Francis Foot was born in Jersey in 1885, he was born to parents Francois and Louisa Foot, his father, Francois, was a china and glass collector in St. Helier at a time when this was more affluent. Francis Foot became a gas fitter, but he soon became interested in Photography through early photographs and gramophone records and he realised that he could turn this into a career and earn his living. Due to Francis’ new found interest, his family opened a new shop in Pitt Street where Francis worked as a photographer and his parents worked selling gramophones, records, and other wares in Dumaresq Street. Francois Foot passed in 1918 and Francis then put all of his focus into the business on Pitt Street before marrying his wife, Margaret Vernon just before the First World War, the couple then went on to have four children.
Francis Foot’s area of interest within photography is portraiture, more specifically family portraiture, and photos of different places around the island of Jersey. The photographs are, for the majority, taken in the subjects own environment rather than being captured more formally.
photo analysis;
francis foot – photograph of three of his children, george, stanley, and dora
This photo is an image of Francis Foot’s three children, George, Stanley, and Dora taken by himself. Contextually, this photo captures that the children were quite clearly higher class due to the clothes they are wearing and how they have been presented which also leads for the assumption to be made that their parents were likely to have more wealth than the average islander. As with a lot of Foots portraits of the children, they are all wearing white, this could too be representing the idea of the family having wealth and being ‘upper’ class, or that they are clean, and somewhat ‘pure’. The background of the photograph seems to be bushes and plants, however due to older technology, the photo is in black and white, this creates a significant contrast within the image so that the only thing you can really look at is the children in the foreground. Technically, this photo is not taken the best way, however in the era it was taken, I can imagine this was the best quality available, but due to the development of modern technology this photo could nowadays be seen as being a ‘low’ quality photograph. The background shows that this image was taken outside and so we can therefore assume that the light used was natural sunlight, this would have made the white clothes appear bright and also give the natural shadows and highlights.
For my final set of images from the Jersey War Tunnels, I have narrowed down my selection to include a wide variety of of styles and images, including elements of Still Life, Abstract and Street Photography. I wanted to use the opportunity of of going to the War tunnels to take unique pictures that I wouldn’t have been able to capture otherwise. Whilst walking through the tunnels, I noticed several chances to capture the atmosphere of the location by taking pictures of the public that were in the tunnels at the time. Using the street photography technique helps bring an extra layer of depth to the images, as it focuses on real people rather than objects. to contrast this, I also captured many images of these objects in a “still life” style, in order to make the images look like something that could have been taken during The Occupation.
Percy Newman was born in 1915, in Abercorn Crescent, Harrow, Middlesex. His home life as a youth was considered normal, he lived with his mother and father for the majority of his life. In 1940, he married his love interest, who was his next door neighbour throughout childhood, they where married for two years until Percy sadly passed away, during the war. During their two years of marriage, they conceived a child Margret Newman (my Grandma), who was only 4 months old when her father passed away.
After talking with Grandma, exploring her father’s passed. I asked her about memories with her father to which she replied “I do not remember my father at all.”. She has kept all the documents below for all her life, in memory of her father who she never really met or got to know. These documents are “precious” to her, as it is the only thing she has left of her father, allowing her to have a basic understand of the life he lead and the type of personality he had.
At age 24, when the Second World War broke out, At this time he was a member of the ground engineers and worked on the instruments inside plane’s. He worked on fixing war aircrafts to ensure they were ready and fully working, to be used to attack the apposing enemies. However, on documentation he was falsely recorded to be a pilot for these aircrafts, and the documentation can be seen below.
Although he worked for the British Army, he did not die because of the war. Him and two others were killed after a collision between a motor lorry and a coach near Welton on Wednesday 27th May. Alongside this collision 6 other men were seriously injured but did not die. This event hit the local papers shortly after, and the extract can be seen below. On top of this, I was also able to see my Great Grandad’s death certificate which certifies the date and way he died and other personal details about him.
Below is the only picture on record of my Percy with his wife, and his only child Margret Welling. This photograph is one of Grandmas most cherished items as it holds a lot of meaning and sentimental value to her. The happiness found on the couples faces as they look down upon their child, shows ho much care and love they had towards Margret, and the thought that she has no recollection of him, only begins to show the importance of the image.
