-No one was allowed on the beaches, and the Germans were in all the hotels like the Prince of Wales.
-You could only go fishing if you bought a German with you.
-During Liberation she was at home because there wasn’t a way for her to get all the way to town.
Hedley
-Left school at 14.
-He was made Herdsman by his father.
-During the occupation, farmers had to grow so much wheat in order to feed the Germans and everyone else.
-The wheat was cut and stacked.
-He was too young to carry the stacks so he did rounds with the cider. One day the German guard that was sent was really young and had his eye on the cider.
-Hedley kept offering him glass after glass till the German was passed out drunk.
-He got his father who told everyone what he’d done in Jersey French.
-They all took and hid some of the wheat.
-After that, they always sent two Germans instead.
-Liberation he rung the bell at St Lawrence church till 1 pm then went out with a girl to see Liberation but it was so busy they couldn’t see anything.
Joan Tapley was 6 years old when the German Occupation began. She lived in the north coast of Jersey, therefore she could hear the bombings in France.
While the Germans were in France they wanted to invade the Channel Islands. The citizens in Jersey had to put up white flags or sheets as a symbol for the Germans to enter.
Joan Tapley would watch the planes fly over ahead and was fascinated by the white vapour trails. It was dangerous for her to admire them on the fields so she had to hide in the bushes to be protected from the bombings.
Les Platon, located in the centre of Jersey, is the highest point in the island and was used by the Germans for their artillery to aim and shoot towards France.
Even though Jersey traded with France, there was still a lack of food so people were served rations. The servings were small and the islanders were competing for food. Many citizens started growing their own food in their gardens.
The Jersey citizens had substitute food. For example they substituted tea by using parsnips and sugar by boiling sugar beets.
There were several military zones all around the island where citizens were prohibited to enter; These zones included beaches & cliffs. The Germans even introduced a curfew so people had to return back to their homes by 9pm in winter and 10pm in summer. The people in Jersey definitely felt restricted from movement.
Jersey also had blackouts where the islanders had to turn off their lights and cover their windows. The only advantage of the blackouts was being able to see several stars at night since there was no light pollution.
TECHNICAL:
After listening to Joan Tapley’s stories about her experiences during the German Occupation in Jersey, we were given the opportunity to photograph her in the studio. In the studio I used the manual mode to capture portraits of Joan. I set my IOS to 100 since the image was captured in a bright scene and had my aperture at F16 for a large depth of field. My shutter speed was at 1/125. These adjustments made my settings appropriate for studio photography.
LIGHTING:
In order to capture images of Joan, we used a two point lighting setup. One light faced towards Joan and one was illuminating the white backdrop. This allows the photographer to manipulate the lighting of the image so the subject can be illuminated in various ways and to either emphasise or eliminate shadows. The Key light is the most important light a photographer will use in a lighting setup. the purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. We also used a flash trigger which is a method of achieving flash sync without the need for a wired connection between the camera and the flash units illuminating the scene.
EVALUATION:
I wanted my images to conceptually represent Joan as a Jersey citizen who has experienced a lot during the German Occupation. To create a dramatic yet historical effect to my images, I decided to convert my photos into black and white. The filter represents the time period during World War 2 since only black and white film was available.
Hearing Joan’s stories of what life was like during the German Occupation has allowed me to gain a better perspective of what life must have been like during World War 2. I believe my images manage to contextually showcase Joan’s stories. Overall it was a nice and informative experience since she explained her stories in detail and cooperated well during the photoshoot.
Joan was 6 years old when the occupation of Jersey began, and we were lucky enough as a class to have her come in a hear her experiences first hand in order to help us gain a more personal insight into what things were like.
Joan lived on the North cost of the island, meaning she was closer to France so she could hear all the bombing that was happening over there. The British completely demilitarized the island, and Joan recalled everyone on the island having to hang white sheets outside of their houses to show the Germans that they surrendered. Joan spoke about having a younger friend who lived near her, with whom she watched the German planes flying above Jersey with from the bushes where they were sheltered.
Joan spoke about having ration books, and she also said how in desperate times people would try anything in order to have access to more rations. Joan’s mother registered with the farm across the road from where they lived which meant that they got extra rations of certain things per week.
Joan recalled how the Germans wanted to control movement in the island, so they introduced curfews in the military zone. Everyone who lived in this area had to be inside their homes at 9PM in the winter, which was extended to 10PM in the summer, and no one could leave their house before 6AM. Blackouts were also introduced in Jersey meaning that everyone had to cover their windows and doors, so that the British couldn’t find any areas to attack in Jersey. Despite being restricted, Joan spoke about one night where they took all the covers off the windows and they were able to very clearly and vividly see all the stars in the sky since there was no light pollution.
We were also told about the art of substituting, which became very common practice during this time. Since the amount of rations people got were very little, islanders came up with smart ways to recreate things such as tea and coffee. Parsnips were commonly baked until they were brown and then submerged in boiling hot water to make coffee and tea.
I was very interested to know more about the treatment of the Jersey people by the German solders. Towards the end I asked Joan how, on the whole, people were treated and she said that generally, if you followed the rules and didn’t cause trouble you would be left alone.
One story that stuck with me was when Joan told us about the German soldier who came to her house asking to buy an egg. Joan recalled how one day she came back home to find her father sitting down at the table with his head in his hands. When she asked what was wrong he said that he had denied a starving and ill German soldier and egg, and he said that he “never thought he would be part of man’s inhumanity to man“. Joan said that the German solder said he had been diagnosed with TB and he had not heard from his family in a couple of months. He also said that he had been working in London just before he was conscripted and had to go home and fight in the military. This story stuck with me since Joan mentioned how much her parents despised the German soldiers, but after hearing his story they were very sympathetic of him. It also made me realise that when thinking about the occupation, it is very easy to see the occupying forces as the enemy, however some of those individuals probably did not believe in the cause they were being forced to carry out.
Bob Le Sueur was only 19 years old when the German’s occupied Jersey Channel Island’s. During the 5 years of occupation Bob accomplished many things, but importantly he helped to assist Russian’s escape the prison in Jersey , which he was commemorated for by receiving an MBE later on in his life. During this time period he worked as an insurance agent, allowing him to move about. Soon after Bob decided to become an English teacher at Hautlieu school. Allowing Bob to come visit us at Hautlieu not only brought nostalgia to him but also allowed him to share his storied surrounding the topic of the Occupation and his political view points during this time.
To this day Bob can be considered a busy many, as he is constantly doing interviews to share his stories and heroic acts during the Second World War. Many more of his stories can be found online in video interviews, with some of them being linked below.
Interview with Mr Le Sueur
Previous Interview with Mr Le Sueur
“People in every part of the world are extraordinarily alike, with basic human values”
Bob Le Sueur
The Stories:
Le Sueur provided three different stories, almost in a chronological order of events during the war, the first being set of the morning of the German’s arrivals. That particular morning he remembered being awoken too bomb plane dropping two cylinders, connected to parachutes, which contained messages to the command force in Jersey, at this time their was no command force in Jersey, which meant the messages where taken to the Bailiff. The message said that the island had 24 hours to surrender otherwise there would be a carpet bombing onto the Island. This message lead to an emergence sitting at the states, to which they all decided to surrender. During this meeting many stood in anticipation outside the states, in the royal square. The woman believed that when the German’s occupied the Island they would be raped before nightfall, which created an unnerving and negative atmosphere to the already nightmarish situation. Soon after the Bailiff announced that the Island was going to surrender and allow the German’s to occupy.
“When this is all over we must hurry back home and barricade doors”
Two ladies waiting in anticipation – Bob Le Sueur
His Second story was set around the middle of the occupation, and was about a Russian student being hidden by two Islanders, in protection from forced labour and slave work. To set the scene he explained how one of the Russian’s was on his way home from school to which he was escorted onto a train and transported over to Jersey, leaving his parents clueless as to where his child was. He informed us how they managed to get this Russian a fake identity card, allowing him too have freedom and roam the streets in Jersey. This short story was interesting and gives us insight into his heroic acts during the occupation which lead him to the MBE.
