Pictorialists took the medium of photography and reinvented it as an art form, placing beauty, tonality, and composition above creating an accurate visual record. Through their creations, the movement strove to elevate photography to the same level as painting and have it recognized as such by galleries and other artistic institutions. Photography was invented in the late 1830s and was initially considered to be a way in which to produce purely scientific and representational images. This began to change from the 1850s when advocates such as the English painter William John Newton suggested that photography could also be artistic.
Although it can be traced back to these early ideas, the Pictorialist movement was at its most active between 1885 and 1915 and during its heyday it had an international reach with centers in England, France, and the USA. Proponents used a range of darkroom techniques to produce images that allowed them to express their creativity, utilizing it to tell stories, replicate mythological or biblical scenes, and to produce dream-like landscapes. There is no straightforward definition of what a Pictorialist photograph is, but it is usually taken to mean an image that has been manipulated in some way to increase its artistic impact. Common themes within the style are the use of soft focus, color tinting, and visible manipulation such as composite images or the addition of brushstrokes.
Pictorialism was closely linked to prevailing artistic movements, as the photographers took inspiration from popular art, adopting its styles and ideas to demonstrate parity between it and photography. Movements that were particularly influential were tonalism, impressionism and, in some instances, Victorian genre painting.
Pictorialists were the first to present the case for photography to be classed as art and in doing so they initiated a discussion about the artistic value of photography as well as a debate about the social role of photographic manipulation. Both of these matters are still contested today and they have been made ever more relevant in the last decades through the increasing use of Photoshop in advertising and on social media.
The movement led to great innovation in the field of photography with a number of the photographers associated with it responsible for developing new techniques to further their artistic vision. This laid the foundations for later advances in colour photography and other technical processes.
Studying the theme of Occupation and Liberation so far has allowed me to explore different areas within the second world war, from bunker archeology to war veterans. Starting off this project I was able to look at the importance of archival imagery, after visiting Societe Jersiase. On this trip I was able to search through imagery which enriched my understanding of the war, providing social and historical understanding which I previously did not know. After this I produced an essay exploring the importance of archives, with references to artists and how archives have developed into modern day society. Soon after, I was informed about the history of the island’s Bunkers and there uses, which lead me onto exploring landscape photography, with experimentation of natural lighting and the environment. After conducting three different bunker photoshoots, in three different locations, I believed that I was able to show my ability to showcase Jersey’s history within imagery. This lead me to learning about photomontages, and how manipulating my images can lead to strong conceptual representation allowing my project and photographs to be further developed. This also lead me to learning about the Jersey War Tunnel and other tunnels around the Island used for different reasons, enriching my understanding of the war.
After this I then conducted research into what a zine is and zine making within photography, specifically as Sam Ivan. In this I learnt the importance of narrative and sequencing and the importance of the layout within a design. This lead me on to gaining an understanding of the software InDesign, allowing me to create my own photographic zine for the bunker imagery produced. When creating this I learnt that I could add archival imagery to help convey my conceptual and contextual representations. Creating my zine, showcased my landscape work in a way which shows my understanding of the war and the links to Occupation and Liberation
This then lead me to moving my focus onto portrait photography where I began my investigation look at a classical and contemporary photographer, Francis Foot and Michelle Sank. Researching these photographer gave me an understanding of what makes a successful portrait, through positioning, lighting and composition of the frame. This lead onto me conducting a photoshoot of Bob Le Sueur. Doing this thought me how to photographer someone who you have only just met, and the importance of trying to form a rapport with your model to try and showcase their personality and true self. I was able to learn about Bob’s stories and memories during the war, which influenced how I captured him in the studio. This then lead me to starting the Home Sweet Home project which looked at photographing the occupation within my house. Within this I learnt different styles of portraits, from environmental, candid, macro and establishing a shot, which were influenced by different artists such as Martin Parr. I also decided to look into my own family archive, giving me an in-depth understanding of my families history, thus influencing what I captured.
