PHOTO-MONTAGE

What is photo-montage? A photo- montage is a constructed form a series of photographic images that can be over- lapped and usually set out in a way that forms some sort of narrative.

We had looked at various examples of photo-montage a few months ago but had only experimented with it on Photoshop, this time we used pencils and paper and scissors. What I found difficult when creating these montages was the story I was trying to portray within this montage but after having thought about it I liked the way it could be interpreted within different peoples minds.

My idea behind the top image as it was my very first go with these sort of photographs I decided to cut out a superior officer as in those times no matter what class, race or gender there was always going to be someone who’s more superior to you. Therefore I chose a uniformed officer which clearly presents authority. Futhermore I placed the army behind him which therefore indicates that this is could be set in a conflicted area. Finally I decided I did not want to leave it on just a plain background then saw the old JEP which adds elements that what’s going on is important highlighting the story of the occupation times even more.

The image I created below is more a less the polar opposite of the top one. Here I chose a more peaceful and calm setting which seemingly looks a village, all the people dressed also seem fairly well off which made me view a narrative that indicates it may have been after the war. I decided upon this idea as there is no dad like figure but yet this is lots of children and again there’s a couple of woman in the image. However the Montage isn’t all sadness as people seem to be relatively happy.

Below are various examples of photo-montages:

NOEMIE GOUDAL

The photographer I have chosen to look at that experiments well with photo montage is Noemie Goudal. Below are some examples of her work:

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Noemie Goudal is a French artist who graduated from the Royal collage of Art in 2010 with an MA in photography and now lives and works in Paris. Goudal’s practice is in an investigation into images and films as dialectical images, wherein close proximities of truth and fiction, real and imagined offer new perspectives into the photographic canvas. She questions the potential image as a whole than reconstructing its layers and possibilities of other extensions through the landscape she chooses. Goudal is represented by Edel Assanti London and Galerie Les Filles Du Calvaire ( Paris).

The video link below is an interview with Goudal herself actually explaining what she’s trying to do with her pieces and she explains how by simply placing an object or slightly altering an object you can change the whole perspective of that image.

https://www.parisphoto.com/en/interviews/Noemie-Goudal/

I liked her work because after having watched the video I seemed to understand what sort of ideas she was trying to present. She made an example in the video of a picture of a simple forest nothing to crazy just see trees and some greenery then she added a picture of a bed sheet on what seemed like a washing line then by placing that object over the forest picture the outcome actually surprised me as it looked like a water fall.

Here was her example. This genuinely confused me because having saw the image before and the object serrate I would never have put two and two together I think this really highlights what she is going for ,the idea she’s trying to achieve for us as the viewers. I like the idea that she uses materials like card board and fabrics to create this contrast between man made and organic which she heavily captures by going outside and finding landscapes that best suit whatever material she’s preparing to best suit it.

Visually, its a nice picture to look at. At first glance I would not have straightway been able to figure out it wasn’t water which essentially is good for a photo- motage but after having looked at it for a while then watched the video on her work I discovered she likes the use of fabrics in raw nature to present these opposite perspectives.

The lighting she uses seems to be natural as she creates these obejects, elements and places them into natural scenery considering the lightness she has got out of the images it makes me only think it could have been done road the morning when its at its brightest points. What I also visually like about her work is that its layered. What I mean by this is that its got structure its not just a flat image of a rock places on sand its been made bigger, higher, generally more elevated than you probably would see these objects in day to day life. I like the fact that she also leaves a small amount of white space so we can clearly focus on the object that’s placed In the centre not only that but the images she’s got from the beach I like how its been reflected in the sand although its not even a real object just a simple piece of card with a material or fabric which ultimately creates a contrast as Goudal said it “man made vs organic.”

The first zine that caught my eye was the titled “Chernobyl” and was photographed by someone called John Darwell (vol.2). The images produced within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a 30 kilometre radius no- entry area that was evacuated after the nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl power plant in 1986. The area had contained over 70 villages and loads of farms. The people living in these locations were given twenty four hours to gather their possessions and were then moved to locations around the Ukraine, in most cases never to return.

