Category Archives: Unit 2 Portrait

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Reviewing and Reflecting

November 6, 2019 Alex Phillips Leave a comment

During my Personal investigation based on the theme of Occupation VS Liberation, I learnt many new techniques from utilizing archival material to camera skills related to shooting in low light environments. During my Project, I used a lot of archival material such as Occupation registration cards and extracts from newspapers. I learnt how to appropriately set up an overhead camera tripod station in order to capture and record these documents and adjust the lighting to enhance the quality of the image. I also learnt how to use archival databases to find appropriate resources, making use of the Jersey archives online catalogue to select images and correspond with the appropriate staff members of the archive and relay serial numbers to them of documents I required. In terms of camera skills, On many photo shoots in environments such as bunkers and the Jersey war tunnels, I had to adjust my camera settings to be able to capture subjects in low light and ensure I had the best quality images possible. This involved adjusting the shutter speed to allow for a slow shutter speed yet one that wouldnt result in heavy motion blurring due to me holding my camera. The aperture would also have to be set relatively wide to allow for more light to enter the camera and create a much brighter exposure. My ISO levels would have to be around 1600 to allow for more light to enter the camera. A higher ISO than this, as I found out however, Results in a large amount of digital noise.

I hope to take these experiences and points and apply them to my personal study to further enhance my work. I Personally enjoyed the landscape approach to photography as I was able to really experiment with scenery as well as texture within an image, Photographing signs of decay within the bunkers I visited is a good example of this. I also enjoy the limitless creativity in terms of the use of landscape images. for example, My photo montage project where I overlaid cutouts of archival images and documents over the top of images from my visit to Batterie Moltke. I also enjoyed the portraiture element of the Project, Especially photographing Occupation Veteran Joan Tapley as I came to find that portrait photography is a great way to tell a story of a person and learn much more about their history. The portrait project also helped me realise that every person has a story to tell and that portraiture is a great medium to get this story across and told

The decayed ceiling of the German Radio Communications tower at Batterie Moltke on Les Landes Headland

A photo montage of the German Radio Communications Tower laid over a copy of the original front page of the Jersey Evening post, declaring the start of the occuaption to the islanders and outlining the proclamations and proposals from the German Occupying forces

Occupation veteran Joan Tapley, Who kindly shared her stories of the Occupation with us and allowed us to photograph her

MIND MAP AND MOOD BOARD: OCCUPATION VS LIBERATION

Personally, I find that my whole perspective upon occupation and liberation has changed massively since the start of the project. I used to be well aware of the impact the occupation and liberation had upon not only the island but my family itself as both of my grandparents lived in the Island through the occupation. Liberation was always celebrated annually by my grandparents as well as the rest of my family, but occupation was always reflected upon and many can say that if it werent for the occupation, The island and its inhabitants may not be the same way they are today. I have also begun to think of other meanings of Occupation VS Liberation, as they are both polar opposites. Occupation is defined as the state or period of being controlled or occupied by a force. Liberation is defined as the act of freeing a person or place from oppression or imprisonment. The term imprisonment can be meant both physically in the case of the occupation or metaphorically, Potentially maybe talking about how someone could be imprisoned by a job they do not enjoy or even imprisoned in their own mind and being unable to be themselves. Liberation can also be seen in this same sense, As someone could be going through the oppression of a boring week job and then feel a sense of liberation when the weekend comes around and they are free to live the life they wish to, Whether this be partying or simply relaxing. This could also be seen in the sense of someone being imprisoned in their mind, if they are able to find themselves an opportunity to let go of the feeling of imprisonment by partaking in an activity they like such as sport or arts. For my Personal study I would like to explore themes of Occupation VS liberation in more of a metaphorical sense.

IDEAS FOR FIRST PHOTO SHOOT

I would like to explore Occupation Vs Liberation in a contemporary, metaphorical sense. This would be based around the idea of being occupied by either a job or a persons own mind and I would like to use the medium of photographs to exhibit more intrinsic feelings and attitudes to portray a sense of occupation and liberty within a persons mind in terms of their attitude and feelings towards either work and play or a visual representation of their thoughts and feelings. I would therefore pick subjects and photograph them in an environment that they find occupies their lives such as a workplace or school, and then photograph them in their free time, enjoying their liberty from the oppression of their workplace/ school environment. This could be them either partaking in a hobby or past time or them out partying and socializing. I have also considered this same approach however focusing much more on the subject of mental occupation Vs Liberty, For example somebody who may be struggling with their emotions and whom is able to let go of the struggle when they are socializing.