I then sifted through the other photographs within the archive and selected the photographs, which I think clearly represent his life. The images include, picture of his daughter growing up, pictures of him and his wife, pictures of him at school, and a photograph of his funeral. The photographs hold a lot of value not only to my Grandma but also to me know, as I understand the life my Great Grandad had, who I sadly could never meet.
Looking through these images allowed me to explore my family history which I did not know much about, and informed me that my family has links to the war, which present the themes of occupation and liberation, as well as nicely fitting in with other work which I have produced where I have looked at Jersey’s different archives.
INTERIOR: Photographing the home with no people, choosing locations where I could shoot or have shot portraits, considering rooms with interest eg. space, decor, furniture, display etc
EXTERIOR: Photographing the home from the outside, considering different angles, details as well as deadpan approach.
For the Interior and Exterior portion of the ‘Home-Sweet-Home’ I have decided to not just focus on my own personal house where I live as due to schedules changing I begin to spend less of my time in my personal house. As a child I could’ve considered my Grandparents house ‘home’ as this was where I was everyday for the majority of the day. For these reasons I am going to photograph other interiors and exteriors as well as my own home now that may have a deep personal connection to me.
Mood Board:
Below shows my mood board of ideas to start off this part of the Home Sweet Home project. I personally chose these photographs because of how there I feel there is no noise coming from the photographs, they are very still and I want to try and incorporate this into my photographs.
Plan:
For this photoshoot there are specific spaces that I wish to capture, I am hoping to spot spaces or displays that I did not think of initially to photograph, however I do have a couple of initial spaces in mind:
Living room portrait display: On my wall mounted is a large portrait of Lily Langtry of whom I am named after, this portrait has been in every house my mother has moved to so holds a significant place in our house.
Framed England football shirt: Although seemingly tacky this shirt is signed and framed in my house and is something that significantly reminds me of my dad
Staircase window: This is one of the only physical aspects I actually like about my house, it is the oldest part of the house dating back nearly 300 years and is the main part of the house that is Listed
Grandparents front house: My Nan and Grandad built their house together before they married 50 years ago. Both me and my mother grew up everyday for our childhoods in that house so holds a lot of significance as a place of ‘home’
It’s the same as a standard portrait, but you go to the place where your subject spends most of his or her time. Usually, it’s somewhere relevant to that person’s passion in life. So if you’re taking a picture of an artist, you’d show up in her studio and take pictures while she works. If you’re taking a picture of your grandmother, you might pick the one place that reminds you the most of her and use that as your environment.
A good environmental portrait should bring out your subject’s personality in a stylized sort of way. It needs to be a bit of an exaggeration. Having your subject pose in a dramatic fashion, adds the air of mystique to the image. People will see it, and they’ll get intrigued.
MOST SUCCESUL IMAGES:
For this photo shoot I decided to solely focus on my mum and brother as I consider them the closest and most important people in my life. My brother in particular isn’t very fond of having his photo taken so therefore in the images you can see very clear discomfort in his facial expression and stance ,making the images portray more than just a family portrait. I’m very keen to explore both my family history through personal archival images and my immediate family now.
MOST SUCCESFUL IMAGE:
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
VISUAL:
Visually the image above is one of my favourite as it most clearly shows the discomfort in my brother through his stance and facial expression. His body is rigid and stiff making it go in an upwards direction, diagonally. The dark backdrop and dramatic shadow also accentuates the lines and skin texture, very clearly showing his frustration on his forehead. The brow ridge is also lowered, showing anger and dissatisfaction furthermore. Overall the image is very dramatic and mysterious due to the dramatic lighting coming from the left hand centre of the image and the aggressive facial expression on my brother. The colours in the image are generally very subdued as the deep and dark shadows overpower all else. The general darkness of the image also makes it somewhat mysterious and enigmatic. The fact that his face is also very much in the dark can be reflective of inner struggle or conflict, the act that half the face is covered and the facial expression cannot be clearly seen.