Below i have added a link to a documentary that explains in detail the disaster that killed and destroyed thounsandes of civilians lives:

Below is a mood Board of some of my favourite pictures from the Zine:

John Darwell is a English photographer working on long term projects that reflect his interest in social and industrial change, concern for the environment and issues around the deception of mental health. I feel like in this mini zine that he has produced he has chosen carefully the way that he wanted to format it and looked closely at his layout. One thing I liked about the zine was the fact that all of his images are full size taken up the whole of the A5 format and each image have some sort off story that can be interpreted differently by every person that looks at it.

Technically, the type of lighting used seems to actually be natural lighting as they do seem to have been taking during maybe about mid-day. I do think he has chosen this time of day to capture all the light and golden tones of the sky and elements of buildings the reckonings would not have stood out the way they have due to the time of day he choose to capture these images. For this image I feel like the main focus of the image is on the reckoning of the building but also hes captured the space around it and also captured the nature that also adds a lively color scheme to the image.

Visually, just by looking at the image we can tell there are lots of different textures which actually are highly focused making the image seemingly a lot more interesting. By having these colors and defined textures it adds a realistic aspect to the image which also gives off a sense that the image probably wouldn’t have had to have a lot of editing due to his positioning which he chose a forward stance which makes it look like were seeing it from our eyes with very natural choices of saturation. From an outsider view I think he would have chosen various different angles and styles before coming to the choice that this was his best image but by him doing this its added a 3D effect in terms of the shading behind the building and hes also managed to plan out how much negative space he would add to the image without it consisting of over powering the image.

Contextually, there is a lot of meaning behind this particular image. The Chernobyl accident happened in April 26, 1986 and what actually happened I have spoken about previously a couple paragraphs up. I think the image is powerful as it shows a lively looking colored sky but the remains of what once could have been a well known business and now all that left is the building. Chernobyl is now deserted pretty much apart from some very old villagers who to this day seem to refuse to leave even though their lives are significantly high in danger and i think the image captures well the idea of being alone but also the image has a sinsiter element to it. Due to the abandonment i feel like the photographer was trying to capture through his lens the idea that just because its abandoned does not mean its safe and going to this exact place, Chernobyl, it shows a clear indication of this.

I think he has achieved a thought in the person who is viewing the image he has taken. A feeling of sadness yet uncertainty stepping into a place that was once busy and now is just abandoned due to a disaster that actually destroyed lives. John being a British photographer just wanted to show us (viewers of his images) that there is a lot out there that we have no idea what it looks like and how its affected a busy, populated place with over 70 villages to having a population no where over 100 people.

After having used Adobe Lightroom to have a look through all of my images from the Battery Moltke we went through a selection process which consisted of us flagging our images we thought had potential even after some minor editing. We were asked to star them from 1 to 5 then the images with at least 3 stars of higher would have narrowed a smaller selection of images. The final step was to simply choose to colours and have one be for yes and the other be for the no pile.

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After having decided what images we would use for our final ones we then had to experiment with them by cropping them and editing there colour to black and white. We did this so we could see the way that those images maybe would have looked at the time if they were photographed then, it adds elements of antiqueness which makes the images generally more emotive to look at .
Below are my experiments of cropping and editing the colour:

CROPPING EXPERIMENTS:

Using the cropping tool on Adobe Lightroom – This is the image before and below is the image after. I have decided to make the image smaller because I think there is too much white space in the background. I feel like the image is mainly focused on the Cannon therefore by taking the negative space away it highlights the cannon more.

I changed the image as well to black and white because as our topic is about the occupation i feel like it fits well as most people in those days would have the majority of their images in black and white. I edited things like the vibrancy of the image to have things really stand out like the camo paint on the cannon which was not originally like that. My only problem with some of my images was the lighting as i found that the day of the trip the lighting in general was quite dim as it was fairly cloudy therefore I am going to re- visit the Battery Moltke and experiment with different angles and colour exposure. I am also going to go to noirmont and capture images of different bunkers just so I have a variety of different shapes and sizes.

