which is made up of volunteers in order to help preserve/ operate some of the bunkers as museums in Jersey while still keeping the original site open. The volunteers all study the occupation of Jersey and help seek awareness so they can help to educate the public of World War Two.
Our Day at the Bunker Site
On the 10th of June 2019, me and my classmates headed down to the bunkers at ‘Batterie Moktke’ at St. Ouens on a photography trip. We began the trip with an information meeting with a CIOS member who started the tour by giving us an insight as to what the occupation was like. This was done in front of a canon used in the war which is shown below, the tour guide as showed us images from the war and told us his experiences as a little boy after WW2 had finished. After learning about the artillery we went on to view the main bunker which was turned into a museum which the public could go and see. This bunker was of course underground and included many rooms, all of which had real war objects which had been preserved. Most of these elements were kept in glass boxes. Some of the different real object we saw during out visit were elements such as radios and typewriters. My favorite part of this tour was the introduction where we were being educated on all of the information of the site while being in the site itself, so we could see the elements he was describing for itself.
an image shown on the tour
Few facts we learnt from our tour guide
Batterie Moltke was located in Jersey Channel Islands and was built by the Germans in 1942 as protection in world war two.
The guns which were shown in the images were originally french guns which were reused by the Germans from the bunkers. They were used through the open concrete posts which allowed them to defend St. Ouens Bay, the guns also allowed them to be able to target the rest of the island of Jersey in case of attack.
After the war the British dismantled the guns and they were thrown over the cliff which have been collected and restored since. However, a few still remain in the bottom of the cliffs which we are no longer allowed to take.
I have tried to replicate a photo from the Jersey Archive in the modern world. I tried to capture more modern items in the photo (Such as modern clothing and accessories) whilst avoiding including aspects which will give away the time this was taken in, such as a car driving past.
This is the original photo which I tried to take at the same place and angle as a photo from the occupation which I saw whilst at the archive visit.
First I have applied the Black & White filter preset to the photo, this is the most obvious step as the photo in the archive didn’t have colour.
Next I imported a frame which will give the photo a damaged/faded effect, which will make it look older and look as if it was taken closer to the time the original was.I had to paste the frame next to itself and delete the line down the middle in order to make it large enough to fit the photo.Next I placed the frame on top of the photo.Then I lowered the opacity of the frame so that the middle white part doesn’t make the whole image too bright.This is the finished image. I think it does a good job of being similar to the original with a modern twist, but without it being too obvious it is a modern image.
To help start off out project we went on a visit to Société Jersiaise. This greatly helped us gain understanding of the topic, and gain inspiration for our projects.
To start off the day we had a presentation about the occupation and liberation of Jersey, and the photographic documentation of it all. We then had a chance to go through recovered old photos and pick out our favourite ones which were later sent to us in digital format.
We had a story-telling activity which involved being put into groups and given a stack of occupation photography which we were tasked to move into an order which we saw fitting. The outcomes of this were interesting as every group took a completely different approach to ordering the same set of photos.
We were then given an hour to photograph interesting war monuments or anything relating to the war in the town area. I have photographed buildings which had existed during the war and still exist today as part of this task. It’s really interesting seeing how the town area has been modernised, yet most of the buildings in war photographs can be easily recognised today.
These are some of the photographs I took for this task:
Noirmont is a headland which is based in Saint Brelade and is the site which holds ‘Batterie Lothringen’. It is a substantial part of the headland and is a large part of the Island’s war memorial, this being because Jersey was occupied by the Germans for five years and the bunkers at Noirmont are a showing of what the war conditions were like. Most people visit the headlands is to view these restored bunkers and gun replacements.
Day at Batterie Lothringen
On the 6th of June i took an independent visit to Noirmont site to explore the bunker sites with are known as ‘Batterie Lothringen’. The reasoning carrying out an extra shoot is because my previous shoot to Battery Moltke it was very rainy and cloudy which made the image not very appealing and i did not get many images as i didn’t want to ruin my camera in the rain. However, on this visit particular visit it was great weather and therefore i was comfortable enough to take many images of the bunkers which had the most historical content, best photographic features, as well as having lots of historical features.
This was not a guided tour but there were different maps around the site to inform you on the bunkers which were around, as well as information sheets about each bunker, making it very easy to get around as well as informative. Due to this not being a guided tour there was no access into the bunkers themselves, restricting images, although i do think i got good images of the bunkers themselves from the outside.
map shown
Batterie Lothringen Facts
The costal tower at the foot of Noirmont is called ‘Tour de Vinde’ and was built when the French invasion was at its peak in 1810-1814.
The Germans started to build defense installations at Noirmont in 1941.
The main bunker in the site is 40 feet long, has two floors and has been restored for viewing.
The bunker has been restored to very high standards and proves to be a unique insite to the German military engineering.
Batterie Lothringen was the only German Naval coastal artillery battery to be established in Jersey during the Occupation.