After looking at portrait photography I looked at objects, an area in which I have not done much research in previously. From this I learnt symbolic representations of different objects in a classical painting, and how the symbolism has transferred into todays society. This allowed me to learn the importance of studio lighting , with flash heads and consistent light sources when capturing at different angles. In addition, it reinforced my skills of capturing images on a tripod using a 50mm lens. This then allowed me to revisit photomontage where I explored the work of Ralph Milach, who combined portraits and objects to create a narrative, this style of documentary photography I much enjoyed producing. This then influenced a new photographic zine which combined portraits and objects in order to portray a narrative, reinforcing my knowledge of Indesign and narrative and sequencing.
To conclude, my photographic skills has significantly developed over the past couple of months, as I explore different areas within photography and different software to edit and display my work. I have personally really enjoyed the units which looked at landscape and objects, as I personally believed I managed to produce the strongest outcomes in these styles. I also think my contemporary outcomes, mainly photomontages with objects, have also been successful in presenting clear conceptual and contextual representations. These two areas in photography are the areas that I would like to mainly loom at for my personal investigation.
When creating this zine, I had to think specifically the layout and order of my images as I wanted them to tell the story of the occupation through pictures. So I started it off with montages relating to the time during the occupation then slowly moving on to what was left behind after we liberated, so the people and the objects and I paired up objects that related to an individual to help tell their story of terror. For my front cover I found a quote when visiting the archive that I liked so I photographed it and then later decided to use it as my front cover, as it helps set up the zine with meaning and allows you to really think about those lost when you are looking through the images. Then on the back cover a montage of different images that were taken during the occupation to give people an understanding of what the soldiers conditions where liked. After printing my zine, I put together a small montage of people who survived the occupation of lost their lives and printed it out on acetone paper and places it in the centre of my zine, as those people are the centre purpose of my zine, as it is a piece of remembrance.
Realism, sometimes called naturalism, in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements. Realism has been prevalent in the arts at many periods, and can be in large part a matter of technique and training, and the avoidance of stylisation. In the visual arts, illusionistic realism is the accurate depiction of lifeforms, perspective, and the details of light and colour.
The development of increasingly accurate representation of the visual appearances of things has a long history in art. It includes elements such as the accurate depiction of the anatomy of humans and animals.
Stephen Shore’s work has been widely published and exhibited for the past forty-five years. He was the first living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since Alfred Stieglitz, forty years earlier. He has also had one-man shows at George Eastman House, Rochester; Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Jeu de Paume, Paris; and Art Institute of Chicago. In 2017, the Museum of Modern Art opened a major retrospective spanning Stephen Shore’s entire career. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His series of exhibitions at Light Gallery in New York in the early 1970s sparked new interest in color photography and in the use of the view camera for documentary work.
More than 25 books have been published of Stephen Shore’s photographs including Uncommon Places: The Complete Works; American Surfaces; Stephen Shore, a retrospective monograph in Phaidon’s Contemporary Artists series; Stephen Shore: Survey and most recently, Factory: Andy Warhol and Stephen Shore: Selected Works, 1973-1981. In 2017, the Museum of Modern Art published Stephen Shore in conjunction with their retrospective of his photographic career. Stephen also wrote The Nature of Photographs, published by Phaidon Press, which addresses how a photograph functions visually. His work is represented by 303 Gallery, New York; and Sprüth Magers, London and Berlin. Since 1982 he has been the director of the Photography Program at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, where he is the Susan Weber Professor in the Arts.
“I’d thought about this in a certain way before – about this idea of how to make a picture look natural. In a way I deconstructed all of that over a period of years and made pictures that were almost the opposite, very intensely structured.”
Key Ideas:
Shore’s photographs often appear as unstudied snapshots before revealing themselves, on closer examination, to be carefully calculated and balanced. His images show a deep consideration of framing, with lines and colors chosen to emphasize the formal qualities of the places or objects within the frame, heightening the viewer’s focus.
Shore’s images are structured around the experience of seeing, seeking to communicate the way in which the everyday might register to an outsider. He has regularly used his work as a form of visual diary, communicating his own experiences through his photographs. Shore’s photographic choices suggest emotional states to the audience, often drawing power through the ways in which light and composition evoke feelings that the viewer cannot name.
