ENVIRONMENTAL/STAGED PHOTOS:

It’s the same as a standard portrait, but you go to the place where your subject spends most of his or her time. Usually, it’s somewhere relevant to that person’s passion in life. So if you’re taking a picture of an artist, you’d show up in her studio and take pictures while she works. If you’re taking a picture of your grandmother, you might pick the one place that reminds you the most of her and use that as your environment.

A good environmental portrait should bring out your subject’s personality in a stylized sort of way. It needs to be a bit of an exaggeration. Having your subject pose in a dramatic fashion, adds the air of mystique to the image. People will see it, and they’ll get intrigued.

MOST SUCCESUL IMAGES:

For this photo shoot I decided to solely focus on my mum and brother as I consider them the closest and most important people in my life. My brother in particular isn’t very fond of having his photo taken so therefore in the images you can see very clear discomfort in his facial expression and stance ,making the images portray more than just a family portrait. I’m very keen to explore both my family history through personal archival images and my immediate family now.

MOST SUCCESFUL IMAGE:

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

VISUAL:

Visually the image above is one of my favourite as it most clearly shows the discomfort in my brother through his stance and facial expression. His body is rigid and stiff making it go in an upwards direction, diagonally. The dark backdrop and dramatic shadow also accentuates the lines and skin texture, very clearly showing his frustration on his forehead. The brow ridge is also lowered, showing anger and dissatisfaction furthermore. Overall the image is very dramatic and mysterious due to the dramatic lighting coming from the left hand centre of the image and the aggressive facial expression on my brother. The colours in the image are generally very subdued as the deep and dark shadows overpower all else. The general darkness of the image also makes it somewhat mysterious and enigmatic. The fact that his face is also very much in the dark can be reflective of inner struggle or conflict, the act that half the face is covered and the facial expression cannot be clearly seen.

TECHNICAL:

In terms of technical set up, in order to get the dramatic lighting which can be seen in the images, I set up a simple stand lamp on the table and pointed it downwards so as to not create contrast which is too extreme on the face. I wanted to retain some softness to the image and pointing the lamp down meant that the light was more diffused and not as harsh. Due to the dark nature of the of the backdrop, I had to increase the ISO to 800 in order to avoid underexposure in the image. Also increasing the aperture to let as much light into the camera as possible. I decided to have the models sit and pose for me in a natural way which felt most comfortable to them, allowing their inner thoughts and feelings to be reflected through their facial expressions and body language. There is a clear contrast between my mum and brother, feeling more relaxed and at ease than my brother.

CONCEPTUAL:

Conceptually, I wanted to capture the inner feelings of both my mother and brother through a series of laid back and natural environmental/staged photos. As I am wanting to use them both as models for upcoming shoots, I wanted to do this initial photo shoot in order to get them adjusted to the camera and feel more at ease. Posing in ways which they felt were comfortable for them. The benefit of photographing people in a natural environment is people feel more relaxed and comfortable being photographed resulting in better and stronger images. They were at home just going about their day and I wanted to capture just a small part of their day, this is reflecting in themselves as they are wearing very casual and typical clothes, something which you would just lounge around in at home.

CONTEXTUAL:

Arnold Newman, in full Arnold Abner Newman, (born March 3, 1918, New York, died June 6, 2006, New York City), American photographer, who specialized in portraits of well-known people posed in settings associated with their work. This approach, known as “environmental portraiture,” greatly influenced portrait photography in the 20th century.

Newman studied art at the University of Miami in Florida from 1936 to 1938 and then took a job as an assistant in a photography studio. In 1941 Newman had his first major exhibition in New York City. After years of frequently visiting New York, he moved there and opened his own portrait studio in 1946. Although his early portraits concentrated on well-known artists, he gradually broadened his subject matter to include famous people of all types, including writers, composers, political leaders, scientists, and business magnates, usually posing them in their own space or in a space that was constructed to reflect their character.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DOCUMENTS:

All these documents have a big significance as they all date to pre-soviet Latvia when the government was controlled by the USSR.
From the mid-1940s Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was subject to Soviet economic control and saw considerable russification of its peoples. However, Latvian culture and infrastructures survived and, during the period of Soviet liberalization under Mikhail Gorbachev, Latvia once again took a path towards independence, eventually succeeding in August 1991 to be recognized by Russia the following month. Since then, under restored independence.

in the images below you can also see one of my mothers pre and post soviet union passports, being wildly different from one another. The passport system in the Soviet Union restricted migration of citizens within the country through the “propiska” (residential permit/registration system) and the use of internal passports. For a long period of Soviet history, peasants did not have internal passports, and could not move into towns without permission. Many former inmates received “wolf tickets”and were only allowed to live a minimum of 101km away from the city boarders. Travel to closed cities and to the regions near USSR state borders was strongly restricted. An attempt to illegally escape abroad was punishable by imprisonment for 1–3 years.

WHAT I AM FOCUSING ON:

After a family holiday back the country I was born in, Latvia, we brought back an abundance of family photos, some dating back to the 1950’s during the peak of the soviet union when war and conflict ruled the lives of people in the Baltics and even my immediate family. I am very passionate about exploring my own family heritage and especially that of my grandparents as I was very young when they both passed away and I never had the chance to hear those quintessential “stories from when we were younger”. Imagery and personal archives I feel are a great way to explore the past and hear those stories in a visual form as even the images which I included below, hold a lot of memories and gravity to them even though they are very simple and unassuming in nature.

LATVIAN HERITAGE;

These are the three main areas of focus in my work from now on, and information about them.

Identification.Baltic tribes arrived in what is now Latvia from the Pripet marshes around 1000B.C.E.These included the Lettgalians, and the termLatvjuderives from the peoples and province ofLatgale. The most important minority group was the Baltic Germans, who settled there in the thirteenth century. Jews arrived in the seventeenth century. A sizable Russian community moved to the cities, particularly Riga. The polarization of cultural identification in terms of Latvian and Russian is primarily a rural-urban divide.

Location and Geography.Latvia lies on the eastern shores of the Baltic sea, with an area of some 25,100 square miles (65,000 square kilometers). The capital, Rīga, lies at the mouth of the Daugava River. Latvian lands form an extension of the great plains of Russia. Latvia’s importance as a mediator between east and west was recognized in 1710, when the capture of Rīga afforded the tsar Peter the Great “a window on the west.”

Demography.Urbanization, war, and the Soviet occupation have been the major sources of demographic change. Until the Soviet occupation Latvia was a predominantly rural society. World War II and Soviet occupation brought about massive changes. The German occupation resulted in the extermination of the Jewish population as well as thousands of Latvians. The Soviet occupation led to the loss of 250,000 Latvians through exile and death. At present ethnic Latvians account for 56 percent of the population.

MY FAMILY HERITAGE:

CONTACT SHEETS:

CONCEPT:

For the concept of my zine I want to show the conflict and juxtaposition of war, this is represented by the blue and bright inverted orange of the image. They can represent the hot or cold of war, having a distinct good or bad side. I have also chosen to include on every second page a normal black and white image which represents the memory of war, or the reality of war

NARRATIVE:

In terms of narrative, I want to keep my pages blank and without any text as I feel the representation of the images speak for themselves. I will include a bold and striking title and possibly some quotes on top of some of the images.

SEQUENCING:

In terms of sequencing, I will include a title page which will be blue with an inverted middle. The rest of my zine will follow the same pattern, including one blue and orange page then followed by a black and white page. This means that the booklet will follow a clear and distinct pattern

Photo montage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that a final image may appear as a seamless photographic print. A similar method, although one that does not use film, is realized today through image-editing software. This latter technique is referred to by professionals as “compositing”, and in casual usage is often called “photo shopping”of the popular software system.A composite of related photographs to extend a view of a single scene or subject would not be labeled as a montage.

Photo montages vary a lot in style and design. Artists choose to use a multitude of subjects such as portraits, natural environments, natural landscapes, city landscapes and different objects which are combined together for artistic effect.