This site cost the States of Jersey £8,800 and was bought so that the history of WWII soldiers could be kept.
-June 30th 1940 was when Jersey was invaded by the Germans and on this day they sent an airforce of bombers over the islands and bombed jersey harbours.
-May 7th 1945 was when the German army surrendered and the end of the war in Europe was announced.
May 8th 1945 was when the units that made up Force 135 received their orders to move to their marshalling camps in Portsmouth. The main body was meant to arrive on the 12th of May.
-June 6th 2019 is the 74th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings and the start of the liberation of Europe from Nazi Occupation.
-May 30th 2020 is the 25th anniversary of Liberation of Jersey from Nazi Occupation.
Key facts about ‘The Occupation of Jersey’
The German’s prohibited the use of radios which lead to a lack of communication between the island and the mainland.
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.
The Nazi’s put many restrictions on islanders (curfews, rations, not allowed to drive private motor vehicles) they also did not allow anyone enter or leave the island which lead to food shortages.
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.
The fortresses are mainly located around the coasts of the island in order to prevent unauthorised access in/out of the island.
The remains of theses fortresses can still be found on the island, which showcases the historical factors of the island.
The religion of Judaism was not accepted by Hitler/Nazis which lead to people within the religion being sent to concentration camps where they were treated poorly and sadly the nazis slowly killed them off.
Week 2-3: 12 -23 June Editing: Introduction to Lightroom
Complete the following blog posts
EDITING > LIGHTROOM – Import images from folder on M:drive into Lightroom – Create Collection Set: Bunker Archaeology – Create Collection: Bunker Shoot 1 under the above Collection Set – 1st Edit using selection tools such as Pick (P) and Reject (X) – 100-50 image – 2nd Edit using 3-5 stars rating – 50-60 images – 3rd Edit using Colours, Yellow and Green for a final 20-30 images – Use Compare and Survey View for selecting best images – Produce print screens from each stage of editing and produce a blog post with annotation
DEVELOPING > LIGHTROOM •Basic adjustment in COLOUR using White Balance / Exposure / Levels / Brightness /Contrasts / Highlights /Whites/ Blacks •Advanced adjustment: Cropping/ Spot Removal/ Graduate Filter / Adjustment Brush/ Lens Correction/ Transform / Vignetting •Export to EDIT folder: Set of colour images in high-res as tiffs (4000 pixels on long edge) for further experimentation in Photoshop •Export to BLOG folder: same set of colour images as above in low-res jpgs (1000 pixels) to upload to blog post with annotation •REPEAT same procedure as above in BLACK & WHITE and export both a set of high-res (4000 pix) and low-res (1000 pix)
EXPERIMENT 1: CROPPING > LIGHTROOM •In Photoshop open up high-res tiff files •Using cropping tool only begin to make some radical changes by selecting areas of your images for a different visual impact. •Produce at least 3 different crops for 6 images. •Export to BLOG folder: same set of colour images as above in low-res jpgs (1000 pixels) to upload to blog post with annotation •REPEAT same procedure as above and export both a set of high-res (4000 pix) and low-res (1000 pix)
EXPERIMENT 2: COLOUR > B&W ADJUSTMENTS > LIGHTROOM •Use tools such as White Balance / Exposure / Levels / Curves / Brightness /Contrasts / Colour Balance / Hue / Saturation / Colour overlay and make radical changes to the overall aesthetic of the images. •Try and adjust images according to your visceral quality – relating to your deep inward feelings rather than how something looks! •Produce 3 different adjustments with images •Export to BLOG folder: same set of colour images as above in low-res jpgs (1000 pixels) to upload to blog post with annotation •REPEAT same procedure as above and export both a set of high-res (4000 pix) and low-res (1000 pix)
6th June 2019 – 75th Anniversary of The D-Day Landings and the start of the liberation of Europe from Nazi Occupation
9th May 2020 – 75th Anniversary of Liberation of Jersey from Nazi Occupation
30th June 1940 – Jersey was invaded by the Germans. On this day they sent an airforce of bombers over the islands and bombed the harbours Jersey.
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.
8 May 1945 – 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”.
Key Facts about ‘The Occupation of Jersey’:
The German’s prohibited the use of radios which lead to a lack of communication between the island and the mainland.
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.
The Nazi’s put many restrictions on islanders (curfews, rations, not allowed to drive private motor vehicles) they also did not allow anyone enter or leave the island which lead to food shortages.
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.
The fortresses are mainly located around the coasts of the island in order to prevent unauthorised access in/out of the island.
The remains of theses fortresses can still be found on the island, which showcases the historical factors of the island.
The religion of Judaism was not accepted by Hitler/Nazis which lead to people within the religion being sent to concentration camps where they were treated poorly and sadly the nazis slowly killed them off.
Mood Board – Exploring Inspiration Towards The Occupation Of Jersey:
