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
This photo book was created by a Polish photographer named Rafal Milach. He was born in 1978 in Gliwice, a city in Southern Poland. He is best known for being a member of Magnum Photos and also for his photo book “The first march of gentlemen”.
In the summer of 2016, he was invited to take part in the Kolekcja Września artist residency program. While there he became ware of a children’s protest which had occurred when the German had occupied Poland, which the town had become known for. They attempted to change many things, such as getting rid of the Polish language from the school curriculum. This led to over 100 children from the Catholic People’s school going on strike as a protest against the Germanisation of their education and schools. This strike is remembered for its’ triumph and has since become an event that is always associated with the town of Września.
“The most important thing was to create a story that would be accessible to everyone because this is, in the first place, my vision of a society, in which individuals can protest in the public space, regardless of consequence,” he explains. “The initial idea of working with the archive was sustained, but the topic changed as I began looking for material that could occupy two spheres – discipline and pacification, and the sphere of freedom – and to bring these elements together in a series of collages.” – Source
During the time of his residency, there were also mass rallies due to the government trying to gain more judiciary power. The children’s march along with these rallies inspired his book. The photo book contains photo montages which show illustrations from the 1902 children’s strike along with characters who lived in the communist era, which he was able to create thanks to the help of archive images.
The book is very brightly coloured, contains many different types of shapes and is bound together with a long red string. This along with its size, makes it similar to the size of a children’s exercise book, and this all refers back to the children’s march, which was the initial inspiration for the project.
[the design is] “like a toy, like a candy – something nice to look at and to touch,” – Source
Analysis
Contextual: This is a montage from Rafal’s book which refers to political activism that came from the children’s march in 1902. Technical: This was created using archival images along with coloured backgrounds. This could have been made digitally using software such as photoshop, or it could have also been done by hand by simply cutting and sticking images, then photographing them. Visual: In this image we see a young man dressed in vintage clothing. The young man is also in black and white. This along with the clothing tells us that it is perhaps an older image. We can also see a very colourful, almost candy like, background which is half red and half blue. Both these colours are extremely overpowering to the audience, which helps draw our attention. The person in the photo appears to be enclosed in a sort of geometrical shape, yet his features do not show him looking scared or worried, instead he demeanour appears calm and put together. This book has a strong sense of contrast and displacement. Conceptual: The colours used and the geometrical shape in the centre is a conceptual metaphor which refers back to the children’s march as vivid colours are normally associated with younger people, and the geometrical shape may refer to mathematical teaching aids. The person pictured almost appears to be trapped, which could be a metaphorical way of showing how the young people must have felt to have their education system changed.
The light on the left is the continuous light, which is also known as a fill light as it has a diffuser of it. When photographing it should be set up to around 500 kelvin, and the dimmer can be adjusted in order to make the light brighter or darker.
The light on the right side if called a key light, which is the strongest light. It projects a very strong, clear light in for the camera to clearly be able to focus on the object.
Behind the backdrop, we also have a back light. This helps the backdrop appear slightly lighter, as it is translucent and allows minimal light through.
when photographing using this set up, you should use a slow shutter speed , which means it is a good idea to use a tripod and a cable release as it will mean the camera wont shake and make the images blurry. The white balance should be adjusted to match the type of light the continuous light is emitting. The F stop should be quite high, around 16 as this gives the image a shorter depth of field as the aperture is smaller.
This set up is effective when taking images of things with dimensions, as you can experiment with angles and lighting in order to emphasize different parts of the object. This is also useful when capturing lots of objects together, as it allows to a lot of space, and it contains a lot of different lighting set ups to effectively be able make the groups of objects look aesthetically pleasing.
Second light setup
This set up can be used to capture images from a higher angle. On the left, there is a flash head light which is triggered by the transmitter which is connected to the camera. It is also important to place a sandbag on the tripod in order for the weight to be balanced, so the camera doesn’t fall over. It is important to place the camera parallel to the 3rd leg of the tripod as this means the camera will be straight. To be able to see what is being photographed, there is a ladder placed on the right hand side, to help you be able to looking through the view finder.