“Liberation day was a day islanders knew was coming.”
Bob Le Sueur
The final story told was the day of liberation. His crystal set radio, hidden around households, informed him that Berlin Fell April 30th, and on May 1st was the important labour day in Soviet Union. Further to this the JEP informed islanders that Hitler was announced dead. On the 9th of September at 7:14am the papers of surrender were signed on the deck of the British destroyer at St Peter’s shore. On the day of liberation him and his friends where cycling up to see the shop, when his tire broke, due to the make of his tyre the noise created sounded like pistol shots. When this happened they where cycling pass two German soldiers armed with guns, this lead to everyone around him dropping to the ground. The soldiers lifted their guns and pointed them at Bob, to which they ended up laughing with Bob towards the situation, leaving a happy last memory of the German Soldiers on the day of liberation.
“I wanted to go shake the hands of the German Soldiers.”
Bob Le Sueur
Photoshoot Planning:
After hearing Bob stories about his memories of the war, we were then given the opportunity to photograph Bob in the studio. This allowed me to revisit studio photography and the artificial lights used within the studio environment. Capturing these images, I used a two point lighting set up, one facing straight on at Bob and one behind him, allowing the whole background to be completely white with no grey offsets. In addition I had my camera on Manual mode with the shutter speed being set at 1/125 and my aperture being at F16, making the settings appropriate for a studio photography. In terms of the style of photography, I would say the photographs fall into studio and documentary due to the nature of me building a relationship with the subject, and capturing his story within a portrait. I will be exploring capturing Bob, using head shots, half body and 3/4 body shots in order to capture my subject. I will be also experiment with the positioning of my model in order to create different effects, as well as the positioning of me and the angle at which I am capturing Bob from.
Edits:
First Edit – Flagged
Colour Edits:
For my colour images I selected a half body and 3/4 body shot in order to showcase Bob. To edit them I corrected the white balance, and then adjusted the contrast, highlights, blacks and whites till I was happy with the outcomes. These two photographs are successful as they show the detail of Bob’s skin and his eyes almost draw you into his story and I believe showcases his inner thought and mind. This clearly presents his intellectual and political personality and his thought provoking stories.
Black and White Edits:
For my black and white images I selected a 3/4 body shot (headshot) and a close up of Bob’s hand’s and cane. To edit them I corrected the white balance, and then adjusted the contrast, highlights, blacks and whites till I was happy with the outcomes. The photograph of the hands is successful as I have utilised the close of his hands to create a textural sense, which in itself presents Bob’s stories and have many conceptual representations based on his life. In addition, the headshot in black and white helps to present tonal contrast and a textural sense, creating an interesting photograph to look at
Evaluation:
Being able to explore Bob’s story has allowed me to gain a better understanding of what life at war was like, as well as first hand experience of a young man who lived through this period of time. I believe my imagery has managed to capture these stories, in a subtle way, allowing strong conceptual and contextual elements to be presented through my work, showcasing meaning. In addition, I have been able to extract quotes from Bob’s interview, in verbatim, which will help enrich my further studies as I explore Occupation and Liberation more. To conclude, I am happy with the imagery produce on top of exploring Bob’s life at war and produce strong evidence of further research.
As Bob stated during the interview, they were aware that the liberation day was coming however they were unaware when. In order to keep up morale for while awaiting their liberation, they occasionally held parties using home made alcohol, usually to celebrate the end of availability to a particular resource such as gas or electricity. According to Bob there were many Russian and Polish harbored by locals, the locals would forge an identification card for the refugee and apply for a ration book. this would allow the refugee to eat without cutting into the local’s food supplies.
