Richard Avedon was born in 1923 in New York city and had an interest in photography from a very early age. He joined the YMHA camera club at the age of 12 years old, And then attended the DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx where he was a key figure in the development and production of the schools magazine. Soon after he was named as the poet laureate of New York City high schools in 1943.
Avedon served in the US Army in World War 2 as an identity card photographer, Photographing soldiers for use of an ID card. After the war he went into fashion photography and he studied at the Design Laboratory at the New School for Social Research. When he was 22, Avedon was approached by Harpers Bazaar, An American female fashion magazine. He was initaially denied access to a studio by them so he used to photograph subjects in abnormal environments such as at a circus, the beach and nightclubs. This very quickly became a key element of his work. He soon rose up to become the lead photographer for Harpers Bazaar. Avedons main focus on his work was the suggestion of a persons personality that photography was able to portray, so he took extra care in planning and detailing shoots and hairstyles, outfits and objects became key focal points for expression within his work. Below are some examples of his work that highlight his ideals
In this image of authour Samuel Beckett, Avedon has chosen to keep the composition of the image simple, utilising a plan white background. the contrast in the image is one of the most striking elements to me as there is a lot of detail highlighted by the contrast, Specifically Beckett’s Hair. The use of a turtleneck jumper with a three button blazer suggests class and order
In this image of American musical artist Bob Dylan, Avedon has chosen to keep Dylan within focus and have the background out of focus. This effect can be seen as metaphorical in terms of Bob Dylan being a world famous musician at the time, In a sense that he stands out from anywhere and is instantly recognizable.
This particular image, Taken in Harlem, New York, Depicts a dalmatian and his owner, with another male seemingly admiring the dog. This image strongly represents the idea of ‘mans best friend’ as both of the subjects are admiring the dog and there is a sense of unity within this ideal, as the two men, Judging by the way they are dressed, have different occupations and backgrounds, yet they are united as one over the dalmatian and there could also be a link to the sociological state of the United States at the time this photograph was taken in 1949, As African Americans were the target of severe racism and discrimination. This image thereby can also depict a feeling of unity between the two men as despite their different occupations and socio-economic status, They are united as one in their fight against racism.
In this image of two coal miners from Colorado We see a striking usage of contrast to highlight and depict the conditions they are working in by highlighting the soot and dirt on the skin and clothes of the workers. There is also a sense of unity between the two as seen by the hand of the left hand subject on the center subjects shoulder, a universal sign of unity and compassion.
Personal opinion
I personally find Avdeons work inspiring due to his portrayal of different people and their lives through his attention to detail within his work and use of varying photographic techniques to utilise the full scene to full affect. I would like to take inspiration from Avedon as I am inspired by his work and I take a lot of inspiration from his technique and ideas. I would like to have a main focus on personality within my personal study, focusing on the elements of a person that makes them who they are. Whether this be clothing, location or accessories and objects that highlight aspects of the subjects personality and who they are. Based upon the theme of Occupation VS Liberation, I would like to photograph subjects in their spare time and partaking in hobby’s/ past times and highlighting this sense of liberty through their clothing objects and scenario.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a french photographer whom many have credited as being one of the founding fathers of street photography. Born on the 22nd February 1908, Bresson came from a wealthy family, with his father being a wealthy textile owner and his mother a landowner herself. This in turn allowed for his education and pursuit of photography to be entirely funded by his parents.
in 1929 after being placed under house arrest for hunting without a license, Bresson was introduced to an American Expatriate by the name of Harry Crosby. Crosby learned of Bressons interest and passion for photography, and therefore issued him with his first camera. Bresson had a long term affair with Crosby’s wife, which, upon ending in 1931 two years after Crosby committed suicide, made him move to Cote D’ivoire in West Africa where he lived for several years hunting and selling game to locals. Upon returning to france in late 1931, Bresson found insipration from the surrealist movement and this sparked his desire to take photography seriously and persue his career as a professional
Notable Works
Allee Du Prado, which simply translates to Prado alley is an image depicting a man in a long trench coat and bowler hat smoking a long cigarette. At the time, this person was seen to be someone of higher class and power and typically quite wealthy, so therefore the dead trees in the background provide a contrast between the clean cut image portrayed by the male in the foreground and the trees themselves.
