A sentence – Trying to show Jersey before the war, during the war and after the war.
A paragraph – In this zine I’m planning on trying to express what Jersey was like before during and after the war. I will be doing this through using archive image for the first third of my zine, a photomontage of both archive and my own images in the second third and just my own images in the final third. I almost wan it to be like a story with a beginning, middle and an end.
Design: Consider the following
How you want your zine to look and feel – I want it be back and white at first, then half and half, then full colour.
Format, size and orientation – A5 Portrait
Binding and cover – stapled and glued. Image wrap.
Title – Message from the King. It will have a document on the cover that starts with that sentence.
Design and layout – Beginning middle and end structure with photomontages.
Editing and sequencing – Archive images first, then montages and finally my own images
Images and text – I want my own images at the end to be surrounded by grass or shrubbery or taken over by rust to show the past is always there but the decay show how long ago it was. no text.
Portrait photographer from Societe Jersiaise Photo-Archive
Ernest Baudoux, born in France in 1828, worked in Jersey from 1869. There are 1385 photographs by Baudoux online from the Société’s archive. Most of the images are portraits, which was the photographer’s speciality. Baudoux’s was without a doubt the most prolific Jersey studio. He mainly had clients from the Jersey born and French speaking population.
The portraits Ernest Baudoux captured are great examples of the Victorian art of photographic portraiture. They show the fashion of the time in terms of clothing and hairstyles. The subjects would usually wear their best clothes for the portrait photoshoot. For women in the 1870s and 80s this meant that they would wear long black dresses. It was also common for children and occasionaly adults to be photographed wearing fancy costumes. Wearing a sailor’s outfit was popular for boys at the time. The subjects in the images always appear stern for a reason. They had to hold their pose for a long amount of time, which is why they often had their arms folded and were supported on the back of a chair. Holding a smile was impossible.
Most of Baudoux’s studio portraits were produced with a sliding plate mechanism designed to give two exposures on one glass negative. After he chose the best image he eliminated the rejected image by marking it with a cross. With the preferred image, Baudoux retouched the negative to enhance the complexion of the subject and hide facial blemishes. This shows that the practice of photographic manipulated originated before the digital age.
This portrait depicts a full body shot of a young woman. She appears to be sitting down on a stool with her arms slightly crossed. Most Victorian portraits have their subjects sitting down on a chair because they had to hold their pose for a long time in order for the picture to be captured. Holding a smile was impossible for a portrait picture in those days, which explains why she has a blank stare and stern appearance. The woman appears to be affluent which is showcased by her fashionable Victorian clothing and hairstyle. The aspect that most captures the viewer’s attention is her long black dress which was popular for women in the 1870’s and 80’s. This dress would probably be her best iteam of clothing since subjects would usually wear their best clothes if they were going to have a portrait taken.
I want to incorporate Ernest Baudoux portrait photography style by capturing photos of the subject in a formal posture. Taking a direct picture of my subject will make him/her look like an important, powerful figure. This formal style will be interesting to capture when the people who experienced the German Occupation in Jersey come over to join our photography class for a studio photoshoot. I will capture upper body and full body shots with the subject sitting on a chair to reflect the Victorian portraiture style.
The South African born photographer Michelle Sank specialises in portraiture and her work looks into “the preoccupation of the human condition”, meaning that her work includes exploring and developing the main aspects of life, such as birth, growth (emotionally and physically) and conflict. All making up the basics of human existence and are things which every living person will experience throughout our lifetime. Sank documents social and cultural diversity and allows for comparison on the different ways each individual lives their lives with everyone having a different cultural background, ethnic groups and experiences.
Michelle Sank’s Different Project Mood Boards
Teenagers Belfast Photoshoot
“These portraits were taken of teenagers in Belfast in a series commissioned by Belfast Exposed Gallery. The remit was to empower these teenagers with a sense of individuality and to locate them within environments which bear no reference to the political struggles or past emblems of this.”
‘In My Skin’ Photoshoot
“These images are from a project called In My Skin about young people under the ages of 25 in the UK who are challenging their body image. I am looking at those who have had or are considering having plastic surgery in order to become more acceptable to themselves and achieve their ideal of being beautiful. “
‘Young Careers’ Photoshoot
“These images are from a project about Young Carers, children under the age of 18 who are often the main carer for a sick parent or sibling. In addition to performing daily household tasks like washing, bathing, cooking and shopping, they also have to deal with the additional pressures of school. Because they are different, they often are exposed to bullying from Schoolmates and lack a sense of identity as an individual in their own right.”