An example of one of these parties was the night that the gas supply was to be shut off. “Guests that haven’t properly eaten in a year, give them rabbit and calvados” calvados being a form of apple or pear brandy. The house at which this party was being hosted also happened to be harboring a Russian refugee who happened upon the calvados before the party was due to start. While he was locally believed to be Polish by the other jersey residents, his behavior that night showed off his true heritage as his songs and dance could be heard down the street. There was an incident during this time when a group of German soldiers could be seen walking down the street which resulted in the Russian being pinned down with a dish cloth in his mouth. Thankfully the Germans were chanting there own songs and thus were distracted from the racket.
Due to their use of crystal radio sets as well as the German section of the newspaper, they were aware of essential events to the war such as the fact that Berlin had fallen. Bob spoke of the Germans that had told locals that Hitler had died, although the news had perpetuated the lie that Hitler had died defending Berlin in spite of his less glamorous reality. Hitler had appointed a naval commander who hastily made an appointment to negotiate an armistice on may 7th, and on the 8th Europe was liberated followed by Jersey’s liberation the next day. The surrender of the channel islands was signed on a British destroyer off the coast of Jersey.
From kitschy to grotesque, this series ‘Common Sense’ documents modern consumerist culture. These vivid and often lurid photographs are both funny and sad, taking a forensic look at everyday items. A smorgasbord of over-the-top visuals, highlighting everything from tacky clothes and jewelry to different kinds of junk food.
Common Sense is a portfolio of 350 colour laser copies of photographs taken by Parr between 1995 and 1999. The portfolio was produced in an edition of ten; Tate’s copy is number nine in the series. The pictures were taken in the UK and abroad and depict images of global consumerism in tight close-up and lurid colour. They are designed to be displayed in a horizontal grid of at least three images by four. The artist has specified that it is not necessary to display all the photographs in the series when the work is shown. The selection of images can be arbitrary.
Common Sense was first shown in 1999 as an exhibition staged simultaneously in forty-one venues in seventeen countries. This earned Parr a Guinness World Record. To coincide with the exhibitions Parr produced a book, also called Common Sense, in which 158 images from the series were reproduced.
The photographs were taken with 35mm ultra saturated film which produces vivid, heightened colours. The pictures depict the minutiae of consumer culture, fragments that show the ways in which ordinary people entertain themselves. There are details of garish clothing and accessories, women’s faces heavy with make-up, and piles of merchandise in tourist shops, cake shops, sex shops and car boot sales. Fast food is a recurring theme: a child’s grubby hands clutching an over sized donut, rows of lollipops, plates overflowing with fried breakfasts and bowls piled high with ice cream. An overweight woman grips a hundred-dollar bill between her teeth. The images capture the feel of disposable culture in the developed world.
Parr’s pictures both reinforce national stereotypes and demonstrate how consumer culture has made international boundaries more indistinguishable. Because the images are tightly cropped, in many cases it is impossible to discern where they were taken: a balding head beneath a purple baseball cap and immaculately manicured false nails would once have appeared typically middle American but are now prevalent in other parts of the world. In other instances, small details immediately situate the image: a cup of milky tea on a red checked tablecloth is ironically British.
The proliferation of images in the series is simultaneously exuberant and repulsive. The excess Parr depicts is mimicked in the accumulation of details he presents. His hypersaturated colour contributes to optical overload. The images hover between hedonistic celebration and a cloying sense of disgust for what may be seen as the more debased aspects of contemporary culture. Parr’s vivid eye for comic and often cruel juxtapositions of images is evident in his choice of paired images in his book: a sunburned body next to raw meat on butchers’ hooks; a poster advertising chips next to a crawling mass of maggots. Pictures of discarded food and rubbish pecked at by pigeons can be read as contemporary memento mori images. Occasionally, Parr’s emphasis on overconsumption (a Spice Girls t-shirt stretched taut across a fat midriff, teeth flecked with scarlet lipstick) is tempered by images which suggest a gentler, slower-paced culture on the wane: a pensioner in a cloth cap, a pair of feet in socks and sandals.
