For my first photoshoot I am going to go out and do some landscape photography of bunkers and fortifications created by Germans for use in the war. I am going to take these images from a few different bunkers from the west side and south side of the island. I am likely going to go out during the day, I may wait for sunlight, and use natural lighting techniques to get clear images of the bunkers. Using photographic archives such as Societe Jeriaise, I am going to likely try and use photographs of bunkers and fortifications from when they were built to show how the bunkers have changed over time as parts may have eroded and look older. This will help me create a simple story of change and remembrance in the bunkers throughout Jersey and its history.

• Edward weston is an american Photographer which was popular for his take on modernism and straight photography.
• In 1908 he briefly worked at the photography studio of George Steckel in Los Angeles, as a negative retoucher.
• In 1910 Weston opened his own business, called “The Little Studio”

Quotes:

” Similar to images used by the Surrealists, Weston’s high resolution, realist photographs of organic forms and modern marvels encouraged viewers to reconsider seemingly mundane objects and form new associations with them. ” (Henderson and McCain, 2019)

“Weston helped bring the medium out of the Victorian age that favored pictorialist imitations of painting and into the modern era wherein photography became a celebrated medium in its own right.”(Henderson and McCain, 2019)

Image Analysis:

Bibliography:

Henderson, K. and McCain, S. (2019). Edward Weston Photography, Bio, Ideas. [online] The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/weston-edward/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2019].

LIFE AND CAREER:

To date, little has been written about Hedges or the Shelter photographs. Previously overlooked as a subject for academic study, the Shelter photographs have, until recently, remained out of the public eye and consciousness. Showcased in high-profile exhibitions and reviews at the time of their making in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the photographs have since been somewhat forgotten, and to a certain extent written out of, the history of British photography. Primary source material on Hedges and his work has, until now, focused on his other photographic projects, notably his study of factory workers entitled Born to Work (made between 1976 and 1978)18, his documentation of religion, entitled I’m A Believer (made between 1976 and 1977), and his study of the North Shields fishing industry in 1979. The two former series focused on the West Midlands, Hedges’ birthplace. After obtaining an Arts Council grant in 1982, Hedges was subsequently able to publish the Born to Work photographs, accompanied by a text written by Huw Beynon, in a book entitled Born to Work: Images of Factory Life. These photographs were the subject of a large exhibition of the same name held at Wolverhampton City Archives between 4 October and 21 December 2013.22 They were also featured alongside the work of photographers John Bulmer and Peter Donnelly in the exhibition Black Country Echoes. (Hall, A, The University of Birmingham, 2015, p.6,7)

PROMINENT IMAGES:

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

VISUAL:

In terms of the visual aspects of this image there are multiple aspects which can be looked at. Firstly the scale is important as the people in the foreground of the image are overshadowed by the towering block of flats in the backdrop. The black and white color scheme is also important to the overall emotive aspects of the image as they monochromatic nature of the images provokes a sense of depression and melancholy. It is quite a dynamic image in terms of the sense of movement which is gained from the action of the children playing within the enclosed space between the buildings. The light within this image is also an important factor as the light coming in from the the central top half of the image casts a dramatic shadow upon the buildings which adds to the overall depressing tone of the image. There is a sense of repetition in this image with the rows upon rows of windows leading the eye to the center of the image. A theme which also comes through when looking at this photo is control and encasement with portrayal of the courtyard between the high rise of flats, the children playing on concrete rather than an open field with soft grass.

TECHNICAL:

In terms of the technical aspects of this image, conceptually it is know that these images were taken between the 1960’s and 70’s by hedges, at which point the only photographic aperture were film cameras. For this fact we can see that the image has a grainy effect, in black and white and is traditionally conformist to what images looked like within this time period. The combination of the grain and monochromatic color scheme means that the image provokes feelings of nostalgia and childhood as if you’re looking through your own archival history.

CONCEPTUAL:

” Most cities in Britain manage, or try, to hide away any tragedy that is endemic to them. But in Glasgow the tragedy is apparent as you roll slowly thought what remains of the Gorbals towards Central Station. It is apparent in the number of times disaster hits the city, every year some tragic event reinforced its reputation upon the rest of the country. A tenement fire, a gas mains explosion, a football crowd disaster, the shipyard crisis, the unemployment rate, another fire disaster; the list is endless….. One thing I couldn’t find was soul, identity, character – but you cannot plan for this, it happens by chance, it grows through shared experience and by necessity through shared hardship as well as happiness. That’s how I see it. I could well be wrong; I could well be wrong to bother about identity or character. East Kilbride had many virtues which I found lacking in other new developments I visited, but I couldn’t live there it would have been so dull. I do know that most of Glasgow families I’d seen would have moved there as soon as they were able, and that’s the most important judgement.” ( http://www.shelterscotland.org/lifeworthliving/about/nick-hedges, Shelter 2015, Scotland)