AO1 Develop Ideas, Unit 2 Portrait

“Who’s Archive is it anyways?”

October 9, 2019 Alex Phillips Leave a comment

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

Uncategorized, Unit 2 Portrait

My Family and the Occupation

October 9, 2019 Alex Phillips Leave a comment

During my visit to the archive, I was able to research some personal history. My Grandfather lived in Jersey throughout the occupation, however he was meant to be evacuated in June of 1940 but he did not make it down to the harbor in time and just missed the last evacuation vessel. I was able to find his German occupation Identification card within the digital archives. My Grandfathers card was issued just after his 14th Birthday in January of 1944, meaning he was 15 when the Island was liberated by the Allies. He lived at 1 Garlyckehythe lane at the bottom of Janvrin road and lived with his great aunt Maud

When my Grandfather was alive, He told me many stories of the Occupation. One such story he told me was about the time that the Island was suffering a shortage of food supplies as the majority of food made in the island was exported by the Germans to feed their front line soldiers. As a result of this, many islanders, including my grandfather, resorted to stealing food from the Germans. One night my grandfather and a friend of his snuck into a German supply post at St Saviours Court. They both found their way into the basement where they began to take all the food they could lay their hands on. They were then caught by A young German officer and I remember my Grandfather telling me he though the officer would shoot them. Instead the officer took them both upstairs, sat them down and made them a sandwich. When they had finished he halved a loaf of bread and gave a half to my Grandfather and half to his Friend and told them both to leave immediately and not come back.

Another story is of the time my grandfather and another friend were out on bikes near St Clements and heard a German bomber overhead. The bomber was suffering difficulties with its engines so the pilot decided to aim it for some fields near St Clements and jump out. The plane crashed and my grandfather and his friend arrived shortly after and decided to search the wreckage for souvenirs. Due to the heat and flames, bullets and ammunition were exploding around them as they were souvenir hunting. My grandfather came away with a few bullets from the bomber.

My grandfather also stole a German bayonet off a wall near Springfield and took it home in his jacket pocket. I will need to find it to take photos of it as I remember him showing me a few years ago.

My Grandmother lived In Jersey during the occupation as well. She lived down in Vallee Les Vaux and her mother, my great grandmother Louise actually died at the start of the occupation as she was cleaning the steps outside of her house and saw a platoon of German soldiers walking up the road and fainted and hit her head off of the steps and died on the spot.

My great grandfather kept chickens and towards the end of the occupation when German food supplies were low, many soldiers would come to my great grandfathers house in Sion and attempt to buy his chickens from him. Everytime My Great Grandfather would take the Germans Money, Spit on it and hand it back to the soldiers and tell them the chickens werent ready yet and told them to come back in a week and this went on until the end of the Occupation

My Grandmother also wrote of the treatment of local schoolchildren by the Germans. She said that the vast majority of Soldiers were only serving to protect their families and didnt actually want any involvement in war at all. If they refused to Join the German army, They would be shot along with their families so many made the sacrifice for the sake of their own families so therefore were nice to the people of Jersey. My grandma can recall one afternoon after leaving her primary school at St Johns, German officers stood on the wall outside and threw sweets down to the children. As this was early days in the occupation, Many of the children refused to eat the sweets as they thought they were poisoned

My grandmother and grandfather both had to learn German at school and follow an adapted version of their peacetime curriculum all taught and learnt in German. There were many occasions where allied aircraft would fly over the island and drop propaganda leaflets and my grandmother recalled seeing these leaflets scattered across fields in St Mary. However being caught in possession of a leaflet or any material containing details of allied progression or outside news would result in serious punishment, so my Grandmother would read them and leave them in the field.

My great grandfathers second wife, Tina was appointed as a cleaner of the Gestapos rooms at the Ritz Hotel where they had their headquarters. Whenever an officer would leave the room she was in she would use the radio to tune into the BBC world news broadcast and she would then go on to share this news with other islanders. On one occasion however, a Gestapo officer forgot his gloves and came back into the room to Tina listening to the radio and caught her. She was immediately arrested and sent to Biberac internment camp. Her then husband died shortly after, falling to his death off of a forum building he was doing works on. At the time Tina was interned, she was in the early stages of pregnancy and my great uncle peter was born in the camp and was 3 and a half when the camp was liberated. Later on, My great granddad married Tina and adopted Peter

Here is Tina’s and my Great Grandfathers Identification card. These copies make up part of my Family’s private archive as this version is the one Tina carried on her day to day as a form of identification

AO1 Develop Ideas, Unit 2 Portrait

SJ Jersey Archives VISIT

October 6, 2019 Alex Phillips Leave a comment

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.