The work’s title plays on the double meaning of common as vulgar. Parr began his career as a photojournalist and the images in Common Sense are examples of the candid, detached approach typical of observational photography. His dissections of contemporary mores can also be seen in the tradition of English satirists dating back to William Hogarth (1697-1764).
Was 6 when the occupation started, lived on the north coast therefore saw the French coast and heard the bombing in France.
Some people believed that the government had sold the Channel Islands to the Germans.
The people had to put up white sheets and blankets to show the Germans that they could enter.
Mother and neighbour come over Joan and said to go over where it was more protected, e.g. the bushes, they heard bombing, they soon heard that some people where killed by Victoria avenue.
Les platons was the highest point in jersey, was useful for the German, they could shoot France from that point.
All people had to have a ration book, they lent theirs to somebody but never gave it back, people tried to get more of everything, e.g. 5grams for her father and mother as she registered at the farm across the road.
The Germans introduced a curfew for people who lived in the military zone therefore you must be back in your houses by 9pm in the winter and 10pm in summer and you couldn’t leave before 6 in the morning.
The island then had to introduce blackouts, as they weren’t allowed any lights, one night when they wanted to see the stars, they had to remove the blackouts from their windows, it was a Scarlett effect.
Because the food rations were tight the word Substitute became a word during the war, parsnip was cooked until brown, and they had to cut them down, and pour boiling water on it, they called it substitute coffee/tea.
German changed the currency to their own one which was marks and pfennig. And the hop owners would have to weight out and count how much you have, they told you how much it was in your money and then they translated it to the German money therefore it was making it harder for the shop owners.
Owners had restrictions on what they could grow, and the Germans would have to come and check if you were following these orders. People were finding it difficult on their rations.
Families would go and collect the remaining corn left over from the harvests in the august, the woman would wear a sac apron and they would pick it up, they would have to keep this quiet from the Germans or overwise something would happen, if they had corn left over they would take it to the mill where they would mill, the woman would pretend they are pregnant if the Germans would stop that was their excuse. People would create a bag the size of a mattress and that’s how they would hide the corn.
Joans dog Tess was used to pull things around for the family, coal was impossible to get, tar was used rather than coal. Then the Germans started to allow coal type things called nuts which was used to heat stuff e.g. fires, cooker.
If u abided the German rules you would get treated well, 95% of the population did get on well with the Germans, however if you didn’t you wouldn’t get treated well.
Liberation Day:
8th of May, father went to work in town boss told them to go home as the war was over, came home, ¾ of way home passed a distance for cousin’s farm and told him about it. The lorry which was hidden by the cousins was brought back out. All the family went into the town, they saw lots of cars and lorries along Victoria avenue, parked the lorry at people park. Everybody got off except gran who was soaked from the baby.
Original Photos I took:
Joan TapleyJoan TapleyJoan TapleyJoan TapleyJoan TapleyJoan Tapley
Edited Photos:
I have picked the photos I like out of the images I took, Orange=I might use, Green= I will use.I have decided to look at the before and after reference to see what the image looks like in black and white but also colour. I have chosen Black and White. I have edited Tones in the image meaning that i have changed the amount of highlights and shadows within the image to create a sense of creativity. Final Image – Joan Tapley
Second Edit:
have added a gradual filter on the image, this makes the light spread more along the image. I have increased the detail in the image, so it picks out the better areas of the image, I have also change the saturation within the image to get the colours within the image more vibrant.Final Image – Joan TapleyFinal Frame 1- Joan TapleyFinal Frame 2 – Joan Tapley
Third Edit:
I have increased the detail in the image to make not blurry, I have also cropped the image so you are only focusing on the person. have converted the image to Black and White, as it makes the image stand out better than colour.have changed the Tones and the highlights/shadows to change the effect of the image. I changed the highlights to make highlights within the skin light whereas when I changed the shadows amount it increased the darkness in her skin.Final Image – Joan Tapley
