An archive is a place that forms of documentation are stored, this can include text, paintings, sculptures and pictures. They are mainly set up so records can be kept of times and so that people can reference work and events that occured in history. Most of the time the work in archives is unpublished, this is the main difference between archives and libraries.
The way that I will be making use of the Jersey photographic archive is by looking at the old images and then either using them to make photo-montages with work of my own or to reference when taking my own photos.
The photos that I have requested from the archive are ones that relate to my grandfather. I have been able to find a copy of his registration card and his identification registration form. I was only able to find my Grandfathers as my grandmother may not have been old enough to have one.
The registration card that I have been able to obtain has important information on it that could be useful to me in the future. This includes the image of him and the writing about him. The card tells me where he lived and gives another iteration about his occupation which reads “Fisherman” This i already knew but it is a vital part of the story about him in the occupation.
On the 4th June 2019 we visited the ‘Societe Jersiase’ where we were introduced to theme of our A2 project ‘Occupation’. During this introduction we where told about key dates and events during the occupation of Jersey (such as the time frame of the occupation form 1939-1945, for more information about the key dates can be seen on this blog post)and Key photographers who captured images within the second world war. These artists included Henry Mullins (portrait photographer), William Collie (Fox Talbet and calotype photography) and Thomas Sutton (panoramic photography).
Societe Jersiase is well known for their private photo archive, which explores Jersey’s historical, cultural and social over a large period of time. Thankfully, the archive has numerous of albums containing images taken during the occupation of Jersey, allowing me to explore different aspects of Jersey’s war. All images where placed in plastic covers to ensure our hands do not ruin the photographs which have been preserved over a longitudinal period of time. To further explore these images workers within the archive made some of the images digital and printed them off, allowing us to begin to explore narratives. We had to select our favorite images and order them in order to storyteling and create a narrative, and meaning towards the collection of images. With in depth exploration into the archive and the activity of creating a narrative allowed me to gain a better understanding of what life was like for people living through this time, and how Jersey has changed and developed since the second world war.
As our final activity we were given the opportunity to explore town, now understanding the history of the war, and capture one landscape, one portrait and one picture of an object. Doing this allowed to think and explore creatively trying to capture Jersey’s war or what is left from the war in today’s society. Below are the top images produced:
Our Narrative
Within our narrative we told the story of how the occupation effected different aspects of the island. The story starts on the left, like a book, which showcases the shore of Jersey and how highly protected it was, so that no one entered or left the country. It then followed through to a portrait of a man with different locations and items which were personal to him showcasing a personal effect the war had on someone. Moving over Jersey’s town is presented, which showcases the social and cultural aspects of Jersey during that time. In addition, we used a lot of photographs to make it a chaotic looking narrative which is symbolic for the chaos Jersey experienced during the occupation of Jersey.
After that task we were then allowed to take photographs using our cameras. Our brief was to try and capture the Occupation of Jersey, including a landscape, portrait and photograph of an object. My initial ideas was to walk to the Bunker located on Mount Bingham, for the other two types of images I was unsure what to capture but experimented with different things around town as I wondered around. My camera settings where kept normal, with a quick shutter speed, low ISO, automatic white balance and varied my aperture as well as experimenting with depth of field. My outcomes and editing process can be seen below:
1st edit – Flagging2nd edit – Star Rating3rd edit – Color Rating
Outcomes:
To create these outcomes I used the develop section in Lightroom, where I adjusted the contrast, exposure, highlights, black and white, curves, cropping and other elements which slightly adjusted the images. I am very happy with these outcomes as they showcase how Jersey has been left since the war has ended and how Jersey is out growing these abandoned bunkers, due to the over grow and nature taking back that land. All four images clearly show my competence in taking images and my ability to accurately adjust and edit images to showcase a theme or story in a creative manor.
To conclude this outline was successful, I learnt the importance of photo archives, I learnt more about the history of Jersey and have a more in-depth understanding about the occupation of Jersey, as well as how photography has developed on the island. Moreover, I have been able to begin to look at narratives and was able to capture images in town relating to Jersey’s war which creates a narrative in itself. In addition, I have had a successful first attempt at editing and experimenting with the images on Lightroom in order to clearly present the historical and cultural elements towards the images.
A zine (pronounced zeen) is an independently or self-published booklet, often created by physically cutting and gluing text and images together onto a master flat for photocopying, but it is also common to produce the master by typing and formatting pages on a computer. The publication is usually folded and stapled. Historically, zines have been around since 1776 when Thomas Paine self-published Common Sense and used it as an instrument in promoting the ideas that contributed to the U.S. War for Independence. Just a perfect example to demonstrate the free spirit of zine culture. Format, size and orientation.
