On the 18.06.19, we visited Noirmont, an area which had once been heavily fortified by the Nazi’s within World War 2.

To capture the post war atmosphere, I took my camera and took photos at various angles, heights and of subjects other than the bunkers itself.

I was happy with the outcome of the photos I came out with as they helped to share a story of angles and construction that had taken over the island in the tough time of WWII

Here are my favorite photos from this photo shoot.

I really like these non-edited and original photos as they have a range of attributes that make them good pictures, like the lighting as it is balanced there is no under or over exposure. There is a clear focal point of the image, so you now where to look within the photo.

In order to create photos like these, when we visited Noirmont I decided to take photos at various angles, and zooming in extra close or cutting parts of the scenery out to focus in on one particular place of the image.

Out of all the photos that I took during this photoshoot, these were the photos that I decided to select and manipulate to hopefully be included in projects later on.

Archives are used to store peoples memories and preserve them so that the past is not forgotten. Archival organisations preserve archives and pieces of history for the public to use and look at the past.Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization’s lifetime, and are kept to show the function of that person or organization. It is also a place where people can go to gather firsthand facts, data, and evidence from letters, reports, notes, memos, photographs, and other primary sources. they also keep records of many forms including correspondence, diaries , financial and legal documents, photographs and film.

All around the world there are many archives and museums documenting photos and certain objects relating to certain periods of time, which are put together in sections of the museums where they can be acknowledged altogether. Further into the future archives can be used as resources to answer questions about our past, and they may also be used to set legal claims.

Researching and exploring the ideas of archives has allowed me to gain information which will be useful with my personal studies. It also allowed me to have further understanding of Occupation in Jersey and helped show me what life was like during this time. Visiting Société Jersiaise has broadened my knowledge and has allowed me to see photos which were created during the occupation which I have never seen and wouldn’t have seen without the visit.

Within photography archiving is important as it holds two roles for photographers. First, it is a good idea for a photographer to keep an archive of all of their images. This is so that they can organise their images based on different projects. On the contrary, it can be particularly helpful in demonstrating how they have progressed and developed their images.

As a photography section we went on a visit to one of two archives that we have in Jersey, we learnt how this archive have been collecting and restoring photos and documents from WWII as it is a big part of the Islands history.

The Photographic Archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 80,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day (with around 36,000 images from the collection being digitally transferred onto the Société’s online archive) and is the principal Jersey collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century photography. On the 9th of May 1840 photography; in it’s early development, was introduced to Jersey. Just nine months after first being publicised in urban centers of England and France.

Proceeding an introduction of the roles of the archive we were shown folders of photos which had been preserved and kept which had then been given to the archives of WWII photos and documents. Some of these included photos of the streets of Jersey and some officers which were located, but there were also books of the different coastal areas within Jersey with detailed drawings and notes in where turrets were placed and the vicinity in which the guns could fire under threat. There were also notes made about the local landscape and the way their were shaped.

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit to the Société Jersiaise archives, as it allowed me to gain a wider knowledge and understanding of archives and how they keep and restore their photos and documents.

An archive is a collection of historical records or an actual place that they are located in. Archives contain documents which have been collected over a longitudinal period of time. These primary documents are then stored and used to showcase the function and or story of a particular person or organisation. Archives are used to allow us to gain a more in depth understanding of the historical factors at a particular moment in time, and act as a repertoire allowing us to reflect on the history of that specific place and time. Records stored within an archive is varied, from diaries, legal documents, financial documents to photographs and film. An archive can act as repositories of cultural memories of the past, as we are able to store reliable documents, which are memories of the past, which when we reflect on the documents will clearly show cultural memories. Although they are reliable, imagery is highly subjective which can lead to misinterpretation of the objects stored within an archive. Archival memory can be considered a social construct as they can show power of relationships in that society at that particular time in history.