Image result for JErsey occupation cards — 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

AO2 Explore Ideas, Uncategorized, Unit 2 Portrait

Emile F Guiton

October 6, 2019 Alex Phillips Leave a comment

Emile Guiton was a prominent Jersey photographer born in 1879. Throughout his career he was responsible for documenting Island Life as well as helping to found the Societe Jersaie photo archive, where He served on the executive committee as a joint honorary secretary and he was also the curator of the museum and the editor of their annual bulletin

Guiton noticed throughout his life that history was changing dramatically on the island and he therefore set out to document this historical change in as much detail as possible. He was one of the first early photographers to experiment with auto chrome color.

Auto Chrome Lumiere

Auto Chrome Lumiere is one of the earliest methods of colour photography and was patented in 1903 by the french Lumiere Brothers. It was the main means of capturing images in colours before the development of coloured film in the early 1930s. The original creator of Auto chrome was another french photographer called Louis Ducos Du Haron.He was the first known photographer to experiment with the technique of colour additives.

Auto Chrome Process

The Auto Chrome Process involves a glass plate, which is covered on one side by a random pattern of microscopic grains of dyed potato starch, The grains consist of red-orange, Green and blue-violet colors, Similar to the RGB of red green and blue primary colors found in the visual processors of many modern day computer screens. These colored grains of starch essentially act as colour filters, while lampblack, a type of dark material created from the incomplete combustion of fuel materials such as coal and oil, Fills the gaps while a black and white panchromatic silver halide emulsion is coated on the top as a layer.

The Auto chrome would then be loaded into the camera with the glass side of the slide facing the Lens, Meaning the light passed through the Mosaic colour layer before reaching the emulsion. An orange filter was used in the camera to block out ultra violet light as the emulsion was very sensitive to purple and blue colours. Autochromes required a long exposure time, so therefore they were not suitable for photographing moving subjects

Early Auto Chrome Images

Image result for autochrome photography — This image of a french police officer sat at a water pump in a french cobbled street was taken by a photographer employed by Albert Kahn. Kahn sent out 50 photographers armed with auto chrome cameras across the globe to photograph subjects such as the collapse of the Ottoman-Hungarian empire, The last traditional Celtic villages in Ireland and events of the early stages of the first world war. I like the image as it has a minimal amount of colour on a whole, which makes us focus more on the key element of the police officer in the foreground. I also find that the low saturation gives off quite a solemn feel, especially due to the fact that this photograph was taken in the early days of the first world war

Emile Guitons Works

Below are some autochrome works produced by Guiton. He mainly chose to picture flowers as he found these a great way to showcase the colour and beauty of nature as well as the fact that they were non moving subjects

Image result for emile guiton autochrome

AO2 Explore Ideas, Unit 2 Portrait, Unit 3 Landscape

Classic Vs Contemporary photographers

October 4, 2019 Alex Phillips Leave a comment

Classic Photographer Study: Francis Foot

Francis Foot was born in 1855. In his early years he was a gas fitter, but he later developed an interest in photography and so much so that his family purchased a shop in pitt street, where they represented UK record retailer HMV. The logo is still painted on the exterior of the shop today. He then went on to have 4 children, George, Stanley, Dora and Reg.

Francis’ photography was published as postcards and many of his images and films have been curated by the Societe Jersaie Archive for historical purposes. His video portfolio provides video of aircraft landing on the beach in St Aubins bay, St Helier Harbour and Shipwrecks around the island

Below are some examples of Francis’ work

The Smith family, Taken around 1909. A traditional family portrait which features themes of hierarchy due to the arrangement of the family. The assumed father of the smith family sits central, With his son next to him and daughter in front of him sat on the floor. His wife sits aside his son whilst the members standing in the backdrop could either be extended family such as aunties cousins etc, Or could be maids and servants that are essentially considered part of the family

The weighbridge taken from pier road, Much different from the waterfront known by all today. The row of buildings opposite the sea wall are today a major financial hub as seen in Lewis bush’s work below. This image is particularly important in terms of historical change as this image was taken just a few years before the idea of land reclamation came into play and started to be developed upon.