This is my second image I have chosen from the Battery Moltke is the image above. After having played around with different sizes which I am going to insert below I came to the conclusion that if I was to have displayed this onto an A4 page I would probably crop it slightly smaller to allow the background to enhance the photo which I would also position around the centre of the page.

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When editing these images, Im not too sure what it was about them that I decided to put them all into black and white. This is because in a way I thought it would be more fitting, for the time era of this project and because overall it adds a more higher definition of the image. I liked how this shoot when as I had a lot more content to play around with and more of a selection of images to chose from for this project.

For my second shoot I decided to go to noirmont, although not having been able to go inside the main bunkers I decided to photograph more of the remains than anything else but also adding textures and experimenting with different lighting.

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The images above are from my photoshoot which took place up at Noirmont in St Brelade. Noirmont actually has its official name as being the Battery Lothringen and has the distinction of being the only Kreigsmarine battery in Jersey. Many regulars and tourists now come to this site to not only look at the incredible views but to often stand on the former No.2 gun position.

This site was beginning to be constructed for the early gun position around March 1941 and later on in April/May the Kreigsmarine’s men and equipment Battery Lothringen has the distinction of being the only Kriegsmarine battery in Jersey. Thousands of tourists and locals alike who come to Noirmont Point each year to take in the beautiful views, often stand on the former No.2 gun position.

Work started on the first early gun positions March 1941, then in April-May, the Kreigsmarine’s men and equipment of 3./ Marine Artillerie Abteilung 604 started to arrive in Jersey. The German High Command had agreed to establish Marine batterys in all three principal islands. Construction of Battery Lothringen was finally completed in May 1944.The Battery’s four elderly 1917 15cm SKL/45 guns were put on these elevated platforms so that they could lower their guns sufficiently should the need necessitate to fire directly into the bay of St Aubin or Portelet.

Paul Virilio was a French cultural theorist,urbanest, and aesthetic philosopher. As well as having all these roles he also produced some images of bunkers which highly suit the topic and scheme we are currently looking at. Virilio was born in 1932. Around this time in France is when the great depression hit however France was one of the countries to be lastly effected which later led to the high rise in unemployment

Analysis of his image:

Visually, we can clearly see the images are of old bunkers maybe used during the war. The image due to the some shading clearly presents the image as 3D, this adds reality into the images and leads us to not think he has photoshopped them. From some of his images due to the outgrowth of nature onto these bunkers we can kind off see that this was photographed at a later time which indicates that it could potentially be quite old however I think he has converted the image to black and white to hide the age and ruins of the bunkers so we don’t think so intensely when looking at it. I Like how the bunkers are still quite refined as there’s a repetition of lines and small patterns that must have been made in the creating of those bunkers.

Technical- Some of his images seemed to have been taken using natural lighting however, having looked quite closely at his images he seems to have upped the setting on his camera so some of his images seem to be quite over exposed I think he may have done this on purpose as it highlights the bunkers more and actually makes us only really focus on them. He’s experimented with different positioning of the camera which again gives a better stance of the bunker it also adds excitement as we’re not always looking at the same bunker. He also has actually selected different types of bunkers which vary in shape and size I think by him doing this its allowing a lot more variety. Not all of his images are completely black and white as there is some where the temperature of the image is more to the golden tonal range I think due to the context behind the photograph and the time that it has been photographed in fits well with the colour of the image being more to the old fashioned colourless almost images weather he did this intentionally or not its just another interpretation of why he might have done this.

Context – Photographing Bunkers which were built built by the Germans. Virilio – was actually French but was a child during the times of the war as he grew up with it but never had any understanding of it till later on in life when he realised that his country was effected by the wars and that actually there was a lot more to still be explored than to what had been posted on the news and in magazines. He grew up and saw all these remains

For our second trip of this term we went to the Battery Moltke which is located in St.Ouens, which during those times was the central location for bunkers as it faces out to sea.