TECHNICAL:
In terms of technical set up, in order to get the dramatic lighting which can be seen in the images, I set up a simple stand lamp on the table and pointed it downwards so as to not create contrast which is too extreme on the face. I wanted to retain some softness to the image and pointing the lamp down meant that the light was more diffused and not as harsh. Due to the dark nature of the of the backdrop, I had to increase the ISO to 800 in order to avoid underexposure in the image. Also increasing the aperture to let as much light into the camera as possible. I decided to have the models sit and pose for me in a natural way which felt most comfortable to them, allowing their inner thoughts and feelings to be reflected through their facial expressions and body language. There is a clear contrast between my mum and brother, feeling more relaxed and at ease than my brother.
CONCEPTUAL:
Conceptually, I wanted to capture the inner feelings of both my mother and brother through a series of laid back and natural environmental/staged photos. As I am wanting to use them both as models for upcoming shoots, I wanted to do this initial photo shoot in order to get them adjusted to the camera and feel more at ease. Posing in ways which they felt were comfortable for them. The benefit of photographing people in a natural environment is people feel more relaxed and comfortable being photographed resulting in better and stronger images. They were at home just going about their day and I wanted to capture just a small part of their day, this is reflecting in themselves as they are wearing very casual and typical clothes, something which you would just lounge around in at home.
CONTEXTUAL:
Arnold Newman, in full Arnold Abner Newman, (born March 3, 1918, New York, died June 6, 2006, New York City), American photographer, who specialized in portraits of well-known people posed in settings associated with their work. This approach, known as “environmental portraiture,” greatly influenced portrait photography in the 20th century.
Newman studied art at the University of Miami in Florida from 1936 to 1938 and then took a job as an assistant in a photography studio. In 1941 Newman had his first major exhibition in New York City. After years of frequently visiting New York, he moved there and opened his own portrait studio in 1946. Although his early portraits concentrated on well-known artists, he gradually broadened his subject matter to include famous people of all types, including writers, composers, political leaders, scientists, and business magnates, usually posing them in their own space or in a space that was constructed to reflect their character.
Henry Mullins moved to Jersey in 1848 from London. He was the first professional photographer to come to Jersey and establish a portraiture business when photography was still new. Many of Mullins’ images are held in the Société Jersiaise photo archive depicting Jersey people from his era. Henry charged Jersey’s residents half a Guinea to have their portraits taken by him.
Overview of his work
Mullins is known for taking environmental style portraits. His style appears to be very formal and proper which is typical of the early days of photography he worked during. His approach, much like his style, is also very formal. As you’ll see in the mood board on the left, he positions his subjects in the centre of the frame, using very polished backgrounds. This style of portraiture is quite limited compared to candid portraiture as not being able to naturally see people in action means we learn less about subjects through the image.
Analysing his image
Contextual: This portrait is called “Mr Anley” Visual: In this image we see a man in the centre of the frame. The background is a plain white colour which shows that the photographer wanted the focus to be on the person himself. The subject is positioned at an angle where we see the left side of his face facing the camera. Something that immediately catches my attention is the person’s attire. It appears as if he is wearing some sort of military uniform as we can visibly see many medals on the uniform. Conceptual: I think that Mullins wanted to emphasise the fact the man was military involved as his clothing is the only distinct part of the image which gives some indication to the person’s identity, history and story. Technical: The subject is at the centre of the frame and the image is black and white due to the era this was taken in.
Yury Toroptsov
Yury Toroptsov mood board.
Images are not my own.
Yury Toroptsov is a native Russian photographer based in France. He spent 6 months in Jersey due to a photography residency. His project “fairyland” was commissioned by the Société Jersiaise. Yury decided to name the project “fairyland” after seeing a float from the Jersey battle of flowers parade with the same name. He then researched the concept of “fairyland” further by visiting the Jersey archive to find out that one of the 1937 battle of flowers floats-created by the Vibert family- had the same name. He then found negatives of cattle photographed in the 1900s, and saw that cows and bulls in that era would have names like “fairy maiden” and “fairy boy”. His Video goes into a little more detail about his inspiration for the project, and explores the whole concept of “fairyland” in depth.