CONTEXTUAL:

Little has been published about Shelter as an organisation, and such writing that does exist does not feature Hedges, or his photographs, as a topic of study. The main sources of information are two books, both written by Des Wilson who was the Director of the charity between 1966 and 1971. The first, entitled I Know it was the Place’s Fault, was published in 1970. 44 The second, entitled Memoirs of a Minor Public Figure, is an autobiography published in 2011.45 Both texts are useful in their provision of an historical, if one-sided, account of Shelter’s formation and activities. The earlier text is particularly interesting in its discussion of the charity’s groundbreaking media campaigns, constructed around Hedges’ photographs. Although it features twelve of Hedges’ photographs as illustrations, there is no discussion of them, or how they were made. The second text features two of Hedges’ photographs as illustrations, but is equally devoid of any direct engagement with them. Perhaps it is not surprising that the photographs, although central to Shelter’s campaigns, are somewhat overlooked. The focus of Wilson’s accounts is the establishment and success of the charity, not an analysis of photographic meaning. Equally, both texts are written from Wilson’s perspective: one, a personal account of his role as Shelter’s Director, the other, an autobiography. Whilst central to an historical understanding of the charity, Hedges’ photographs have little bearing on Wilson, or an account of his life. Hedges’ own relative silence regarding the Shelter photographs and their lack of public exposure may also have contributed to Wilson’s disinterest in them.

Shoot 1: I am going to do a photoshoot on my response to paul strand, this is going to be a self portrait.

Shoot 2: For this photoshoot I’m going again to do a self portrait, but this time its going to be a response from Edward Western.

Shoot 3: For this shoot, I am going to take images of my surrounds so for example Where I live now, where I use to live, Inside my house.

Shoot 4:

The exhibition The Invisible Hands looks at the migrant workforce which were farmers in Jersey. The exhibition covers their story, lives living and working conditions. These types of workers were hugely important to the farming industry in jersey. However the migrants works weren’t hugely remembered or documented.

The exhibition was done by artist Alicia Rogalska and The Morning Boat.

The exhibition featured 3 different sections from:

• A video explaining about the project and some of the stories behind the people.
• A transcript which was being printed in the wall with the 8 points ( requests on how to improve living conditions for the polish workers
• A set of images taken by the migrant workers e.g. their bedrooms, selfies – these images look at the different conditions and how the workers felt.

Images

Paul stand is an american photographer and filmmaker, He focused on modernism and straight photography.

Qoutes:

” He recognized that the camera held a patent advantage over other plastic arts in that it could freeze a moment in time and space in a way that was impossible to replicate by hand or in real time.”(Duncan,2019)

 art should be able to engage the spectator spiritually and socially. He is thus associated with the idea that high art can (should indeed) accommodate abstraction and realism simultaneously(Duncan, 2019)

Image Analysis:

Visual:

In this image you can see a desolate woman in the centre, with a placard which says Blind. There is also a badge above the sign, that shows you that she is a licensed newspaper Vendor.

Conceptual/Contextual:

• The image was first produced and published in Camera Work.
• Was taken in 5 Five Points.
• Strand wanted to focus on Social problems. this was evident because the image was taken “the heart of the immigrant slums on the Lower East Side of Manhattan”(Duncan, 2019)

Technical:

This image has been taken in black and white, Medium close shot.

“achieve portraits of such arresting quality Strand devised a strategy whereby he rigged his camera with a false lens that pointed forward, while the working lens was actually placed at a ninety-degree angle and hidden from the subject’s view under his arm.”(Duncan, 2019)

Bibliography:

Duncan, A. (2019). Paul Strand Photography, Bio, Ideas. [online] The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/strand-paul/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2019].

For my first shoot I plan to take inspiration from Ariko Inaoka and replicate the third eye image. I want to recreate this as it has a very dream like feel to it and can replicate their unique connection to eachother. To recreate this shoot I will photograph the girls outside because I feel that being outside in nature gives the image a more pictorialist approach and has a dream like effect. We live quite close to a lot of trees so I will probably photograph them there. I will use facepaint to draw the eyes onto their heads. I will dress the girls in either all white or black to have similar outfits and to make the audience focus more on the eyes rather than what they wear. I will take the photograph in the afternoon to have a lot of light in the photo and have lots of exposure to help with the dreamy effect.