Bressons most well known image, Rue Mouffetard, Depicts a man outside of a train station seemingly running to catch a train. However, Bresson captured the image at the exact moment both of the subjects feet had left the floor, giving the appearance that the subject is floating. This affect is amplified in terms of effectiveness by the reflection of the subject in the water on the ground. This image is a defining one in the surrealist genre as it finely depicts the crossover between real life and surreal ideas
In this image, Bresson has captured an avenue of trees leading down a path. The image features the first trees and then the avenue continues snaking around to the left of the image in the background. The completely white sky can help in providing a contrast within the image as the darker colours of the trees highlight the prominence of the feature within the image.
During my Personal investigation based on the theme of Occupation VS Liberation, I learnt many new techniques from utilizing archival material to camera skills related to shooting in low light environments. During my Project, I used a lot of archival material such as Occupation registration cards and extracts from newspapers. I learnt how to appropriately set up an overhead camera tripod station in order to capture and record these documents and adjust the lighting to enhance the quality of the image. I also learnt how to use archival databases to find appropriate resources, making use of the Jersey archives online catalogue to select images and correspond with the appropriate staff members of the archive and relay serial numbers to them of documents I required. In terms of camera skills, On many photo shoots in environments such as bunkers and the Jersey war tunnels, I had to adjust my camera settings to be able to capture subjects in low light and ensure I had the best quality images possible. This involved adjusting the shutter speed to allow for a slow shutter speed yet one that wouldnt result in heavy motion blurring due to me holding my camera. The aperture would also have to be set relatively wide to allow for more light to enter the camera and create a much brighter exposure. My ISO levels would have to be around 1600 to allow for more light to enter the camera. A higher ISO than this, as I found out however, Results in a large amount of digital noise.
I hope to take these experiences and points and apply them to my personal study to further enhance my work. I Personally enjoyed the landscape approach to photography as I was able to really experiment with scenery as well as texture within an image, Photographing signs of decay within the bunkers I visited is a good example of this. I also enjoy the limitless creativity in terms of the use of landscape images. for example, My photo montage project where I overlaid cutouts of archival images and documents over the top of images from my visit to Batterie Moltke. I also enjoyed the portraiture element of the Project, Especially photographing Occupation Veteran Joan Tapley as I came to find that portrait photography is a great way to tell a story of a person and learn much more about their history. The portrait project also helped me realise that every person has a story to tell and that portraiture is a great medium to get this story across and told
The decayed ceiling of the German Radio Communications tower at Batterie Moltke on Les Landes Headland
A photo montage of the German Radio Communications Tower laid over a copy of the original front page of the Jersey Evening post, declaring the start of the occuaption to the islanders and outlining the proclamations and proposals from the German Occupying forces
Occupation veteran Joan Tapley, Who kindly shared her stories of the Occupation with us and allowed us to photograph her
MIND MAP AND MOOD BOARD: OCCUPATION VS LIBERATION
Personally, I find that my whole perspective upon occupation and liberation has changed massively since the start of the project. I used to be well aware of the impact the occupation and liberation had upon not only the island but my family itself as both of my grandparents lived in the Island through the occupation. Liberation was always celebrated annually by my grandparents as well as the rest of my family, but occupation was always reflected upon and many can say that if it werent for the occupation, The island and its inhabitants may not be the same way they are today. I have also begun to think of other meanings of Occupation VS Liberation, as they are both polar opposites. Occupation is defined as the state or period of being controlled or occupied by a force. Liberation is defined as the act of freeing a person or place from oppression or imprisonment. The term imprisonment can be meant both physically in the case of the occupation or metaphorically, Potentially maybe talking about how someone could be imprisoned by a job they do not enjoy or even imprisoned in their own mind and being unable to be themselves. Liberation can also be seen in this same sense, As someone could be going through the oppression of a boring week job and then feel a sense of liberation when the weekend comes around and they are free to live the life they wish to, Whether this be partying or simply relaxing. This could also be seen in the sense of someone being imprisoned in their mind, if they are able to find themselves an opportunity to let go of the feeling of imprisonment by partaking in an activity they like such as sport or arts. For my Personal study I would like to explore themes of Occupation VS liberation in more of a metaphorical sense.