To evaluate, having my final outcomes as a dos a dos layout, meant I could successfully showcase my war images and my home images under the same categories of occupation and liberation, whilst being able to showcase the relationship between objects. To achieve the dos a dos I simply glued the back pages of each zine together to create the effect, thus I have an overall zine which is two different zines. I believe my design has strong conceptual representations which clearly showcase my intended narrative. The layout for each page has been carefully thought out and justified as to why the spread is how it is, showcasing my ability to successfully place images into a clear sequence to showcase an intended narrative. I have been able to show my experimentation process when creating the zine, which shows my ability to critically analyse my work and reject ideas which may not be successful. Overall, I believe I have created a strong photographic zine which showcase my intended narrative through my strongest imagery from the part of the occupation and liberation project.
For my first design I stuck to a normal zine layout, 16 page spread in A5 size and portrait orientation. In this design I looked at having half of the zine dedicated to the war and half dedicated to the home project. Overall, I felt that the transition between the two contexts was not clear or effective and almost spoilt the narrative trying to be presented. Below are the screenshots to this design, three pages at a time, with the page layouts being explained below with reasoning as to why these choices where made. In addition, I decided to stop this design shortly after the half way point, transition into the home, as it was not affective, with reasoning as to why, and still showed clear experimentation with new zine layout designs in mind.
On the front and back cover I decided to use the photomontage of the war objects and archival images of the soldiers. I felt as this was my strongest conceptual imagery, I believe it fit perfectly as my covers as it already held strong representation of my intended narrative, moreover the image itself is captivating through the warm vibrant colours, thus drawing viewers into the zine. For my first layout I wanted to use my strongest portrait from the Bob Le Sueur experimentation. I placed the image on the right hand side, as it showcases the subject looking over to the left, making it look more naturally placed. I then decided to add a direct quote from the interview with Bob. I felt the quote used clearly showcased the subjects opinion on the war and German’s and helped to present the beginning of the narrative, allowing a sense of flow within my outcomes. The next spread was an image which focused on detail and texture of Bob’s hands, which is emphasised through the structure and vibrance of the image, Placing this with the metallic headlight used in the war, both being whole page spreads presents the importance of the light during the occupation and the usefulness of the object. It also works alongside Bob’s quote as it shows everyone is alike, as we use the same objects for the same reason, which continues on the flow.
For the next three pages I looked at the transition between war into the home sweet home project. On my next spread I placed an image of a collection of war objects in the centre of the page, doing this supports the ideology that everyone used the same objects whether they were British or German, thus showcasing my narrative of the relationship between objects and portraits. For my middle page I wanted to use a double page spread which showcased liberation of the war, which leads onto the new occupation of the home. This then lead onto the 3/4 page spread of my strongest image from the home sweet home project, which is a macro photograph of a mouth. I felt that the image almost seemed out of place and broke the narrative trying to be presented, which lead me to question the effectiveness of the design.
After consideration I decided to stop with this design as I could not find a solution to transition the war into the home within one zine, therefore my initial design will showcase my experimentation and thought process when creating my final zine design.
Design 2:
For my second design I decided to experiment with different layouts of zines, showcased on my mood board on the narrative and sequencing blog post. After consideration I decided to explore the Dos a Dos design. The dos a dos zine contains two single section zines within one cover, facing them in opposite directions, it’s a neat structure for combining two sets of material which you really want a viewer to experience separately, rather than in a sequence where one follows another. For this one I’ve combined two very different sets of imagery about my native London, one about the city’s history, and the other about it’s possible future.
For the first half of my zine I wanted to showcase liberation from the war and the relationship between objects and portraits in the sense of liberation. I decided to keep similar layouts from the first design as I felt that some layouts were successful in presenting my narrative.
Originally my front cover was black with white text saying Liberation, which juxtaposed the Occupation front cover which was white with black text. Although this worked, having my zine as a dos a dos layout meant I lost two pages worth of display so I felt I was not utilising my pages wisely. This soon lead me to digging through my edits from previous photoshoots were I found an image I took from a worms eye view of Great Britains flag, I felt the fitted nicely with the ideology of liberation.
I decided to use the photomontage of the war objects and archival images of the soldiers. I felt as this was my strongest conceptual imagery, I believe it fit perfectly within my zine as it already held strong representation of my intended narrative, moreover the image itself is captivating through the warm vibrant colours, thus drawing viewers into the zine.