At Jersey we have 2 archives, the first being Société Jersiaise , this archive was founded in 1873 for the study of Jersey Archaeology, history, natural history, the ancient language and the conservation of nature. The photographic archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 80,000 images dating back from as early as mid 1840’s.

The other archive we have on island is, Jersey Archive. This archive is slightly different compared to the Société Jersiaise, in that the Jersey Archives is set up specifically for the collection, preservation and restoration of records, laws and photos. The Jersey archives hold over 300,000 documentations and photographs, which date back to the early 19th century.

A2 PHOTOGRAPHY

PERSONAL INVESTIGATION

BUNKER ARCHAEOLOGY

As my final piece for the portrait topic I decided to focus my main piece around the photographer Paul M Smith. Smith’s most famous work consists of having the same model perform different roles and characters in the same photograph. I quite liked this idea of photography as it allowed me to be my own model, photographer and perform in activities I enjoy doing, such as fixing my bike and playing rugby.

As an example of Paul M Smiths work I decided to focus my main piece on a sports day, he took a series of photos of Robbie Williams as multiple people at a football match, whereas my version was myself as members of the crowd at a rugby match, as the try scorer and as the cameraman getting a photo of the try that I scored.

I liked the outcome of this photo as I individually cut out the figures and placed them onto the original background, this too quite a lot of time, as I was trying to get the perfect cutout of me in each position. I then perfectly matched them up to where their original positions were. The trickiest figure to place was the photographer as I had to adjust the size to make it seem life like compared to the player scoring the try, I also had to bring him forward to the line to make his figure look as if it wasn’t floating so rested it on the white line as a base. I really enjoyed this photo shoot as it allowed me to express what I like doing as well as taking photos of myself doing it.

I chose to do this rugby shoot as an example of Gender Identity as it shows my masculinity as a rugby player and supporter, which gives a stereotypical look to it. I would’ve liked to have had more of myself as the supporters but given the such small area to focus on the figures would’ve been overlapping each other and would’ve looked poor in standard.

Here is the photo Paul M Smith came out with 

 

Another  photo shoot I did was of me in my kitchen in my house. I chose to do this photo shoot as it shows the less masculine side of doing house-hold chores such as, the washing up and cooking. This shows how it doesn’t change your masculinity to do something not stereotypical of a man to do. I decided to do a different version of one of Smith’s photos. In his there is a man performing the roles of soldiers including the one getting buried. That photo shows masculinity as being a solider is a stereotypical mans role to perform, whereas my photo shoot is almost the opposite.

I really like this outcome as I added in a cast shadow on the floor to make it seem more life like, this was tricky as I had to copy the selected shape and then I changed it to black and white, then I changed the opacity and the fill layers, to change the darkness and to make it seem more shadow like.

Here is Paul M Smiths Army picture 

My third and final shoot for this topic was myself fixing my bike. I quite liked this outcome as it was tricky even though I only posed twice, but because of the spokes in the tyre it made it tricky to line up and fit in with the background, but with a bit of editing I made it work.  I decided to do one fixing a bike as it seemed masculine to me, as in a stereotype place, women don’t fix bikes, so thought it was a good idea to do.

Paul M Smith originally studied fine art between 1991 and 1995 at Convent University. After completing his degree at Conventory he completed a masters degree in photography.

Paul M Smith’s most recognized and influential pieces of work is the well known album covers of Robbie Williams where he is every person on the face of the cover of the album (like seen in the picture)

I like these style of photos as it explains and shows skill within taking photos, directing the model and editing the photos pre-release.

Many other people have used this type of editing and photo style, the most common use of this modelling is to take a series/multiple photos on every single seat on a plane then used overlay and edited them to make it look like you are filling every seat on a plane and it has been captured in one picture.

To recreate Paul M smiths photography I will be exploring Gender and Identity, more importantly Masculinity. To achieve this I will be using 3 photshoots.

1-Rugby, a classic example of men using aggression.