EXAMPLES OF PHOTO MONTAGE:

These are examples of modern day montages, many of which are created using the assistance of digital programmes. In contrast this task required us to create photo montages using manual techniques, taking into consideration layout, colour, tone and composition when creating the images.

MY PHOTO MONTAGES:

PROCESS/MAKING:

In order to create my photo montages I used various simple techniques to achieve the effects. As opposed to last time, in order to create my photo montages I physically cut out the images instead of using photo shop to stitch together the photos, this means that the montages have a more raw and real feel to them. I combined both my own imagery and photos which came from the archives, this resulted in a series of montages which combine the past and present, representing the importance of preserving war monuments. They also show how people die yet their memory lives on through the use of archives and the preservation of war memorabilia.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

TECHNICAL;

In terms of capturing my own images inside the bunker it was essential that as much light would be let into the camera as possible due to the dark nature of the environment, therefore in the manual settings I turned up the ISO to 800 allowing the images to be bright and all the items to be distinguishable. As the environment was so dark inside the bunkers, it was essential that I kept the camera as still as possible to avoid motion blur.

VISUAL:

In terms of the visual aspects of the image, I purposely intended to have a very random layout of images, for example the man lurking over the top of the group of men sitting down and the woman walking across from the left hand side of the image. I used a variety of different figures and shapes in order to create a varied and interesting concept. I used a variety of different originals images from the archive which I printed out, cut out and arranged in the way which you can see below. The base image which I used for the photo montage was an original image which I took whilst our visit to Noir Mont, inside one of the bunkers.

CONCEPTUAL:

The idea behind these images is to create different variations of work from the images which came from the archives. Using simple techniques such as collaging we were able to create work which was different and unique. It encouraged us to think in a way which made us consider layout, coloraturas, tone and composition to create images which were different yet cohesive and harmonious.

CONTEXTUAL:

The Société Jersiaise is a learned society in Jersey which was founded in 1873, in the manner of similar county societies in the United Kingdom and Sociétés Savantes in France for the purposes of:

• “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” ^[1]

IMAGES I WILL BE USING:

The title of my zine will be “bunker” as this will represent the literal meaning of the area of study in this booklet. Visually it is also a fitting word for the title as it is a 6 letter word and it fits well into the measurements of the page.

WHY I CHOSE THESE IMAGES:

Half of the images which I will be using to make my zines will be inverted to create a contrast between the blue lighting and the bright orange. The symbolism for this juxtaposition is the conflict of the war, two sides conflicting each other, just like the calm blue and fiery orange. Two sides going against each other. The other half of my zine will include very simple, highly contrasted black and white images, these represent the reality of the war, grim and bleak.

METHOD:

In terms of creating the booklet, or zine, I will be using Photoshop as this is the easiest way to create a booklet and navigate through the pages quickly and effectively. It also makes it easier to place the images and add text on the top of it if this is something which I find necessary. I have also had previous knowledge in working with inDesign therefore making this process a lot easier for myself. The easiest and often most effective way to create zines is to have a full bleed on the edges of the booklet, meaning that the image goes edge to edge of the page, therefore the image goes across a whole double spread of the booklet allowing landscape images to be seen in full view.

EXAMPLE OF ZINES;

• 

MOODBOARD:

WHAT IS A ZINE:

A zine (pronounced zeen) is an independently or self-published booklet, often created by physically cutting and gluing text and images together onto a master flat for photocopying, but it is also common to produce the master by typing and formatting pages on a computer. The publication is usually folded and stapled.
Historically, zines have been around since 1776 when Thomas Paine self-published Common Sense and used it as an instrument in promoting the ideas that contributed to the U.S. War for Independence. Just a perfect example to demonstrate the free spirit of zine culture. Format, size and orientation.

Zine comes from fanzine which is a term that generally describes a small-circulation science fiction publication. Fanzines first appeared in the late 1920s.
Zines were used to promote punk music in the 1970s, a time when this type of music received very little interest from the larger press music. This phenomenon spawned a new interest in self-publishing.
There are many bold, funny and beautifully designed zines out there.
Some zines became so popular and turned into regular publications, such as B****.