I wanted to use my strongest portrait from the Bob Le Sueur experimentation. I placed the image on the right hand side, as it showcases the subject looking over to the left, making it look more naturally placed. I then places the object of the head light on the left which faces towards the portrait. This presents a strong positive relationship between the two images, showing their importance during the war. This spread took inspiration from my first experimentation as I felt that this spread was the most successful in conveying my narrative.
For my last page spread under liberation I decided to showcase the liberation of the Island when Germans left. This spread focuses on objects of Great Britain’s flag and a radio set, which were banned during the occupation of the German’s. This full page spread clearly showcases the relationship with the objects to portraits with the absence of the portrait, as it is commonly known the citizens illegally held radio systems which outlines the objects importance within the imagery.
To start the occupation side of the zine, I started from the last page and made my way up to the first page, reverse order. The Occupation front cover which was white with black text, which juxtaposed my liberation front cover which was black with white text. As mentioned before although this worked, having my zine as a dos a dos layout meant I lost two pages worth of display so I felt I was not utilising my pages wisely. I will be changing this front cover, with the final layout shown below in order to show experimentation.
Within this half I wanted to showcase the occupation of marriage within a family and the relationship between portraits of objects under this ideology.
For my first page spread I wanted to showcase a portrait of my model hands, with one of the most traditional objects to do with marriage, the ring. A wedding ring symbolises the occupation of your love and life to your spouse, and is very important piece of symbolism to many married couples. Having this images as a whole page spread showcases a lack of space, showcasing the fulfilment marriage has on the impact of our lives.
I then wanted to keep the whole double page spread design as I liked the symbolism of the lack of space and how marriage impacts a whole persons life. I then decided to use this macro image of my models mouth who seems to be smiling, showing their teeth. The sense of black space on the left shows an emptiness and false sense of happiness, many marriages lead to relationship problems. This spread almost acts as a representation go how the models life has been taken away and how they are not happy about it but can not do much about it.
My final page spread focuses on the macro portrait of my subjects eyes. She is looking through her dirty glasses, which symbolises how she is unsure where her future is going and how marriage has lead her to not being able to freely make all decision by herself, showcasing the entrapment of marriage and the occupation it has.
Changes:
New Design
Old Design
For my first change I wanted to change the front cover of my occupation front cover, to have the same amount of symbolism and my liberation front over. I decided to use the environmental portrait of my brother sat on his bed. The sense of negative space on the left and high tonal contrast shows the negative impacts of marriage which fits the theme of the occupation of marriage and begins to showcase the relationship between objects and portraits towards this overall running theme of marriage.
New Design
Old Design
My second change was made after printing a trial run of my zine. In my initial design I turned the white space black, when printing this out the blacks came out as two different shades which distracted viewers from the conceptual representations and meaning of the spread. I decided to change this by getting rid of the artificially placed black on the left and just having it white, I felt that this change still gives off the same intended effect as the black.
Evaluation:
I believe I have made two successful experimentation of zine designs in order to showcase my narrative. I have been able to explore different layouts and the representations they held, with being able to clearly justify as to why I decided to have images in the sequence they are in. I have been able to show my artistic thought process throughout, with constant reference to my intended narrative when explaining each page layout. Overall, I believe my second design will be my final design with the changes made as I feel it’s the most successful in combining war and my home imagery.
The rational within my second photographic zine I would like to convey the narrative of the relationship between objects and people, to reinforce the ideology of occupation and liberation. This relationship will be presented through different page layouts with a close look at proximity between photographs on a page. Not only do I want to showcase occupation and liberation during the second world war, I would also like to implement images from my home sweet home project to showcase the occupation of a household and the how the relationships of objects and portraits can be changed due to the context of the imagery. I want the relationships to present clear conceptual representation which gives insight into both contexts of the war and home to allow a clear narrative for viewers to follow when reading the zine.