<a href="http://”>Video
Overview of his work
As you can see in the mood board above, Yury took a more modern approach to portraiture. Unlike Mullins, his subjects appear to be photographed in seemingly normal surrounding and not appearing overly “clean-cut”. I think this approach to photographing people allows audiences to understand and be able to more realistically see the people in the photos. You can also see that Yury also takes more candid images of people, and he also captures objects in to show Jersey’s identity. I think that Yury’s style is a lot more contemporary, which could perhaps appeal to a more younger generation.
Analysing his image
Contextual: This is an image of a person walking down a street in Jersey. Visual: In this image we can see a lady walking down the street. She is wearing formal attire which probably means she works in finance as this was something that intrigued Yury about Jersey as he mentioned it in the video linked above. The image is taken from far away which means we can’t see many of the lady’s features. We can also see a shadow from the person as the sun is beginning to set, which further supports the theory that she works a finance job as this is the typical time a person working in finance would finish. Conceptual: I think that Yury wanted to show the “finance” aspect of Jersey in a more fun and mystical way to fit in with the “fairyland” theme. I think he manged to do this well in the image with the shadowing and the different lines and textures in the image created by the road and brick wall. Technical: The woman is positioned in the middle of the image and the photographer appeared to use natural lighting from the sun.
Based off Michelle Sank’s work, I intend on interpreting the idea in my own way. I’m taking my intial aims from ‘My.Self’, a series produced by Sank to reflect ‘what it means to be a young person in today’s society’.My initial ideas include covering the topics and ideas of: self expression (i.e- fashion, hobbies), gender, status, sexuality, empowerment, culture and ethnicity.
The German Register Cards are a set of unique cards which explore the background of people who lived through the occupation. German authorities made it compulsory for everyone on the Island to have one of these cards when they first occupied the island. The register process involved the collection of personal details (Name, Address, Date of Birth, Occupation) and a picture of each islander. The German authorities kept an official set of all the registration which can now all be viewed at Jersey’s Archive. The card’s were only given to those over the age of 14, anyone under this age would have their details placed on the back of their fathers Identity card. The cards were constantly updated, whenever a family moved address, had another child etc. Each card was accompanied by a blue form which had additional information, such as physical peculiarities. Islander’s were forced to carry their cards with them everywhere, so they could easily be identified by German soldiers. Many of the Jersey occupation registration cards have been listed by UNESCO, which means they are registered as they have important cultural or historical significance.These registration cards can now be found within Jersey’ Archive and the War Tunnels, which allows us to explore the past and personal lives of these people. The information will tell us how these people were treated as well as a reflection of their life during the occupation.
Exploring a Story:
Maurice Edwarde Green – Identity Card. – Property Of Jersey Archives
Maurice Edwarde Green was only 12 years of age when the first German planes flew over the island, dropping the two cylinders, with messages declaring the start of the occupation. One of his memories was being commanded to place white flags on all buildings around the Island, in order to ensure that the German’s knew the Island was surrendering, so they would not be bombed. His mother placed many white towels onto bamboo sticks and hung them out of their window. On his German Registration Card it informed me that he was diabetic and has been on insulin from a very young age, during the occupation people where put on rations making it hard for Maurice to get his insulin. He had the Jersey States Department of Health importing and handing him over the hormones to keep his body working. Very soon the insulin supply ran short, making dieting a massive issue for diabetics living in the war. During the insulin shortage he was forced to live in a hospital, because he was diabetic, were Maurice kept leaving as he did not enjoy sitting/lying down all day, the nurses all thought he was mad. Eventually, the Red Cross parcels began to ship in he went and collected more insulin off the ‘Vega’, however he was told he was not allowed on the ship to take the medication. Due to him learning German from a young age he spoke to the solider who refused entry saying his friend who hasn’t seen for ages was onboard, thus allowing him to be granted access onto the rear of the ship. Maurice lived through the pain and horror’s of the war, but some people may consider his story even more horrific due to him not being able to get access to insulin, which is keeping his body a live. The short story gives us insight into what the war was like for medically ill citizens and informs us about the dangers and risks they took in order to survive.