IDEAS FOR FIRST PHOTO SHOOT
I would like to explore Occupation Vs Liberation in a contemporary, metaphorical sense. This would be based around the idea of being occupied by either a job or a persons own mind and I would like to use the medium of photographs to exhibit more intrinsic feelings and attitudes to portray a sense of occupation and liberty within a persons mind in terms of their attitude and feelings towards either work and play or a visual representation of their thoughts and feelings. I would therefore pick subjects and photograph them in an environment that they find occupies their lives such as a workplace or school, and then photograph them in their free time, enjoying their liberty from the oppression of their workplace/ school environment. This could be them either partaking in a hobby or past time or them out partying and socializing. I have also considered this same approach however focusing much more on the subject of mental occupation Vs Liberty, For example somebody who may be struggling with their emotions and whom is able to let go of the struggle when they are socializing.
With the images from my visit to Batterie Moltke, I am going to experiment with various techniques such as cropping and colour adjustment as well as Desaturating images entirely to create a series of variation in my images
Cropping
Below I have included some of my original images followed by cropped edits. Cropping is used to remove irrelevant or unwanted subjects fro an image which allows for more focus and emphasis on the main subject. Cropping also helps change the aspect ratio of an image and also allows for an overall improvement in terms of the images composition
Above is an image of a corroded ceiling inside of the German MP4 Radio Tower. I like the texture given off in the image as it shows a true sense of age and decay, However I find that a crop could benefit the image well in terms of overall composition. Below is my Cropped Image
I have decided in this edit to focus more on the patch of decaying brown material in the roof rather than focus on the wider Image as I found there was too much to take in #
Colour Adjustment
Colour Adjustment involves utilizing the colour palette in an image to create variation. In Adobe Lightroom, There is a whole HSL/Colour control panel which enables the user to have control over the various colours in an image and allows for the Hue, Saturation and luminescence to be controlled with sliders. Below is an example of an image where I used this function to alter the colours to create a dramatic image
For this image, I took control of the Aqua and blue colour filters and completely desaturated the image, Leaving the Gray/ brown of the concrete bunker as the only subject with colour in the image. This method also helps to isolate the main subject to give it much more emphasis and make it stand out from the image. I further altered the contrast and exposure to create a dark and moody image
Black and White
Desaturating an image is a great way to create an atmosphere within the image. This process is acheived through desaturating the image and then dependent on the mood of the image the photographer/ editor wants to give off, The contrast, exposure, shadows and highlights are altered to give off the desired effect.
For this image I desaturated all of the yellows, Greens and oranges within the image as these are the only colours present and turned up the contrast slightly and altered the exposure to create an effect involving the light and the darkness inside of the wall. I find that using black and white gives a great emphasis of contrast within the image
This painting, named Mens Grooming still life is a still life oil panting by Czech painter Charles Cerny. This image depicts typical everyday mens grooming objects from western European civilisation. During the onset of the 20th Century when this image was painted, Male grooming became an increasing trend amongst middle class men of the era due to the development of professions such as lawyers, accountants and tax officers. The process of industrialization where many millions of people migrated from the countryside into the cities plays a role in the context of this image as the movement into crowded areas prompted a new form of mannerism and social etiquette.
In the image, The most prominent object is a bowler hat. Typical male attire for the early 20th century, The bowler hat is in itself a symbol of masculinity as well as the fact that its main purpose was to preserve a mans hairstyle an protect it from the elements without altering it. The mustache Guide card is one that was typically given out at barbers throughout the early 20th century as moustaches were a trend amongst males as it connoted signs of class. The classic shaving knife in the bottom left of the image is also representative of masculinity and the care and attention to detail men put into their image. The blade would have to be used carefully and slowly with a steady hand otherwise a man could slit his own face open. The central shoe brush would have been used to polish and shine shoes, creating a sense of cleanliness and order.
Soap was also a key factor in a mans grooming collection. Due to the dirty nature of the industrial cities, It was seen as highly important to maintain health and cleanliness on the go in order to keep this dapper look up and maintain a presentable appearance. Therefore, many early 20th century men would carry bars of soap on them, often keeping them in a packet or soap dish and use them periodically to keep their hands clean and smelling fresh. The pink bottle in the top right of the image was a male form of cologne which was used to give a man a masculine aroma and to mask up any smells present on the man and replace these foul odours with pleasing scents. Even to this day, many men use and carry around cologne, keeping this process alive
An archive is a vast collection consisting of either historical data, Images or objects that are set up by either individuals or organisations to preserve and use for many years to come.