Sequencing:
For this photographic zine I am going to keep the sequencing of my images simplistic, I am going to divide the zine into two with the first half being focused on the war and the second half being focused on home sweet home. I will focus on proximity to convey the relationship between the objects and portrait, with images closer together representing a stronger relationship between the imagery. I will also focus on the sense of space, and the ideology conveyed with whole page spreads, half page spreads and 3/4 page spreads. In addition I will be using my war photomontage as a front cover to convey occupation and liberation as I believe the imagery can link into both contexts of the war and home, and provides a visually stimulating front cover or viewers to look at.
Mood Board:
Below is a mood board which shows different design ideas which could help influence the way in which I layout my photographic zine in order to convey my intended narrative of the relationship of objects and portraits during the war and within a home environment.
From your Personal Investigation based on OCCUPATION vs LIBERATION write an overview of what you learned and how you intend to develop your Personal Study.
During our occupation vs. liberation theme I learned a variety of different skills and also built upon previously known skills. At the beginning, I explored the use of archives. I learned how they can be used to research in order to discover more about a certain topic area, which in my case was the occupation of Jersey. This was extremely useful as it allowed me to incorporate further depth of knowledge into my project.
Another practical skill that was built upon were technical camera skills. Shooting at locations such as bunkers improved my ability to photograph in low lighting, by controlling the ISO and aperture. When I moved on to researching the occupation further by meeting an individual who lived throughout the occupation, my portraiture skills also improved. I learnt how to build up a relationship with a stranger, and how to learn more about them in order to photograph them appropriately which is something I had not previously done before. In regards to editing and developing my images, I learnt how to use lightroom and Indesign in order to improve my images and create my zine, which is something I had very minimal experience with previously. I will be taking these research, practical and developing skills forwards in order to begin my own personal study.
Describe which themes, approaches, artists, skills and photographic processes/ techniques inspired you the most and why.
I think the thing that initially inspired me the most during this specific theme was the research and the images I saw at the archives. I think this set the foundation for my project because it allowed to me gain a fundamental understanding and insight into what the occupation was like and how my project could reflect this. After this I was inspired by artists such as Klaus Pichler for the specific way he photographed still life, as this helped me better photograph occupation objects. Further into the project Rafal Milach inspired me to interpret my images of the occupation in a more creative way using colours and other props in order to express a sense of being trapped.
Landscapes, People and objects also played a very important role on influencing my project, as those 3 things are very personally related to the occupation and that gave my outcomes throughout this project a sense of authenticity that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. Landscapes that inspired me were in ares where certain important events in the occupation had occurred, such as the bunker sights. Namely, occupation survivors such as Joan Tapley and Bob le Seur also played an important part of my project as learning more about them and their personal stories allowed me to incorporate real life first hand events into my research and discovery. Lastly, the occupation objects I photographed were important because I they gave my project a more metaphorical connection to the occupation.
in this experiment i am going to photograph objects and i decided in this photo shoot to take still photos of objects from the German Occupation, these objects where brought from the Jersey Archive to give us an opportunity to photograph them, and this is how i planned to do that:
Setups
i decided to use two different setups to photograph my objects as some different objects need to be photographed at different angles and these are the two setups i used:
Straight on Angle Lighting Setup
For the straight on angle set up I used a continuous light set up. I used a fill light illuminating the object, with a secondary (tungsten light) light source to reduce the shadows and clearly showcase the object. I also experimented with back lights, but felt that it was not successful and did not justify the objects, thus I stopped using the back light. The camera was on a tripod with a 50 mm lens.
Birds Eye View Lighting Setup
For this set up, I used two flash head lights, set on a 2.0 power output. The lights where paced either side of the table, slightly facing downwards towards the object. On my camera I used a transmitter which triggered the flash heads to operate as I captured my imagery. In addition, I also used a pilot light in order to position a and frame my composition, this was located at the back of the table (on right) and did not affect the coloring or the outcomes of my image. The camera itself was placed on a tripod looking down at the table.
My plan is to work on this project with my friend who also takes photography so we can exchange skills and get the best results. we are going to go to the studio for three hours divided into three school days and use one camera between us and take photographs on different personalized settings then comparing the results to come out with an even better setting for the camera. We are going to start photographic the most suitable eye catching 3D objects using the straight on angle lighting setup, and afterwere done with that were going to photography the flatter objects on the birds eye view lighting setup.