Zine comes from fanzine which is a term that generally describes a small-circulation science fiction publication. Fanzines first appeared in the late 1920s. Zines were used to promote punk music in the 1970s, a time when this type of music received very little interest from the larger press music. This phenomenon spawned a new interest in self-publishing. There are many bold, funny and beautifully designed zines out there. Some zines became so popular and turned into regular publications, such as B****.
A zine (short for magazine or fanzine) is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated images and text. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation. Popularly defined within a circulation of 1,000 or fewer copies, in practice many zines are produced in editions of fewer than 100. Among the various intentions for creation and publication are developing one’s identity, sharing a niche skill or art, or developing a story, as opposed to seeking profit.
Moodboard:
Format, Size and Orientation:
The format and size of an image can determine the importance of an image in a sequence or can allow more or less detail to be apparent in the composition. Image formats and sizes change between types of zines. Some larger zines may include full or double page spreads of images simply due to the size of the zine, for example in a newspaper. While a large page can also be made up of lots of smaller images that are all able to fit.
As the production of a Zine, including images of my best work, is an ongoing process throughout the year, I have researched into the Zine making process, and have taken the time to physically look over various examples of Zines, produced by both professional and amateur photographers, in order to take inspiration that can be used in the development of my own Zine.
After coming into contact with a range of different Zine styles and layouts, I was able to gain an understanding of the type of layout and style that would suit my work, and this has given me the opportunity to begin to develop and plan my own layout for a Zine. The following are examples that I felt were useful and/or were interesting examples of layout/design:
The above images are examples of zines that I researched. I have taken inspiration from the above images, and they have influenced the development of the experimentation for the layout of my zine itself.
I found that the above image used an interesting layout for its images throughout the book. The images are laid out in a contact-sheet style, with certain images being cut off and the centre image acting as the main focus for the page. I found this to be a unique and original way to layout the images in the zine, and it shows a connection between the photographs themselves, and their origins (as photography used to involve the printing of contact sheets).
Many of the zines that I came across contained at least one full-bleed image. This involves a single image taking up the space of two pages in the book (typically over the middle page), allowing for the focus of the observer to placed fully on the single image. This layout also allows for a larger image to be presented in an effective and eye-catching way.
The image above was taken from a zine in which the front cover was designed to replicate the layout of a passport, which reflects the theme of the whole zine itself (being issues occurring abroad). I feel like the contrast between the minimalism of the logo and the quote on the left, and the image on the left allows for the narrative of the book to be easily told, as the quote on the left related to the story represented in the image on the right.
I have decided to experiment with the photo montage technique for potential use in my long term project. I have incorporated my own images and combined them with archival imagery to create strong and powerful motifs representative of life in Jersey during the occupation. I have used the traditional approach of physically cutting and pasting images with craft knives and glue. I am looking to tell a story through each image by using photos and images that are relevant to one another
Images
Here are my edited images. All have been cut and paste together by hand and during this process, I have been looking at ways of making the montage both interesting and informative, for example for the below image, I used an archival image of a group of young Jersey men, whom assisted in the building of multiple German fortifications. In the second image I have utilized the front page of the JEP newspaper as a backdrop to a German radio tower. The newspaper cover contains a notice on it regarding the allied invasion of Normandy, and it is a message from the German commandant to the islanders warning them that if Jersey were to be invaded then resistance/ co operation with the allies would be punishable
In this image I have chosen to cut and paste a group of male workers over the top of the Les landes radio tower. I chose the photo as it is providing us an insight into the faces of the real men who were forced into creating these structures.
This image is my favorite image I have produced. I have cut out the outline of the Les Landes radio tower and pasted it over the top of a copy of an original JEP front cover from D-Day. The newspaper article itself is essentially German propaganda as it is stating that many parachute units have been destroyed and the article also states that the Germans are successfully pushing the allies back into the sea, which wasn’t the case. This propaganda was used to lower morale in islanders in order to keep them under control and create less chance of an islander led rebellion.
This image incorporates German bunker art in the batterie moltke bunker system, with an image of the first allied military service on the island after Liberation. The bunker art depicts an eagle atop a bomb with the caption translating to “It will fly over England”,meaning that the eagle which is a metaphor for the German Luftwaffe will have aerial superiority over the skies of the mainland. It was painted in the bunker most likely to boost morale and used as a form of propaganda. I have decided to superimpose the image of the allied military parade over the top of the bunker art, as the image of the allied parade is representative of triumph and victory, and also due to it being layered over the top of the image, represents allied superiority.