Contemporary Artist Study: Lewis Bush

Lewis Bush is a British photographer whom recently did an arch isle photographic residency In Jersey. he is 31 years of age. However he started life on a very different route to photography, Working as a consultant researcher for the United Nations AIDS/HIV Task force, Tasked with researching potential cures and solutions to the AIDS/HIV Crisis. In 2012, Bush decided to focus on his own photo graphical works and projects, and one of his main focuses was to draw attention to various invisible powers throughout the world and photograph them and what they entail.

Lewis was recently in Jersey as part of the Archisle International Photographer in Residencey project, Where artists from all over the world spend a 6 month period in Jersey curating projects with an insight into island life whether that be past or present or even future. Bush created a project named “Trading Zones” which focused upon the finance industry in Jersey and the power within it. Bush found that the power of the finance industry could either positively ro negatively affect the lives of many millions of people and therefore set out to photograph this unapparent power at work.

Bush takes quite an interesting approach to the project, By using architectural drawings and building plans throughout the project, Highlighting various Sectors within the finance industry and many metaphorical features of it

Bush’s Work

In this image, Bush has curated aerial photographs of offices opposite liberation bus station. He includes the companys and corporations occupying the buildings as well as the branches and divisions of such companies. I personally like this image as it gives off a sense of dominance in terms of the amount of financial office space and it also has a military observational aesthetic to it, with the listings of the buildings and the aerial imagery

This image depicts many corner structures of various financial offices/ Buildings, Such as the RBC building and Nat-west International bank. Bush is good at highlighting that some of the offices, Such as the one in the top right, are actually historical buildings that have been modernized and brought into present day by the inclusion of Glass and steel girders to give the building a modern and professional look

Another interesting piece of work from Bush is this Image of a public telescope on ST Catherines Breakwater. The image is titled “Hong Kong, 9896km”. This image is powerful in representation of the international influence of Jerseys finance sector as the Island has ties with many banks and industries within Hong Kong, itself a major finance capital. What is more interesting is the telescope looking out to see, Almost as if it is making contact with and directing the viewer towards Hong Kong as this image was taken on Jerseys east coast

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, Uncategorized, Unit 2 Portrait

Occupation Stories: Joan

September 26, 2019 Alex Phillips 1 Comment

We were lucky enough to be visited by an occupation veteran called Joan. She was 6 at the start of the occupation and we had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with her hearing her tales and stories of the occupation.

Joan lived up on the north coast and she recalls that prior to the occupation. Her and her mother and father would watch the lights from the gunfire over the coast of France and she would frequently hear and see planes flying over the coast of France.

She then spoke of the islanders reactions to the united kingdoms decision to demilitarize the Islands. Many islanders felt they had been sold off to the Germans and disregarded by the United Kingdom. Joan also told us of the time she watched German bombers fly over the island and heard distant explosions. These explosions actually turned out to be the Germans Bombing St Helier

She lived down the road from Les Platons, which was the highest point on the island and this immediately became a German stronghold and Joan can recall fortifications being built by slave workers as well as guns being brought in and deployed

Joan also spoke of life in general. The cliff faces and beaches were all wired off and mined and became restricted zones, as well as the introduction and issue of ration books to each and every islander. Joan’s mother registered as a farm worker in order to receive more weekly rations. A curfew was also put in place, Banning islanders from being out after 10pm in summer and pm in winter.

Not Only did Joan tell us her stories of the occupation, She also told us of her memories of liberation. On the 8th of may her father, who was an office worker in town got sent home early as news had broke of the fall of the Nazis in Europe and that Jersey would be liberated the following day. On his way home he passed a distant cousin who had been storing a lorry in their barn for the duration of the occupation. The whole family, Joan included all got in the lorry and drove to town to celebrate

Photographing Joan

Joan then gave us the opportunity to photograph her in the studio. Below are my originals and final edits

In this photo, I have chosen to desaturate the image and increase the contrast while boosting the shadows to create a deep black and white effect to create a nice aesthetic. I have also used the spot removal tool on Joan’s face to remove patches where the light was shining off of her face

I decided to photograph Joans hands as I was quite intrigued by her jewelry. I decided to desaturate the whole image and bring the blacks down and boost the whites to give the jewelry a glow.