Her style
Uses natural lighting
Subjects focused in the middle of the image
Background and subject match
Posed photography (she tells them how to pose)
Contrast in some images
Uses a high shutter speed for fully focused images
Takes images of people
Analysation image
Image from ‘My Skin’ Project
This image was taken from Michelle’s project “In My Skin”. This image is representing the individualism which can be found in different communities.
Technical analysis- The noticeable techniques used to take this image would of included a relatively high exposure as there is little shadowing, shading or overall extreme contrast which is helping to add a freshness to the image, adding a contrast in her dark tattoos and the background image, as well as helping to open up the picture. There also seems to be a good amount of natural light in the picture which is suggesting that very little editing was used, adding a rawness to the image as it isn’t overly edited and helps to again show a difference between her fake tattooed skin and her raw unedited overall picture.
Visual analysis- The subject of ‘In My Skin’ is represented through physical appearance. The most eye-catching part on her appearance is her tattoos in comparison to the simplicity of the background image which is showing that her tattoos don’t define the rest of her appearance which could be seen as ’emo’ but her simple bed room stops people from being able to make assumptions.
Ernest Baudoux was Born in France (1828-1897) and worked in Jersey from 1869. In 1885 he was joined in business by his son, but two years later they sold out to John Stroud. There are 1385 photographs by Baudoux available online from the Jersaise Societe archive, they are mainly portraits, which were his speciality. Baudoux also undertook photographic commissions of clients’ houses and, working with his sons, he photographed views of the island.
Here are some examples of his work
This is my favourite of his photos. This is due to the relaxed nature of the person being photographed, which creates a feeling of ease when looking at it. Along with the lighting focusing heavily on him aswell. For example, the edges around the left side of the photo are pitch-black, and the rest of the background is composed of dark shades, whereas the foreground is very bright and well-lit. The photo also includes a lot of strong shapes, such as the strong lines of the sofa the person is lying on, which match up with the shape of the person themselves lying down, as well as the table and the wall behind him.
Francis Foot was born in 1885, his father was a china and Glass dealer in Dumaresq Street, at a time when the area was one of the more wealthy in St Helier. Francis started his working life as a gas fitter. However, he soon became fascinated by photography, the early phonographs and gramophone records and realised that he could earn a living from them.So the family took on a second shop in Pitt Street, where Francis worked as a photographer, while his father and mother sold gramophones, records in Dumaresq Street. After his father’s death, Francis concentrated the business in Pitt Street. Francis’ grandson John gave the collection of the glass plates and other photographic material, which had been gathering dust since his grandfather’s death, to La Société Jersiaise. in 1996. Its online photographic archive contains 322 images of subjects as diverse as Battles of Flowers, St Helier Harbour, shipwrecks, fetes and coastal and country views. Francis Foot also took 16mm black and white cine films, some of which, from the 1930s, are now held by the Jersey Archive. These show such events as aircraft landing on the beach at West Park, a visit by HMS Sheffield, cattle shows, Battle of Flowers at Springfield and the Liberation and visit soon after of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Michelle Sank is a South African born photographer, who’s portraiture work primarily looks into “the preoccupation of the human condition”. in this sense, Sank’s work delves into exploring factors and events such as birth, growth, emotionality, conflict and mortality, which make up the basis of human existence and are things that we as people experience in our daily lives. Sank makes a point of documenting social and cultural diversity, and allows for comparison on the varying ways in which we live out lives, through the range of different subjects from different backgrounds, ethnic groups and experiences. Below is a mood board including a range of images from Michelle’s works:
Michelle was able to identify with the camera and photography as a medium of expression as soon as she tried it whilst completing her Fine Art Degree in South Africa, and has since produced a range of projects, a website and books containing her work.
“It was almost instantaneous that I found this connection with the camera and the world around me – and so this became and has stayed my voice for personal expression.”
Sank’s portraiture often takes place in a setting personal to the subject, such as a bedroom. This can both be used to reflect the personality and belief of the subject through a single image, as the personalization of ones bedroom often allows for a persons interests, hobbies and understanding of themselves as a person can often be inferred from the style of their bedroom.