In Jersey, there are two main archives, The Jersey archive and the societe Jersaie archive. The Jersey archive is a private archive where records and data are available to the general public upon request and appointment. The societe Jersaie is a public archive that is open to members of the general public.
The purpose of an archive is to preserve and store historical images and documents for future reference and viewing. Many people are able to discover unknown facts and stories of their own families histories through archival visits and many are able to trace their family origins back hundreds if not thousands of years due to the resources provided by archives. If it weren’t for archives then many people would have little to no idea about their own heritage and family history as archives arent just confined to an official, professional set up, but archives can also be classed as an individuals private collection of documents and images and artifacts relevant to them and their heritage. In my family for example, My grandfather was a keen photographer and created hundreds of photographs of periods of his history, such as his deployment to Iraq when he was in the RAF as a munitions officer, of family life and of his plane spotting hobby.
My family continued the tradition of shooting on film into the early 2000’s and all photos of me from birth to around 5 years old were all mainly shot on film, mostly due to film photography being much cheaper than the newly discovered format of digital photography, but also more due to the sentimental value of having a physical image.
A private archive doesn’t have to only consist of images though. It can also feature historical documents with context to the family such as marital documents, Newspaper cuttings featuring the family or even simpler items such as receipts and plane tickets. If anything is seen to have historical context to a family, It can be classed by them as archival material. In essence any personal belonging/ item with historical context involving an individual can be classed as archival content
During my visit to the archive, I was able to research some personal history. My Grandfather lived in Jersey throughout the occupation, however he was meant to be evacuated in June of 1940 but he did not make it down to the harbor in time and just missed the last evacuation vessel. I was able to find his German occupation Identification card within the digital archives. My Grandfathers card was issued just after his 14th Birthday in January of 1944, meaning he was 15 when the Island was liberated by the Allies. He lived at 1 Garlyckehythe lane at the bottom of Janvrin road and lived with his great aunt Maud
When my Grandfather was alive, He told me many stories of
the Occupation. One such story he told me was about the time that the Island
was suffering a shortage of food supplies as the majority of food made in the
island was exported by the Germans to feed their front line soldiers. As a
result of this, many islanders, including my grandfather, resorted to stealing
food from the Germans. One night my grandfather and a friend of his snuck into
a German supply post at St Saviours Court. They both found their way into the
basement where they began to take all the food they could lay their hands on.
They were then caught by A young German officer and I remember my Grandfather
telling me he though the officer would shoot them. Instead the officer took
them both upstairs, sat them down and made them a sandwich. When they had
finished he halved a loaf of bread and gave a half to my Grandfather and half
to his Friend and told them both to leave immediately and not come back.
Another story is of the time my grandfather and another friend were out on bikes near St Clements and heard a German bomber overhead. The bomber was suffering difficulties with its engines so the pilot decided to aim it for some fields near St Clements and jump out. The plane crashed and my grandfather and his friend arrived shortly after and decided to search the wreckage for souvenirs. Due to the heat and flames, bullets and ammunition were exploding around them as they were souvenir hunting. My grandfather came away with a few bullets from the bomber.
My grandfather also stole a German bayonet off a wall near Springfield and took it home in his jacket pocket. I will need to find it to take photos of it as I remember him showing me a few years ago.
My Grandmother lived In Jersey during the occupation as well. She lived down in Vallee Les Vaux and her mother, my great grandmother Louise actually died at the start of the occupation as she was cleaning the steps outside of her house and saw a platoon of German soldiers walking up the road and fainted and hit her head off of the steps and died on the spot.