This is one of the many remarkable monuments left back to be glorified. The Battery Moltke is actually comprising four 15.5cm K418(f) gun emplacements and an associated underground complex was named in honour of Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, who was Chief of the German General Staff from 1906 to 1914.

One of the gun placements has been completely renovated including fashionably painted in camouflage colours this is due to the fact that firstly it needs to be preserved beautifully but for it to also blend in with its surroundings. Not only has it been heavily done up on the outside people have invested years of hard work to create a display of this underground passage that used to accommodate about 27 men which when I first heard about thought it was quite a small amount due to the amount of space that was in there, however after learning that they’d have to carry ammunition through these meter and a half corridors it made more sense that a lot more things would have been going on back in the time of its use.

This bunker, with a ceiling two metres thick, was built to “Fortress” standards. It is fully equipped with original ventilation equipment, boiler, bunks, and central heating. Standing outside the bunker makes you visually image what you expect it too look like on the interior, having never been inside a bunker this big I was shocked but also amazed at how big, how clean and surprisingly how decorated it was. although having been told it had been renovated It did not look like what I had imagined. Four M512 ammunition bunkers were also built to serve the gun, three of which are now used for display purposes. The complex has been subject to an ongoing restoration project that commenced in 1979.

We started off by meeting a member of the CIOS, Tony, who gave us a brief introduction about what we were going to be seeing and a little information about the history of this place. Just after being there for literally 10 minutes it quite quickly kicked in that there was lots of things that can be photographed. The cannon above was the first thing that caught everyones eye. Having looked at the gun placements he went on to say that the original gun placed there was actually french,he later informed us about the ammunition and artillery and how they were used as there defence to protect the coast. We then went on to proceed into the main bunker that had been converted into a showcase filled with images, newspaper articles from the time, real life artillery, helmets and even a room with footage of the bunker during the occupation, it is home to many special and valuable artifacts that are now on display for tourists and islanders to go and see. Inside this bunker there was maybe 4 to 5 rooms and one of those rooms is displayed as a medical room where when the soldiers got injured for whatever reason they’d be taken there for emergency care. It was interesting to see the way it was set out and how much technology used in the medical insdustry has developed as in those days sterilisation and a clean environment would have been hard to achieve due the circumstances of the occupation.

This was the last tower we went to visit before making our way back. Nine of these towers were originally planned for the coastline of Jersey, but the increasing shortages of cement and return of forced and slave workers to the Continent at the end of August, 1943 resulted in the abandonment of the project.

Totally unique to the Channel Islands, these observation towers were also built to “Fortress” standards. Each of the five observation levels was intended to provide the distance of a target for an individual artillery battery using the long base method of range-finding, in conjunction with the other MP towers. However, this method of range-finding had obvious limitations in inclement weather, at night or if there were numerous targets on the horizon.

MP3 was intended to bypass these difficulties with the installation of a radar on the roof. This gun-laying radar version had an accurate detection range of around fifteen miles, and was of a similar type utilised by the famous pocket battleship “Graf Spee.” The generator which provided electric power for the radar was housed in a very large bunker behind MP3. This also acted as a personel bunker for the soldiers, who were ordinarily barracked adjacent to a pre-war rifle range.

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Above are some pictures from the archive taking from the Societe Jersiaise webiste

My interpretation of an archive is something that stores hardware photographs, audio books, letters, anything really that has sentimental value to its society and nation, it usually is relatively old meaning that it gives us a better insight to years that I certainly wasn’t around for. In many ways, the purpose of these archives is that they are there to protect old records that if displayed wherever could potentially be ruined and too also educate and inform younger generations of the sort of activities and events that have taken place on this island we call our home. Archives have the function to inform us of what our island’s culture used to be like. Having them in our lives is important as most of the images found in archives go way back to the 19′ hundreds which therefore gives us an insight into how much our culture has changed not just in terms of our streets and buildings but our fashion industries and government standards.