This set up is highly effective when wanting to photograph things that appear 2D or almost flat, such as books, or newspapers since you may only want to be capturing these things from a front facing angle.
Photo shoot
Here are all the images i took.I then flagged my best images.From my flagged pictures, I colour coded my best and worst images, green being my best, and red being my worst.
Developing
To edit my image, I increased the exposure slightly in order to make the background of the image whiter. To make the object very prominent, I increased the contrast almost all the way.I also adjusted the tone curve in order to increase the highlights in the image, as it helped the object to stand out more among the background. I also cropped the images as I thought there was too much unnecessary background space.Final image.In order to make my edited images fairly similar, and is if they were part of a series. I increased the exposure to make the image brighter, and increased the contrast to make the colours stand out. I didn’t increase the contrast on this image as much as I did on the previous image as the lighting on this image was slightly warmer, and if I increased it too much the tone would be too yellow. Due to the irregular tone of the picture, I had to increase the whites in order to balance the tone. Decreasing the vibrancy also helped to even out the tone, as it made the image less saturated.I adjusted the tone curve so that the highlights were more prominent, and I cropped the picture as i didn’t like the slightly grayish parts of the outside of the image.Final image.To develop this image I decreased the temperature as the image looked too warm in order to match the other edited pictures. Increasing the exposure made my picture brighter, and I also increased the contrast so that the object would stand out in front of all the white space. I then adjusted the Highlights, Shadows and whites in order to get a good balance of light and darkness within the image. Increasing the vibrancy helped the object stand out, while making the background whiter.As I mentioned before, my aim was to make the object stand out and have the background whitened. I adjusted the tone curve to further achieve this objective better.Final image.
Initial images vs. Final images
I really like how the object in the image above stands out a lot more from the background. I also think the colours are a lot more vivid, and they stand out more as it almost appears as there is no background. I like how my final picture has more dimension to it due to the emphasized shadowing and the highlight on the objects.
The objects in this image all have their own different type of texture, which I think is brought out more in the final image. I like how you an see all the details in the parcel such as some staining, and scratches. You can also see the rusting on the emergency ration box a lot more clearly. I think this makes my image a lot more successful as it gives the photo a lot more character, and it emphasizes how there is a rich story and history behind each object, which otherwise may not have been as notable to an audience.
I like how the bicycle light looks a lot bolder and clearer in my final image, compared to my initial one. I think this makes the image far more interesting because it makes the object look slightly more mysterious, which may be intriguing to an audience. However, I think the final outcome could’ve been improved if I would’ve left the shadowing of the object on the bottom left hand side as it would help add a more dramatic effect to the picture.
For my homework into capturing the interior and exterior of my home and the area in which I lived, I experimented with a range of different locations and places in order to best present the place in which I lived, and to best show the personalities, attitudes and lives of the people I live with/around through presenting their houses and what is included inside/outside of them. I captured a range of photographs, ranging from my street to the inside of rooms and houses, in order to encompass both the “interior” and “exterior” aspects of the project.
Below my contact sheets can be found where I have made a selection of images to bring forward to the editing process:
GREEN: box = final image, tick = possible final image, E = small issue with exposure RED: line = rejected image, E = too over/under exposed, C = issue with the positioning of the camera/focus/technical issue
GREEN: box = final image, tick = possible final image, E = small issue with exposure, F = small focus issue, CR = requires small capping adjustment RED: line = rejected image, E = too over/under exposed, C = issue with the positioning of the camera/focus/technical issue
After selecting the images I wanted to use, I moved onto Photoshop to experiment with the editing of the images:
For this first image of the exterior of where I live, I decided to make the initial version of the image black and white as this gave the shapes and textures of the image more emphasis. After turning the image mono-chrome, I decided to further experiment with the image by adding a small amount of colour.
I used the lasso tool to cut around the water of the image, and copied this onto a separate layer so that I could edit the water and the background separately.