2-A music band rehearsal, this is because most band members and bands are mainly male, with the odd case of female band members.

3-Doing typical female chores such as cleaning and washing, to show that men can do stereotypical female chores as well as being masculine, and performing ‘manly’ chores

Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make a person or group.

A persons identity is defined as the totality of one’s self-construal, in which how one construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity between how one construes oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as one one aspires to be in the future. This allows for definitions of aspects of identity.

Gender identity forms an important part in identity, as it dictates to a significant degree on how one views oneself both as a person and in relation to other people, ideas and nature.                                                 There are many stigmas and stereotypes in Gender identities, these include how society expect men and women to behave on an account of their gender.                                                                                                The different stereotypes on women are; dressing in a typically feminine way, speaking clearly and politely, that they should be accommodating and nurturing.                                                                           Whereas men should be big, butch, strong, aggressive and very bold.

Cultural Identity is the identity of belonging to a group. It is part of a person’s self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation and locality. In this way cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally identical group of members sharing the same cultural identity or upbringing. This can be shown by having people from the same race, ethnic or religious group in a photo together showing people from the same background together. You could even have people from different upbringings and ethnic backgrounds together, this would show how we can make our own identity and not stick to the stereotypical group society has made for us.

Social Identity is the portion of an individual’s self-concept derived from perceiving membership in a relevant social group. As originally formulated by social psychologists. It is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership. These proposed groups are Social class, family, friendship groups and sport teams etc…. which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. This can be shown by having a photo of a person stood out with a group of their group, this can be done be making their outline bold or by even singling them out by blurring out the frame from around them.

Loss/lack of identity can emerge if one is taken from a group or situation which one ha belong to for a while or if one has a strong bond with someone from that group. When we lose our identity we lose a sense of self, we are then likely to seek our sense or self-worth from someone else. In photography loss of self is easy to show by blurring out a persons face or blurring/ridding a person of a facial feature showing they have a lost a part of themselves, making them incomplete.

Laia Abril was born in 19986 in Barcelona, Spain. Abril (since 2010) has been working on various projects revolving around the themes of Loss and memory, Eating Disorders and Body Image. She made a short film about a young girl struggling with bulimia (Thinspiration) and The Epilogue, documenting the indirect victims of eating disorders, through the story of the Robinson family and the aftermath of the death of Cammy Robinson to bulimia. Another thing that Abril focuses on is the hidden realities related to sexuality and gender equality.

I feel positive about the issues that Abril talks about and displays using her photographs, as it is in a dead mans territory, this is because it is an ongoing issue that will affect most of our lives but no one will speak about it. Labeling these issues gives people the confidence to talk about and seek advice for these things. Whilst most of her photos seem in poor taste and can upset people they are a real issue that brings the most appalling negativity in peoples lives.   

These photos produced by Laia Abril show both issues of body image and eating disorders and sexuality.

She decided to focus her projects in telling intimate stories which raises uneasy realities related with femininity. In the photo above she is showing her work on her project on the young lesbian community in Brooklyn.

This is my mood board for the topic of Tableaux Vivants, as you can see Tableaux has been around for a while, and can be re created in order to remake or refresh a memory from a past time/long time ago.

I like these images because I feel that the atmosphere within is strong but also the colors and contrasts between light and dark really allow you to get a feeling from the photo but makes it seem high quality and draws you in more to have a closer and more in depth look at the photo.

Some words that I associate with Tableaux Vivants are:

Representation, still life,  re-create, illustrate.

Some recreations of Tableaux can be a certain lyric to a song, an album cover, a poem, mythology or even a dream.

 

Tableau vivant (often shortened tableau) is french for ‘living picture’ is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit. It thus combines aspects of theater and the visual arts.

Tableau can either be staged inside a controlled environment such as a photography studio or it can be made outside in a real life environment/situation, such as the forest.

Tableau photography can do so much in one freeze frame, such as tell a story, or recreate a memory or scene in a movie.