The war tunnels, located in the channels islands holds some of the islands oldest history from during the occupation. The tunnel was began by the Germans blasting out the side of the hill with gunpowder and then dug into the side of a hill which is 50 meters deep and 1000 meters along and in here over 5,000 slaves worked this tunnel during the occupation. It works as a timeline, it goes through different stages of the occupation and what life was like, making it very realistic for visitors. During the beginning of the occupation, the tunnel was used as a base for the German’s where they could take cover from air raids and from the bombs that were being dropped from the German planes. However later into the occupation, the tunnels were then converted into a hospital. The hospital started off with a few wards, then they slowly added operating theatres and assessment centres for the injured and ill. Even though the tunnel was transformed into a hospital, it was never completely finished, so dead ends ended up being blocked off, which you can now still see today and in a few of the images I took. Within the tunnel you go into different rooms, showing you what time was like during certain periods of the occupation, this gave me a better understand of what life was like and it enabled me to create a better connection to my images as I had a more factual concept behind my images. It was all very realistic as the tunnel would play audio from when bombs would be dropped, you could see the different type of machinery used by the Germans, along with belongings that different Islanders had.

When photographing in the tunnels the lighting often changed and was always coming from a different source, this meant I had to efficiently change my settings to fit the lighting to make sure my image wasn’t too dark or over exposed. At times this was a struggle, because I moved from room to room at a face pace, which meant I could only capture a few images here and there. However, the images I took signify the different rooms and different stages of the occupation, along with showing what inside the tunnels looked like.

The image above here ^ of the tunnel is quite a dark image. It holds a deep depth of field, this is because at the front of the image you can see the white walls, which make the image a lot brighter but as you move further back into the image the light is lost, but then at the far back you can see a dim light, lighting up a door way, however it is very subtle. Losing the light in this image an stand as a metaphor for the occupation, such as, as time went one during the occupation it became a darker, scarier time of the islanders but there was always a light at the end of the tunnel which is known as liberation day, where they were freed from the controlment of the Germans. Such a simple image, when given context can have a much bigger effect on a viewer.

In some of these images, especially the two above here, have a personal and emotional touch too them. This is because they are showcasing real materials that was used during the occupation, this helps a viewer understand an image more when they understand the purpose and meaning behind it.