After separating the 2 components of the image, I used the “selective colour” tool to increase the cyan and blue colours of the image, giving the water a heightened colour which contrasted the monochrome background.
I then went around the edges of the water layer with a soft eraser tool to soften out the edges of the water, allowing them to blend more with the edges of the background. I also used the eraser tool to erase the green plants that I had accidentally included in the layer, which meant that the only thing left in colour was the water. I feel like this gave the image a cleaner look, with the blue water looking more “natural” as opposed to simply being cut and pasted over the background.
After heightening the contrast of the whole image after I had finished editing the water, the above was my final result. I feel like experimenting with the flash of colour in the water allowed for me to compare the 2 versions of the image, and in turn I was able to decide whether I felt the pop of colour was effective at drawing attention to the image or not.
Above are the 2 possible outcomes. After comparing the 2 visually, I decided that my final image would be the purely monochrome image. I found that experimenting with colour allowed me to gain a better understanding of what worked for the image, and I concluded that the simplicity of the monochrome image allowed for more attention to be drawn to the texture, shading and shapes of the surrounding without distracting the viewer with unnecessary colour.
After editing this first image, I went on to use the same sort of process (increasing contrast, using selective colour editing or using monochrome) to edit the remaining images. Below is an example of one of the interior images I used:
In order to create this image, I increased the contrast of the image, and used the selective colour tool to increase the brightness of the white in the background:
I decided to use this blurred image, as I felt it gave an intimate view into the interior of an individuals private life. The lack of focus allows for the interior to retain some privacy, and draws attention to the fact that the viewer is looking into the most private aspect of an individuals life; their home. I feel like although this image does not stick to the norms when it comes to its visual and technical layout, the concept behind the image fits the title of the project well, and therefore I decided on it as a final image or this reason.
Final image
I then decided to edit the image which I originally decided had an issue with its perspective. I used the photograph of the bookcase which I had initially taken using a handheld camera, and thus the image came out with the bookshelf appearing uneven and lob-sided, as shown underneath:
I took the image to Photoshop, where I turned the image monochrome (as I disliked the yellow tint to the image and felt the textures could be best emphasised using black and white) and then proceeded to alter the perspective of the image using CMD-T in Photoshop:
This allowed me to better straighten the cabinet, and thus I created a much more in-line, symmetrical image.
I then had to fill in the gap at the bottom of the image, left from where the image had been lifted due to the perspective change. To fill this, I used the spot healing brush tool, and allowed the software to fill the gaps in:
I then decided to remove the table corner in the bottom right of the image which distracted from the cabinet itself, and to do this, I also made use of the spot healing brush tool:
Before
After
After this editing was complete, this was my final product:
I followed the same sort of process for the rest of my images, and developed the following as my final images:
I feel like my final images for this project reflect the meanings of both “interior” and “exterior” well, with a range of images for each criteria. I feel like my final images give a feel and understanding to the viewer of the public and intimate aspects of the lives of individuals living in the houses and areas that I photographed, and the intimacy of rooms such as the bedroom and kitchen allow for the viewer o gain an understanding of the personality of the people living inside and around these rooms. I feel like the editing process allowed me to emphasise certain aspects of the images, and downplay others, which I felt was an effective method for drawing attention to certain components of the image which helped to better convey the meaning of the image.
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
Klaus was born in 1977. He lives and works in Vienna, Austria. His project titled “one third” is a prime example of still life images in the modern world.
“According to a UN study one third of the world’s food goes to waste – the largest part thereof in the industrialized nations of the global north. Equally, 925 million people around the world are threatened by starvation.”
“According to a UN study one third of the world’s food goes to waste – the largest part thereof in the industrialized nations of the global north. Equally, 925 million people around the world are threatened by starvation.”
“One third” is a photography series that draws attention to food waste. All the images in this series are of food items that have gone by their sell date. This project was completed over a period of nine months, in his own apartment, keeping different types of food in plastic containers in his bathroom.
