AO1 Develop Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Uncategorized

Developing and experimenting- Photo-montages

Leave a comment

In this blog post I will be experimenting by creating photo-montages related to the war, which show the occupation of Jersey and the effects it had on the island. I will be using a mixture of original archive images and also some of my own images that I have taken as part of the project so far.

Montages can be created either physically or digitally using software such as Photoshop. It is the process of putting different types of images on top of each other in creative ways, in order to convey a feeling of theme.

Mood Board

Below are some historical related photo montages that I have looked at, and used as inspiration before creating my own.

Mood board.
Images are not my own.

My Montages

Below are my own montages that I have created my cutting and sticking together printed images.

Here all all 4 of my montages side by side.

1st montage

For this montage I used an image I took of a fortification in St Ouen’s bay. Over the top you can see an image of a road that had German writing on it. Since I printed out some images double sides to try and create an interesting effect, On the reverse of the image was a photo of some German soldiers which I cut around. I then turned the image around and stuck down the cut image with the soldiers on facing down. This created an interesting effect as you can see the sort of outline of the people. The cut of of people is also slightly elevated as I wanted it to stick out

This montage was intended to show how the Island changed under the occupation to include more “Nazi lifestyle”. The image includes something to represent different things that and how they changed Jersey. The fortification I used as my background shows how the island was changed and altered to become resistant to attacks, the road with the German writing on it shows how the language became introduced and forced onto the Jersey people, and the outline of the solders represents how they enforced a different way of life onto people.

In this image you can see that I made a spring out of paper in order to make the outline of the soldiers stand out more.

2nd montage

This montage and my previous one complement each other well. To create this montage I used a image of the wall surrounding the gun emplacement in St Ouens. I then used the rest of the paper from the previous image I cut out and stuck it on top. You can once again see the outline of the soldiers on the image.This montage and my previous one complement each other well. To create this montage I used a image of the wall surrounding the gun emplacement in St Ouens. I then used the rest of the paper from the previous image I cut out and stuck it on top. You can once again see the outline of the soldiers on the image.

If I were to display these montages I would display this one with my previous one as they both represent changes in Jersey’s society. This image shows a different part of a fortification in the background, to show how the island was changed into a fortress, the outline of the soldiers and the German writing shows how the islanders lost their freedoms and language.

3rd montage

Here I wanted to make a montage where you are able to compare and contrast. I simply cut an archive image showing the Pomme D’Or hotel in St Helier in half, and cut a recent image of the same hotel that i captured in half too. I then simply attached them together by taping the back.

I think this montage is very effective because you can clearly compare. It is very interesting because there is such a huge contrast in era, however you can also see that it is the exact same building. I think this shows that every place can have an important history. I decided to to a montage of this specific hotel because on Liberation Day, British troops hung a Union Jack from the balcony to symbolise the end of Jersey’s occupation, which is a very important turning point in Jersey’s history which I felt could be represented well in this way.

4th montage

For this montage I used an archive images of German soldiers for my background. I then stuck on half a picture of the Pomme D’Or hotel in a way which the middle sticks out. Over the top I stuck an archive image of people that were originally standing outside the Pomme D’Or on liberation day. Over the top I stuck an information caption to give the image more context.

This montage is interesting as it also alludes to Jersey’s liberation. The image of the hotel and the image of the islanders celebrating being liberated is placed over the image of the German soldiers. Having the German soldiers partially hidden represents the fact that they were defeated. Having the contrast of the hotel in the modern day, and the liberators standing outside the same hotel on the original day is also a huge but effective contrast since it shows that the site is just as important in representing liberation as it was in 1945.

Leave a Reply