Images from the archive’s have dual meanings because what we see in these images is just an aspect of their reality, its a split second of their day whether they are working or just simply sitting doing nothing the reality of it is that we actually don’t have a clue of what the context being those images are and how those people are actually feeling.
Archives act like repositories of cultural memories because its where memories,events,important dates have been stored. By keeping them in a safe location it means that younger generations can look back on their grandparents or even great grandparents lives and see how much it has changed as the years have gone by.
Photography doesn’t just play an important role to the archives history but it plays an important role in day to day life without us even thinking about it. As previously stated, theres an idea that our feelings change once we know the context behind the image. I think it was important to photograph back in the day the reality of their lives without mobile phones,internet pretty much nothing but pen and paper if you wanted to communicate and how easy todays generations have it. I think it makes younger generations reflect that our older families did not have it easy and that just because they look happy for an image doesn’t mean that’s how they’re really feeling.
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Now in the modern days, images can be taken on many different devices but there is a part of me that enjoys looking at pictures of my parents and grand parents because they have an element of being old and they look not as highly focused and the colour balance of some images are not the right tones. I do like the old fashioned photos but i know that most pictures i will likely look back on will be freshly coloured and in relatively high quality.

Visually, looking at the archival images will enrich our personal studies because we can see how much our culture and society has developed not only with the quality of those images but in terms fashion and political aspects on the island. Seeing it on a piece of paper will make us see the changes and give us a more personal account to look at it. It will also influence what we go out and photograph as they’re are going to be certain ideas that wouldn’t completely fit into this theme.

Looking at the images has been resourceful because it has given us lots to look at and from looking at those images we can take elements and copy into what our society and culture for our new images and my response. I think that as young photographers/ Artists we can use elements of their photos and adapt and use them into our own wether its by using photo – montage or a simple over layer of the two images 70 odd years apart. Archival images can be used in many inventive and creative ways therefore just being able to see what life was like before we were all born was seemingly interesting.

To answer the title “who’s archive is it anyway” I think its hard to say because each individual has a different interpretation of an archive. Some places were not affected by any sort of conflict so wouldn’t take into account archives from the war as they have no link to it but their are some that put 100% time and devotion to make our land remembered for what really happened to it and how much we have got and what It has really come to and why.

For our introduction to our new theme for this project, we took a trip to The Societe Jersiaise to look at archives during the jersey occupation it was founded in 1873 for these following purposes.

• The Publication of Local History,
• The encouragement of the use of French, the official language,
• The study of the ancient local dialect
• To achieve, as far as possible, the conservation of all prehistoric and historical sites
• To found a library, mainly historical and archaeological
• To collaborate with other societies with similar aims

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Societe Jersiase found a permanent home in 1893 when they moved to 9 Pier Road, a large early nineteenth century merchant’s house. The extensive Museum collections are now looked after by Jersey Heritage but they are consistantly adding to the collection.  In 1977 they built a large extension to the archive on the site of No 7 Pier Road to house the library and meeting rooms.Over the years, Jersey heritage have purchased archaeological sites in Jersey for preservation and presentation. According to them their two most important sites are La Hougue Bie, bought in 1919, and La Cotte de Saint-Brélade, purchased in 1955. They’ve carried out extensive excavations at both sites.

In 1913 the Société’s activities as a learned society were organised into ‘Sections’ for the study of different aspects of the island.  These Sections, now 14 in number continue to be the backbone of their activities.  They also employ specialist staff to look after their library archives and photographic archives.

Many of their activities have been made possible by substantial gifts of money over the years and they’ve always got important projects in need of funds. In a way It shows that even over 70 odd years there are still many things on the island to be discovered and shown off as people often think that we are only an island so there’s limitations however Jersey is more precious with it archaeological discoveries. I believe that everything we find now should be preserved as something so small could contribute massively to researchers and historians interested in the times of the war and during the occupation.There are many museum and other collections that have been largely built up through gifts and bequests which has ensured its preservation of many important items with relevance to Jersey including; books, manuscripts and maps, photographs, prints and paintings, archaeological finds and historical items.