In 2011, there was a survey on food waste completed by the UN. The report found that one third of all food produced for human consumption went to waste due to variables such as consumer decisions, which is shocking considering that more than 9 million people are starving.
All the images in the series were positioned and made to look very elegant, using backdrops and different types of dishes and plates, to mirror how food is portrayed in the media in an almost appealing way.
“From the beginning, it was obvious for me that I wanted to quote the aesthetics of advertising photography, because I thought there is a little bit of a twist if I really style the food and make it look perfect. On first sight you react with ‘ok that looks nice,’ and then you realize what you are looking at.” -Pichler on “one third”
Each food product that he pictures also contains a detailed history, that he researched himself, of where it was grown/produced and how far it traveled to reach the supermarket shelf, which you can see under the image below:
“Pichler gathered all of this data himself, which was as challenging as making the photographs. Since European law says that while the origins of food must be kept on record, retailers and producers are not obligated to share the information with consumers, Pichler met a wall of silence when announcing his intentions. “-Source
The UN were very interested in the creative narrative that Pichler was creating and showcase his photo series at their annual meeting and at food waste events.
Carrots Sort: Baby- carrots / Place of production: Tuvaila, Arumeru, Tanzania / Cultivation method: Outdoor plantation / Time of harvest: All- season / Transporting distance: 6.068 km / Means of transportation: Aircraft, truck / Carbon footprint (total) per kg: 6,59 kg / Water requirement (total) per kg: 24,0 l / Price: 39,95 € / kg
Technical: This image appears to be taken in a £studio setting” as we can clearly see a black backdrop. This image also appears to have been taken using a professional lighting set up. Context: This picture is part of the “one third” photo series captured by Klaus Pichler. Visual: In this image we can clearly see rotting carrots placed strategically on a white plate. The white plate stands out brightly amongst the black background helping to create an eye catching contrast. The placement of the carrots are also visually appealing, which is odd considering the food being photographed isn’t presented in a traditionally appealing way. The reason why it looks interesting is because it was placed in a specific order in which we can see the next carrot in a more decomposed form when compared to the one previous. Conceptual:This image is one of many from the series that was taken in order to try and show consumers how much food goes to waste due to our un-environmentally friendly shopping habits.
The first practicable method of colour photography was the autochrome process, invented in France by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Best known for their invention of the Cinématographe in 1895, the Lumières began commercial manufacture of autochrome plates in the early 20th century.
HOW DO AUTOCHROMES WORK?
Autochrome plates are covered in microscopic red, green and blue coloured potato starch grains (about four million per square inch). When the photograph is taken, light passes through these colour filters to the photographic emulsion. The plate is processed to produce a positive transparency. Light, passing through the coloured starch grains, combines to recreate a full colour image of the original subject.
Anon, Couple with a motor car, c.1910, autochrome
Emile Guiton
Emile Guiton was probably the most prolific of the Jersey photographers who chronicled island life during the first half of the 20th century. A substantial collection of his pictures is contained in the photographic archive of La Société Jersiaise.
Born in Jersey in 1879 he had a keen interest in history and was a member of La Société Jersiaise, served on its executive committee as joint honorary secretary, and was curator of the Museum and editor of the Annual Bulletin.
He also realised that history was being made during his own lifetime and he recorded the development of his native island from the turn of the century until his death in 1972. He experimented with Autochrome colour very early in the century.
Not only did he record events and activities during his own lifetime, particularly agriculture, but he had a fascination with the past and chronicled with his images many archaeological excavations (his pictures of the interior of La Hougue Bie remain some of the best in existence) as well as photographing Mont Orgueil Castle and other coastal fortifications, sites of geological interest, and architecture. Guiton had a particular interest in the design of Jersey houses over the centuries, and particularly in different styles of arches to be found in the island.
He was present at many major events, including the Liberation in 1945 (he had also taken photographs during the German Occupation, and the proclamations of successive monarchs in the Royal Square.