Archives act as a place for the preservation of significant historical and cultural artifacts. The Photographic Archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 100,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day. Archives however are not just physical, they can be a digital store of documents, texts and photographs. these can be public or private. The jersey archive also contains historical artists to help people for contextual reference when inquiring about a certain photo or book that has gained attention. 
Digital copies of historical photographs, documents, and audio recordings are the best way to both share and preserve historical items. Handling and displaying the original items cause wear and degradation. However, the items cannot be shared if they are protected from all degradation. Good digital copies allow unlimited sharing while also preserving the original items. Archives significantly improve the way in which historical artifacts and photos can be preserved. Photos are handled in a way which means very little damage is done to them therefore meaning that their quality is retained. They are intended on being used for various different purposes for decades to come. “The goal of Preservation Programs is to ensure that the records of our government will be appropriately preserved so they will be available for use.”
The ultimate purpose of preserving photos and creating archives is to share it with others. Future generations are able to look back at these archives and access information about their ancestors and gain insight about various historical events. Image collections deepen understanding of specific objects of art and the careers of individual artists as they also provide the means for a comparative approach to the study of artists’ works, national schools and period styles. Photo archives build their collections and gather documentation for the works of art they record through purchases, gifts and photography campaigns. Information about ownership, condition, attribution, and subject identification is recorded at the time of acquisition and is frequently updated.
IPhotography acts as a double role in the sense that it provides visual imagery and narrative of real events in history. It taps into the area of photography called Narrative photography. Narrative photography is the idea that photographs can be used to tell a story. Allen Feldman stated that “the event is not what happens. The event is that which can be narrated”. Because photography captures single discreet moments, and narrative as described by Jerome Bruner is irreducibly temporal, it might seem photography cannot actually represent narrative structure. We are able to look back at this narrative and reconstruct the past with the use of photo archives and facilities such as the Société Jersiaise.
The development of digital technology has provided archives and institutions with the opportunity to expand the accessibility of photographs beyond the walls of their homes. Although digital images are not substitutes for the originals, institutions are slowly acknowledging that they do provide an entry, an introduction, to the images. That introduction may be all a researcher needs.Digitizing photographs has also been the catalyst for some institutions to put their physical collections into deep storage, where they are no longer readily accessible, or to inaccessible or even destroy them. This raises urgent questions about the value of the original photographs as artifacts or evidence in their own right.On a much more positive note, digitization also offers the potential to conduct research that could never be done before. For instance, image recognition/matching software is being developed that would allow users to identify particular visual characteristics in a photograph and then search for and retrieve photographs of other works that share those characteristics. Having a physical representation of an image is what I strive for in my own personal archive. The sensation of handling a real life object instead of a digitized version is evidence of our connection to traditional forms of photography and media in general.
I will aim to incorporate the use of archives in my own personal study as I believe this will not only enrich my work but also provide a sense of legitimacy to it. Société Jersiaise focuses on the photographic preservation of the island which I believe is key to allowing us to remember about the tragic times of the occupation and WW2. I will be sourcing images from
Société Jersiaise, who provide digital copies of their archives at a small fee and using these as inspiration for my own personal photography or incorporating them in techniques such as photo collages.

In conclusion the trip to the archives has taught me a lot about the importance of treasuring the islands history and having facilities such as
Société Jersiaise. It has changed my perception of photo archives in the sense that I now understand the amount of work and sheer man power it takes to effectively preserve photographs for decades to come. It has also made me gain great respect for the foundation as they are preserving the islands history for millennia to come through photographic evidence. It is a painstaking and delicate job working with images that are hundreds of years old. It was a worth while experience which has taught me a lot not only about the evolution of photography in Jersey and the various artists who worked and resided here but also about the real life events during the occupation and the types of photos which were captured at the times.

HISTORICAL ARCHIVES:

The archives hold a variety of work open for the public to view, study and use in their own personal work. This is just a few of the services which they offer at the archives.