My great grandfather kept chickens and towards the end of the occupation when German food supplies were low, many soldiers would come to my great grandfathers house in Sion and attempt to buy his chickens from him. Everytime My Great Grandfather would take the Germans Money, Spit on it and hand it back to the soldiers and tell them the chickens werent ready yet and told them to come back in a week and this went on until the end of the Occupation
My Grandmother also wrote of the treatment of local schoolchildren by the Germans. She said that the vast majority of Soldiers were only serving to protect their families and didnt actually want any involvement in war at all. If they refused to Join the German army, They would be shot along with their families so many made the sacrifice for the sake of their own families so therefore were nice to the people of Jersey. My grandma can recall one afternoon after leaving her primary school at St Johns, German officers stood on the wall outside and threw sweets down to the children. As this was early days in the occupation, Many of the children refused to eat the sweets as they thought they were poisoned
My grandmother and grandfather both had to learn German at school and follow an adapted version of their peacetime curriculum all taught and learnt in German. There were many occasions where allied aircraft would fly over the island and drop propaganda leaflets and my grandmother recalled seeing these leaflets scattered across fields in St Mary. However being caught in possession of a leaflet or any material containing details of allied progression or outside news would result in serious punishment, so my Grandmother would read them and leave them in the field.
My great grandfathers second wife, Tina was appointed as a cleaner of the Gestapos rooms at the Ritz Hotel where they had their headquarters. Whenever an officer would leave the room she was in she would use the radio to tune into the BBC world news broadcast and she would then go on to share this news with other islanders. On one occasion however, a Gestapo officer forgot his gloves and came back into the room to Tina listening to the radio and caught her. She was immediately arrested and sent to Biberac internment camp. Her then husband died shortly after, falling to his death off of a forum building he was doing works on. At the time Tina was interned, she was in the early stages of pregnancy and my great uncle peter was born in the camp and was 3 and a half when the camp was liberated. Later on, My great granddad married Tina and adopted Peter
Here is Tina’s and my Great Grandfathers Identification card. These copies make up part of my Family’s private archive as this version is the one Tina carried on her day to day as a form of identification
The Jersey War tunnels, Also known as the German underground hospital is a tunnel complex located within the hills of St Peters Valley, Jersey. Known to the Germans as Hohlgangsalase 8, The purpose of the tunnels was as a Military hospital, Ordnance and ammunition storage as well as an air raid shelter. The word Hohlgangalase translates to Cave passage installations and HO8 was part of a wide network of tunnels across the Island, With the only complete tunnel being HO5, Loacted in St Aubins and now used to store the Le Petit Train and home to the Jersey indoor shooting club.
HO8 was constructed by organisation Todt originally as a large scale air raid shelter which would link up to other tunnel systems in the area such as HO2 and create a vast underground fortress to be used by the Germans in the event of allied invasion. However, later in the war, HO8 was converted into a hospital and it had fully functioning electricity, heating and running water. The facility has over 1km worth of tunnels with various rooms and sections such as barracks, Gas proof doors and ventilation systems as well as a fully functioning operating theater.
The tunnel was constructed by forced laborers. These were typically Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war whom were housed in work camps in the island. Conditions among these prisoners were so poor that many died of malnutrition, exhaustion and disease. Many workers in the tunnels were also crushed to death during the creation of the tunnels by rockfalls or beaten to death by soldiers of Organization Todt. Many workers died in the tunnels during their construction.
After the Liberation of the Channel islands, Many of the HO tunnel systems were used for the storage of German equipment such as guns, tanks and barbed wire by the British forces sent over to the island to help clean up the traces of the War. During the Scrap metal drive of the 1950s, The vast majority of Tunnels were completely cleared and many sealed off. In 1962, Two schoolboys were exploring HO2 looking for souvenirs. They sadly died due to high levels of Carbon Monoxide deep inside the tunnels
in 1946 HO8 was opened to the public and owned by the states of Jersey, However a lawsuit soon followed from the owner of the land above and the lawsuit was successful and ownership was returned to the landowner, Who converted it into a museum with many genuine artifacts and features from the war and the Museum remains open to this day
Images
An Authentic Nazi Automatic pistol on display in HO8. I like this image due to the red background, representative of blood and evil, with the lighting giving the image a dark feelClose up of an Authentic occupation Era typewriter. I personally like the whites of the letters as they stand out and look bold in an overall dark image.Authentic German officer uniform jacket on display at HO8. Note the Iron cross and Nazi eagle emblems. This isn’t a particularly good image in my opinion as there is a lot of glass glare, meaning A series of German daggers on display at the Jersey War Tunnels. On two of the central daggers hilts are the Nazi eagle emblem. Once again on a red background, representative of evil and blood, giving deep context to the image
The Jersey Archives were first opened in 1993 and since then, The Archives have been responsible for the collation of multiple documents of historical interest, Over 300,000 documents and images are held at the Jersey archives and the collection is ever growing, as the archive is currently undergoing an extension in order to contain the mass influx of documents.