For this image I decided to take a photograph of Joans eyes as I find that a persons eyes can tell a lot about them. I decreased the vibrance and saturation and upped the blue saturation and luminance to make the eyes more prominent

AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Unit 2 Portrait

Bob Le Sueur (Photos)

September 24, 2019 Jack T 1 Comment

For the photos of Bob I knew that we would be in the studio this means that the environment is heavily controlled. The rule of thumb for studio flash light is to have your camera at 100 ISO, 1/125 and at f/16. The reason for this is that the flashes are used to simulate the daylight and this group of settings will always be roughly right for daylight. Using studio lights with a shutter speed of over 1/200 will not work as the shutter will block out part of the light and will be too fast for the flash of light that the lights will give off.

For this photo I had Bob facing side on to me and then gave him a point to look at which was down to my right, I then focused on his eyes and framed him in the center of the image, I was using a 50mm zoom so I could get a top torso shot with space over his head. For the editing I boosted the texture and and the clarity, also making the contrast larger to show the mall wrinkles and features on his face.

For the left image I thought that I would focus on Bob’s nose as it is a prominent feature of his face to do this best I thought that a profile would work. I made it black and white because it shows well the contrast in his hair and it shows the lines and contours of his face well. I also gave him a high point to look at to show his jawline more. The image on the right was similar to the first in composition but I changed it to black and white and had him look up.

This image was taken to show his walking stick which is something that he has with him all the time and it has scratches, chips and dents which give it its own character, I had Bob lay his hands on top of eachother so that there wasn’t a big empty space that there would be if his hands were side by side. The focal point was the ring finger of his left hand as it has a chip in the nail. I put this image in black and white so that there is a big contrast between the darker wrinkles and the highlights and his nails.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Unit 2 Portrait

Bob Le Sueur (Stories)

September 24, 2019 Jack T Leave a comment

Robert (Bob) Le Sueur is an occupation survivor from Jersey who has been credited for his role the escape and survival of multiple Russian prisoners who were held in Jersey. For this and other Humanitarian work he did during the occupation he was awarded an MBE, and was on the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2013. When Bob came in he had some great stories to tell about life in the occupation here are some of my favorites:

A Porky interruption: This story starts on the morning of July 1st Bob was awoken to the sound of German planes flying overhead and went to look out at them to see if they had doped bombs again, as they did a few days prior, but they hadn’t they dropped 2 parachutes which at first could be soldiers but were too small. They ended up being containers that held a message to the leader of the military of the island. The message said that if the island wasn’t to surrender within 24 hours it would be carpet bombed which would have almost wiped out the population of Jersey. The states were unsure of the best cause of action as they had heard false propaganda showing the germans as rapists and evil people. The only words of advice that would be given by the crown and the uk government was to ‘do the best for the population’. There was a crowd growing in the royal square in front of the states. To control the crowd a man named Capt. Bentley, who was an affluent businessman within the islands, went out to address the crowd and then started barking orders at them. Telling them to get into line and quiet down. In this moment of great tension as Bob described it a bird flew over top and then relieved itself all over the captains pork pie hat, the crowd then erupted with laughter. Bob says this was a heaven sent message to relax the people and break the tension.

The Slavic Soiree: For this story bob talked about a party that he was involved in. He didn’t say what it was specifically for but he said that they had them for everything from the last day of having a gas supply to people’s birthdays. Bob then enlightened us on the best way to make sure that everyone that comes to your party has a good time. He said “invite guests that haven’t eaten properly in months, cook a rabbit and then serve them calvados” which is a sort of distilled cider that had a higher proof than vodka. At this party there was one man who lived with them who was a Russian escapee. Before the party however this man had gotten into the calvados which meant that his Slavic side came out and then he started doing ‘Gopak’ dancing and singing slavic folk songs at the top of his lungs in the middle of town. As he was doing this a German patrol passed by but luckily they were singing their own chants so the Russian couldn’t be heard.

Bullet Bike: This story took place on liberation day. Bob, the Russian from the previous story, one of the people the Russian lived with and two girls were all together when they got the news that there was an American destroyer that had been spotted passing Normint point and at this point they all knew that there had been an armistice signed for the western war (Japan was still going at it). When they got this news they all got on their bikes and then went to cycle out to the end of Victoria pier. On the way however, some misfortune befell Bob, when he was going past the German tunnel entrance that was filled with weapons and guarded by two soldiers, which is located opposite the old lifeboat station or the rowing club, his bike tyre which was made of a hose pipe as there were no more tyres the clasp that held it together snapped. This sound was comparable to that of a gunshot which made the German guards anxious and could have almost gotten Bob killed but they saw what had happened and was ok. When he looked up to see if his friends had stopped for him they were almost gone already, he said this was fine though as they saved him a good spot to watch the destroyer come in to St Aubins bay.