The German occupation of the Jersey Channel Islands lasted pretty much the whole of WW2 from the 30th June to its liberation day which is celebrated as a bank holiday now on the 9th of May.

The German Occupation of Jersey began one week after the British government had demilitarized the island fearing for the safety of civilians should there be any conflict. The code name for this was “Operation Green Arrow” and the initial German Air Force reconnaissance flights mistake civilian farming lorries for troop carriers. On the 28th of June , the German Air Force, not knowing of the demilitarization, bomb and machine gun multiple sites on the island. The attacks killed ten people and wound many more. A few days later on the 1 of July 1940 General Richthofen, the Commander of the German Air Forces in Normandy, dropped an ultimatum from the air demanding the immediate surrender of the island. White flags and crosses were placed in prominent positions, as stipulated by the Germans, and later that day Jersey was occupied by air-borne troops under the command of Hauptmann Gussek.

Under the occupying forces, one of the greatest hardships was the lack of news from the mainland after the Germans had outlawed the use of radio sets. A number of individuals risked imprisonment by making their own sets and spreading frontline news. Horse drawn traffic became an increasingly regular mode of transport as petrol shortages became likely, and many vehicles were converted to use gas. The price of other transport rose, for instance bicycles became more expensive to buy, therefore the islanders became more restricted in terms of what they could and could not do. The German’s ordered all traffic to drive on the wrong side of the road. The island was also moved to Central European time. In the months following D-Day, as the Allies regained control of France, the source of supplies fueling the islands was now no longer available. 

Jersey became very isolated in the sense that shortages were hitting home, including not enough food and water to supply all islanders. This led to developments between the government and the Red Cross to send parcels of food. During autumn of 1944, fuel supplies were slim to none, electricity was on the grips of working leaving islanders desperate. It did not help the fact that medical supplies were also practically non- existent which therefore meant spreading of diseases rapidly. Never the less, The Red Cross Ship SS Vega arrived on the 30th of December to relive all those starving and dying islanders bringing them clothes, food, water and medical attention.

Hitler ordered the conversion of Jersey into an impregnable fortress. Thousands of slave workers from countries like Russia, Spain, France, Poland, and Algeria built hundreds of bunkers, anti-tank walls, railway systems, as well as many tunnel complexes. In late 1943 the Tunnel Complex Ho which to us is known as the Jersey War Tunnels in St. Lawrence was converted from an artillery workshop and barracks to an emergency casualty clearing station able to cope with up to 500 patients. All of the fortifications built around the island were part of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall”. Today, traces of Jersey’s defenses and wartime occupations can be discovered across the island, especially in St. Ouen’s Bay.

By 7 May 1945, the German army had surrendered and the end of the war in Europe was announced. During the week leading up to 6 May islanders had been hearing reports of Hitler’s fall in Berlin by way of their hidden radios. In spite of the fact that the island was still officially under occupation, rumors began circulating of an imminent end to the war in Europe. However beforehand, on the 3rd of May a British Military operation ‘Nestegg’, with the objective of liberating the Channel Islands, was set in motion when a coordinated group of British Army units, collectively known as ‘Force 135’. Together with the units of Force 135, this first party consisted of a team of officials responsible for negotiating the terms of the Germans’ surrender. The front page of the Jersey Evening Post carried Jersey’s first confirmation of the Allies’ victory in Europe, and islanders were informed that Winston Churchill would broadcast the Nation’s first official announcement that afternoon at 3.00pm. Crowds began to gather at various locations to hear the announcement that would declare their liberation. Islanders waited patiently amidst the heavy air of expectation. 

Below are some pictures taken from google images of Jersey during the times of the occupation-

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