“What’s on their walls is a metaphor for their identity and personality,”
Furthermore, the location of a bedroom (or an environment personal to the subject) allows for the image to portray a much more personal, almost intrusive meaning, as the viewer is forced to observe the subject in the place they feel the safest and most comfortable, without personally knowing who the subject is, allowing the viewer to see the subject at what can be inferred as their most vulnerable.
The above image is a piece taken from Michelle’s project “My Skin”. This image (and those in the same project) is meant to represent the diversity and individualism that can be found within out communities, treating each individual subject as their own person, and exposing and celebrating what makes them different and unique. Visually speaking, the image above leaves much to the imagination to the viewer. The subject is presented as showing off the most eye-catching part of her physical appearance (her tattoos, and yet very little is included in the background/rest of the scene, denying the viewer the ability to make assumptions about the subject on anything other than her own skin. A single object is found on the far left of the image (a figuring) which indicates only a small example of what the subjects likes and dislikes may include. In terms of the technicalities of this image, the exposure on the photograph itself is reasonably high, showing very little in terms of shading or extreme contrast, which in turn opens up the image more, and exposing all parts of the photograph in the light. This high exposure however, seems to be the product of a good source of natural light, and the little to no editing that has been done on the original image itself allows for us to get a better picture of the raw, real original, seeing the unedited subject in her own skin, rather than a “fake”, heavily edited skin.
quotes and comments from photographer, reference sources
For my research into archival photographers that worked in Jersey, I selected Francis Foot to be the subject of my case study. Foot was born in 1885, and soon developed a fascination with photography. Foot focused a lot of his work on producing portraits of the people of Jersey, many of which include multiple subjects and families. Below is a mood-board reflecting some of his work:
Foot’s work focused a lot on using posed subjects in their natural environment, to give a relatable yet formal sense to his images. |Foot often used props such as cars, buggies and other common objects to show more of the personalities of the subjects, and to reflect what they used and did in their daily lives. Through this, Foot was able to establish a unique style of portraiture, combining both relatable, every day life scenery with formal, posed subjects and props to create eye catching portraits. In addition to this, Foot would often take portraits of his own family, in and around their shop and at times, Francis himself would appear in the images.
I have chosen this particular image to further analyse, as I feel that the style and contents of the image itself is interesting, and the scenery helps to tell a story. Like many of Foots works, this image contains a number of subjects, including a mother and two children. The poses of the subjects are reflective of the formalities associated with portrait photography of the time, as the subjects are relatively neutral in their expressions, and pose in a formal, simple manner. In terms of the technical aspects of this image, the image is shown in black and white (the only available colour format in the time the image was taken). Although there was no alternative to grey scale in the early 20th century, the black and white coloring of this image allows for contrast between shapes and shades to be emphasized, and overall allows to show the vintage time which it represents (and originates from). The image as a whole has experienced very little, if no editing, and this allows for the real, original feel of the image to show through, giving the viewer a genuine look into the time in which Foot lived.
Francis work on portraiture during this time, especially during the beginning of the 20th century, helps to show the cultural norms and society during this time. Although the photographer himself left very little in terms of letters, interviews and diaries explicitly reporting on his own opinions and meanings behind his work, it can be inferred that much of Foots work was focused on documenting the journey of his family, and the people who lived around him, as they lived, occasionally experienced well known historical and local occasions, such as the visit from King George V and Queen Mary, and the Battle of the Flowers in Jersey.
Michelle Sankwas born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living in England since 1987. Her photography focuses on the human condition and more specifically issues about social and cultural diversity, and therefore can be considered as social documentary.
These are some examples of her work
I would like to incorporate some things Michelle Sank uses in my own work. Things such as repetition, how a large amount of her photos focus on more than a single item. Such as this one, there are two dogs and two men in the center, as oppose to having just a man with a dog, or a man.
Analysing the above Photo:
The techniques used in this photo would of included a relatively low exposure as the photo has been taken in daylight and features darker tones despite the sunny weather. There are also strong shadows which further support this. The bottom half of the imagine is also darker and much more colour-filled than the top half. Features browns, greens and various shades of gray, whereas the top half is mainly light-blue sky with the white shirts of the two men. The two halves of the image are quite nicely seperated by the skyline in the background, which also lines up nearly perfectly with the belts the men are wearing. Having both men and dogs looking into the camera helps establish a connection between the viewer and the photo, and makes it feel much more personal.