• Documents relating to the history of Jersey
• Family papers and correspondence
• Authors’ manuscripts and research notes (e.g. Philip Ahier, G.R. Balleine, William Davies, E.T. Nicolle, Joan Stevens, Marguerite Syvret)
• German Occupation contemporaneous diaries and reports, Biberach Camp register, German military plans of island defences.
• Ephemera, including entertainment programmes

EXPERIENCE AT SOCIETE JERSAISE:

The overall experience at the archives was very informative yet interesting at the same time, we started of with a small introduction to the archives and what they were all about, giving a brief history and the intended purpose of them. We then proceeded to do various activities relating to the occupation and the archives, we were able to choose a variety of images for out own personal use which can be seen down below. The sheer size of the archives is huge and is a very useful resource for students and the public alike who want to explore more about the occupation and want to see a photographic resources.

PHOTOS I CHOSE FROM HE ARCHIVES:

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

HOW IT FOLLOWS THE RULE OF THIRDS:

Below I wanted to demonstrate how the image follows the rule of thirds by placing a grid on top of the image. We can very clearly see that the man, who is the focal point of the image falls within the top third of the image, drawing the eye upwards and paying the most attention to him.

TECHNICAL:

In terms the technical aspects of the image, the photographer who took the image, due to the technology available at the time would have been using a tripod, or supported camera in order to take the image. 1940s camera development stalled somewhat due to an austere period for everyone whilst the world went through the upheavals of WW2 and economies hauled themselves out of the subsequent difficulties. Camera styling wise, the black body with chrome top started to be popular, aluminium tended to be used at the end of WW2 for entire cast bodies when it was used at all, 35mm was firmly established but cheap cameras persisted with the 120 or 620 format. The waist level finder, so common up to the 1930s, vanishes from camera designs. The folding camera’s heyday has ended and the view camera takes the lead for the everyday snapshot camera. Wood is now a thing of the past and the 1930s Leica styling influence is taking hold.

VISUAL:

Judging from the nature of the image, the photo has very much an environmental style feel to it due to the man looking out into the distance. The focal point of the image is the tone, the eyes of the viwer are lead up the tower and onto the man who is looking out to the distance. This has a very distinct historical feel to it due to the presence of the man in his military uniform. Furthermore the tower which is pictured was purpose built for the use of being able to look out for potential danger coming from overseas. The overall image is also very geometrical in nature de to the tower which has a very clear pentagonal shape and the fencing in the front which creates a sense of repetition, this is further created through the presence of the rectangular windows I the top third of the image. The viewer also mainly focuses on the top third of the image as this is where the subject is situated. As this is a black and white image, it can only be judged purely based on the tonal differences. As it is a bright and clear day, the shadows aren’t too impactful and there is only a minimal tonal range.

CONTEXTUAL:

During World War II Nazi Germany constructed a considerable number of fortifications in the Channel Islands which form part of the Atlantic Wall. The Channel Islands were amongst the most heavily fortified parts of the Atlantic Wall, particularly Alderney which is the closest to France. In Jersey, the fortifications include Hohlgangsanlage tunnels and artillery batteries such as Battery Moltke and Battery Lothringen.

The most distinctive new structures the Germans built were the Marine Peilstand (MP) towers that they used to search for targets at sea. The Germans had intended to build nine towers, but only completed three. These towers are round and have five or more floors with observation embrasures, as well as defensive embrasures. MP1 is part of Battery Lothringen, MP2 overlooks Corbière lighthouse and is now known as the Radio Tower, and MP3 is part of Battery Moltke. The design of the towers inadvertently and somewhat ironically reflect the Bauhaus movement of Modernist architecture (1919-1933), a movement that the Nazis had tried to suppress.

CONCEPTUAL:

Even though the exact photographers who captured these images are unknown, there are a variety of images which have been collected and stored in archives all across Jersey. Whether that be personal or public, there is a variety of imagery which captures the Jersey occupation. Another archival facility is the Channel Islands Occupation Society (Jersey branch) was set up in 1971 with the intention of investigating the period of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands and to maintain and preserve sites of special interest such as the German fortifications in the Island. Subsequently the Society has been placed in charge of the maintenance of a number of bunkers and has undertaken substantial research into the Occupation period in the Channel Islands.