In this image, I have chosen to utilise a photograph of a German signpost, which translates to “entry forbidden” and I have incorporated images of young children from the occupation into the image. I find it quite a powerful image as for some of these children growing up, they would have seen the occupation as rather quite normal as they may not have had much experience of freedom and liberty before the occupation. For children that may have experienced life before occupation, the process of going from total freedom to living under Nazi rule must have been a very confusing process. from freely roaming through country lanes to having restrictions on where they could go and play must have been confusing beyond comprehension for children and young people
A zine (pronounced zeen) is an independently or self-published booklet, often created by physically cutting and gluing text and images together onto a master flat for photocopying, but it is also common to produce the master by typing and formatting pages on a computer. The publication is usually folded and stapled. Historically, zines have been around since 1776 when Thomas Paine self-published Common Sense and used it as an instrument in promoting the ideas that contributed to the U.S. War for Independence. Just a perfect example to demonstrate the free spirit of zine culture.
Within class, we were also shown examples of photography zines and newspaper collections to understand the composition of images, how colour schemes matter to show either contrast or resemble and that the shapes and space used must be purposeful, otherwise it won’t carry on the narrative.
I focused on the zine ‘Life here is Serious – The Sochi Project Sketchbook series’. I was drawn to this zine because of the composition of the images, and the actual images themselves. The images had minimalistic backgrounds making the portraits and details of the model’s face the centre focus.
Photomontage is a type of collage art. It is composed primarily of photographs or fragments of photographs in order to direct the viewer’s mind toward specific connections. The pieces are often constructed to convey a message, whether that be a commentary on political, social, or other issues. When done correctly, they can have a dramatic impact.
There are many ways that a photomontage can be constructed. Quite often, photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and other papers are glued onto a surface, giving the work a real collage feel. Other artists may combine photos in the darkroom or camera and in modern photographic art, it’s very common for the images to be created digitally.
We were given the task of creating our own ‘cut and paste’ photo montages. This meant printing out our preferred images of primary and secondary sources, then overlaying and cutting out the images.
My first montage I created was a paper version. To do this montage I gathered together different images that the JEP had printed in the newspapers from the occupation in Jersey so I could insert an image into my zine that has a connection to my life and its history. I create this I started by brain storming different ideas and came to conclusion that I wanted all my images in black and white to add a older feel to it. After picking my background, which is a page from a newspaper during the occupation in jersey which has a few standout words which I thought would bring more to my montage. I found an image of soldiers during some recreational time during the war which I decided to place towards the top of the background and adding a bold word in text which is too the point but makes it seem dramatic. I then added a few more images I found, one was of a man who was collecting his belongings before being evacuated and the other was of a family who had lost their sun, husband and father, along with this there was a piece of text next to this image talking about a soldier who had died so I cut that out as well and stuck it over the family. I then decided to add a colored image in of a poppy, which shows respect to the soldiers as the poppy is what is used during remembrance of service men and women who went or were involved in war. I then finally finished my montage buy using a cut out of a gun and coloring it in black, to just show the silhouette of the gun, to show a bold representation of what used i the war and it adds an emotion of respect and pain towards the people who were involved.
My second montage was created on Photoshop. I used an image I took when photographing bunkers, I then proceeded to add images of silhouette of soldiers and the Islands flag. I reduced the opacity of the soldiers as they are now a memory, they are acting as spirits for the people who fought in the wars for our freedom. The image acts as a piece of remembrance and respect.
Again, similar to the image above this montage I created stands as a means of respect and remembrance to the soldiers who didn’t make it to liberation day in the Channel Islands. The poppys add emotion too the image, making it more touching for a viewer to look at, as they know the sign and meaning behind the poppys.
My meaning behind my final montage, is to show respect to those who lost their lives for us, but using an image of a veteran grave yard, where everyone who lost their lives during WW2 was buried so we could all honor them together. What is very touching about this graveyard in Normandy, France is that some of the crosses don’t have names on them as soldiers where unrecognizable. I added the wall of names over the top of the images to show respect to the people who had been lost in action and where never found, this also adds a more touching emotion to the images and allows for people to make their respect to the people. Finally, but adding in two soldiers in blacked silhouette and turning down the opacity holds a gut wrenching feel and created a desolated feeling amongst us as the soldiers are creating a ghost like figure. I am thinking of place this image at the end of my Zine to create an everlasting effect of the people who look at it as it is the last image they see but one which holds the most meaning and emotion, it is also symbolizing the end of the war, so with this image as a full bleed over two pages will really finish off the Zine and images will be in the same order which everything happened during WW2 and the German Occupation