The oldest document on file at the archive dates back to 1379 and is a charter from Richard the 3rd. The archive is home to documents provided from the states as well as private businesses and individuals, and the archive is open to the public for general research and family history projects. The computer databases are accessible along with marriage and birth certificates to name a few forms of documentation available to the public
The archive is home to all 30,000 original German occupation identification cards. These cards were issued by the occupying forces as a means of identification and control over the population. All islanders over the age of 14 were issued an identification card which listed details such as their name, nationality,age and any military service, past or present. Islanders of the Jewish community were issued cards that had a large cross through them as well as a label identifying it to belong to a Jewish islander.
Here is an Example of an Identification Card, Belonging to Charles Samson. The card lists his name, Place and date of birth and his maritial status, occupation and current adress
Emile Guiton was a prominent Jersey photographer born in 1879. Throughout his career he was responsible for documenting Island Life as well as helping to found the Societe Jersaie photo archive, where He served on the executive committee as a joint honorary secretary and he was also the curator of the museum and the editor of their annual bulletin
Guiton noticed throughout his life that history was changing dramatically on the island and he therefore set out to document this historical change in as much detail as possible. He was one of the first early photographers to experiment with auto chrome color.
Auto Chrome Lumiere
Auto Chrome Lumiere is one of the earliest methods of colour photography and was patented in 1903 by the french Lumiere Brothers. It was the main means of capturing images in colours before the development of coloured film in the early 1930s. The original creator of Auto chrome was another french photographer called Louis Ducos Du Haron.He was the first known photographer to experiment with the technique of colour additives.
Auto Chrome Process
The Auto Chrome Process involves a glass plate, which is covered on one side by a random pattern of microscopic grains of dyed potato starch, The grains consist of red-orange, Green and blue-violet colors, Similar to the RGB of red green and blue primary colors found in the visual processors of many modern day computer screens. These colored grains of starch essentially act as colour filters, while lampblack, a type of dark material created from the incomplete combustion of fuel materials such as coal and oil, Fills the gaps while a black and white panchromatic silver halide emulsion is coated on the top as a layer.
The Auto chrome would then be loaded into the camera with the glass side of the slide facing the Lens, Meaning the light passed through the Mosaic colour layer before reaching the emulsion. An orange filter was used in the camera to block out ultra violet light as the emulsion was very sensitive to purple and blue colours. Autochromes required a long exposure time, so therefore they were not suitable for photographing moving subjects
Early Auto Chrome Images
This image of a french police officer sat at a water pump in a french cobbled street was taken by a photographer employed by Albert Kahn. Kahn sent out 50 photographers armed with auto chrome cameras across the globe to photograph subjects such as the collapse of the Ottoman-Hungarian empire, The last traditional Celtic villages in Ireland and events of the early stages of the first world war. I like the image as it has a minimal amount of colour on a whole, which makes us focus more on the key element of the police officer in the foreground. I also find that the low saturation gives off quite a solemn feel, especially due to the fact that this photograph was taken in the early days of the first world warHere is another early autochrome. This image depicts a late 19th/ early 20th century car. At this time, cars were extremely expensive and seen as a luxury that only the upper class had access to. It is highly likely that this photograph was commissioned by the owners of the car. The range of colour that the autochrome could pick up is highlighted well in this image, with a vast mix of blues and greens along with some redsThis image originates from early 20th century America and is a photograph of a group of young children stood watching through the bars of an elephant enclosure in a zoo. What strikes me about this image is the vibrance and range of colour on display in terms of the outfits of the children as well as the background greens of the trees and clues of the skies
Emile Guitons Works
Below are some autochrome works produced by Guiton. He mainly chose to picture flowers as he found these a great way to showcase the colour and beauty of nature as well as the fact that they were non moving subjects