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
The first practicable and reliable method of colour photography was the autochrome process, invented in France by Auguste and Louis Lumière. They began the commercial sale of autochrome plates in the early 20th century.
Autochrome plates are covered in microscopic red, green and blue coloured potato starch grains. When the photograph is taken, light passes through these colour filters to the photographic emulsion. The plate is processed to produce a positive transparency. Light, passing through the coloured starch grains, combines to recreate a full colour image of the original subject.
The manufacture of autochrome plates was undertaken at the Lumière factory in Lyon, and was a complex industrial process. First, transparent starch grains were passed through a series of sieves to isolate grains between ten and fifteen microns in diameter. These microscopic starch grains were separated into batches, dyed red, green and violet, mixed together and then spread over a glass plate coated with a sticky varnish. Next, carbon black was spread over the plate to fill in any gaps between the coloured starch grains. A roller submitted the plate to a pressure of five tons per square centimetre in order to spread the grains and flatten them out. Finally, the plate was coated with a panchromatic photographic emulsion.
In preparation for this photo shoot I looked back at Sian Davey’s candid photography, in order to reflect on the techniques she used, so that I can implement her approach into my work. I wanted half to be highly staged, more like an environmental form, family portrait, and half naturalistic in order to showcase a true representation of my family, following more of a candid form of documentation photography. My camera setting where kept similar to the detail shot photo shoot, due to the shoots occurring on the same day. used the AV setting, allowing me to focus on the aperture and depth of field. On the day these photographs were taken, the lighting was dull, but well lit, which meant that I used a low ISO. My f number stayed on 5.6, unless the room itself was much darker. The shutter speed was set on a quick setting and the white balance was set to the day light setting. In order for further control I used manual focus, allowing me to control the depth of field and the overall composition.
Edits:
First Edit – Flagged
Second Edit – Star Rating
Third Edit – Colour Rating
Colour:
For my colour edits, I wanted the outcomes to be kept as naturalistic as possible, so I ensure that the detail and structure was not over the top, creating soft outcomes, focusing on the conceptual reasoning, family love, to be presented within my imagery. I explored with adjusting the white and blacks and shadows in order to create outcomes which still presented tonal contrast, allowing the colours and environment and subjects to be the focus of the composition. I am pleased with the way in which these outcomes have turned out, due to me keeping the editing simple, to capture the naturalism of the photographs.
Black and White:
For my black and white outcome, I explored with an image which uses a birds eye view angle. The tonal contrast and new angle allows the conceptual meaning to be presented in a new way, which showcases this further exploration as successful. The photograph follows a candid style of photography, and presents my three subjects, with one looking at the camera, implementing an environmental stylistic feature to my work. The composition uses the rule of thirds, allowing viewers eyes to be guided around the frame. The formal element of space plays an active role with the outcome. In the frame there seems to be a lack of empty space, thus my models are in close proxemics to one another, which emphasise the conceptual representation of family love and bonding within the work. The background, is kept simplistic with not much going on showcasing my families naturalistic environment.
Technically, the photograph uses a small aperture, due to the the whole frame being in focus. The ISO used is low which is shown through there being no noise being created. This also allows us to understand that natural lighting produced by the daylight was used to capture this, and informs us that the white balance has colour accuracy and that it presents a sense of warmth, adding to the overall pleasant mood to the piece. In addition, the shutter speed is quick, due to no interned blur being presented within the outcome.
In order to achieve all of this, I kept the editing simplistic. I turned the photograph black and white and focused mainly on adjusting the black, white, shadows and contrast sliders in order to create the overall photograph.
Evaluation:
To evaluate I believe I have produced strong photographs which clearly showcases my understanding of ‘Establishing a shot’ and the ability to use candid photography in order to produce naturalistic outcomes, which explores a narrative within my work. I have reinforced my ability to have control over manual settings and shown my competence of using Lightroom in order to edit my photographs. Although I have produced strong imagery, I do not believe it is as successful as the detail shot photo shoot. However, the imagery still produced has an clear overall aesthetic and shows exploration into the home sweet home briefing.
