From the Occupation Vs Liberation study, there are various aspects of photography that I have learned throughout different investigations. For instance, using a still life table to photograph objects, as well as effectively using Adobe InDesign to create zines and create more interesting layouts than possible in other applications. I also developed more skills in Lightroom for faster image selection editing.
I was especially inspired by using landscapes to show different emotions, which was interesting on its own, but I feel has most impact when compared and contrasted with portraits and close ups on faces. I also found the use of the still life table especially interesting as it gave me the chance to explore more ideas about constructed scenes using smaller objects, which in a lot of ways is a direct contrast of landscapes, which use larger, immovable objects and settings to convey story and emotion.
For my own personal study project I wanted to focus on a subject very close to me personally which is mental illness, and more specifically, depression. I find that this fits really well into the idea of occupation/liberation, as it is something that takes a hold of someone, controlling them and cutting them off from the outside, similarly to that of occupation of Jersey in WWII. As the idea of mental illness is something that is difficult to see physically, it means that it is much harder to show images which will represent it in the way that I want, as unlike the occupation of jersey which left bunkers on the island, there are very few ways to tell that anything has happened/is happening. However I not only want to create a made up story, but something more personal to me, which is about my own experience, and try to make it almost autobiographical in a slightly abstract way. The first ideas that come to mind when showing this subject would be something to do with emptiness and Isolation. For instance, I was thinking of using nature to show many of my key points I want to come across for my personal study, using lone trees or out of place flowers to show isolation or abandoned buildings to show the concept of being empty.
I have decided that my personal study, based around the overall theme of Occupation and Liberation, will be based on the liberation and suppression (occupation) of gender expression, and the negative influences that stereotypes and suppressing ones true identity (likes and dislikes) can have on an individual. I will focus my work around the theme of breaking gender stereotypes, and the backlash that people often face from doing so, as well as the liberation they can feel when supported and understood. Here, I have interpreted the theme of Liberation and Occupation in my own personal way, as I along with a number of people that I know and live around, regardless of gender, face discrimination and retaliation from breaking the classic masculine-male, feminine-female stereotypes. I want to be able to interpret this theme in order to show the progress of how atypical expression has become more accepted as history has progressed, while at the same time showing the problems that still occur today, such as bullying and the mental health issues that can result from oppression and having to disguise and hide ones real identity.
Above is a Mind map that I produced showing how I interpret the theme of Occupation and Liberation now, incorporating my own concept into the meaning.
I created a mind map in order to arrange my ideas, and in doing so developed some ideas for a photoshoot that I could use to begin the process of creating images around the concept of the historical context of gender roles, and the way they have changed and developed over time. I want to be able to show a contrast between “now” and “then”, incorporating aspects of different periods in time such as clothing styles and typical gendered-jobs into each image.
During my personal investigation based on Occupation and Liberation, I was able to learn a range of invaluable skills that I can transfer onto further projects and my own Personal Study. During the course of this investigation, I was able to develop my understanding of how the concepts and historical background behind images can help to develop a narrative/sequence, and how the process of editing can help to build bridges between the historical context of an image, and how it is relevant and applicable to modern ideas and concepts.
As my Personal Investigation was mainly based on the Occupation and Liberation of Jersey during WWII, I have decided to extend the theme of Occupation and Liberation to a concept that I can more personally relate to (as I have no family left who can recount the war, nor do I have any historical tie to the island itself). I have decided to extend the theme of Occupation and Liberation, and develop it into an investigation into the influence that gender norms and stigma can have/have had on different generations, and the concept of how “liberating” individuals (allowing them to express themselves freely without the weight of gender norms) is, although making progress, still a taboo topic that carries its own stereotypes.
This gallery of images represents examples of each of the themes I have attempted in the Occupation and Liberation project; people, places, objects (and photo-montages)
During my investigation into the Occupation and Liberation of Jersey, I was inspired by a range of themes, photographic skills and artists that helped to better shape my understanding of developing a project around a certain theme, and keeping in mind a narrative that can be applied to the final layout of images. During this project, I had the opportunity to photograph archival objects from the Occupation, individuals who lived through the occupation, and a range of settings from bunkers and Jersey’s War Museum. Studying a range of artists such as Rafal Milach and Klaus Pichler gave me a broad understanding of the different methods of developing images, and the different subjects that can be used. Milach allowed me to develop my photo-montage skills (an expression of art that I really enjoy), and Pichler allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which concepts and the historical context of an image can be shown clearly through the use of photography. I feel that the portrait approach towards our project (in which I was able to photograph Joan and Henley (survivors of the occupation)) inspired me the most, as I feel that being able to learn and understand their stories, before having the chance to photograph them in a very personal, up close manner, allowed me to develop a deeper link between myself, the subject and the photograph.
I also enjoyed object photography, in which I had full control over the objects in the image and was able to create images using layouts of objects that I felt best reflected a certain concept/showed the best shapes, angles and contrasts. I feel like the portrait aspect of my Personal Investigation, along with the camera skills I gained (using a tripod, using different lighting and taking images effectively inside and outside of studio settings) will help me to begin a successful Personal Study, in which I wish to focus on people and objects to fully highlight the concept of gender within the theme of occupation and liberation.
Below are some examples whereby I have developed skills and used them to take and edit images:
Above are examples where I have created photo-montages, allowing me to develop my editing skills and narrative skills, as I had to find ways to lace images and concepts together to create a narrative for the image itself.
In the above images, I have developed my portrait taking skills (a skill that I will use in my Personal Study) – I have been able to develop my understanding of how a studio setting (lighting, angles etc) effects the final outcome of an image, and I was able to gain confidence in my ability to make decisions about the poses and positions of subjects within the frame of the image to better draw attention to certain features.
In a practical aspect, I developed my understanding of different software such as Photoshop, and was introduced to and developed my skills in Light-room. I also developed my ability to form narrative and sequencing after developing my second zine, in which I more carefully selected the sequence of images and narrative.
Over the course of 3 months I have learnt a variant of skills regarding editing and creating my final zine. Firstly, I became familiar with using InDesign and creating a narrative zine by editing and selecting relevant images that related to the Occupation Vs. Liberation title. The part I enjoyed the most about creating my zine was physically constructing it into a more visual narrative that was easily ledge able. The most enjoyable section which contributed to my zine was images from an assignment called ‘Home Sweet Home’, because it let me experiment with my personal ideas of occupation and liberation. It aided me in also exposing myself to different ways I could perceive a topic, abstract it and make it my own.
Home Sweet Home – Best Images
Throughout the People/Portraits section of this topic I learnt the importance of focus along with foreground and background. I learnt that in order to focus on a face you actually have to focus on something else in order for the depth to capture the details. An example of this in my work is when I was taking candid images for ‘Home Sweet Home’, I focused the camera on my grandpa’s hands instead of his face.
Home Sweet Home – Malcolm
Another Technique I learnt was using flash in the studio on the infinity screen with coloured backdrops and historical objects as the centre focus. Using the technique of flash photography to create an even lighting set-up that responds to my shutter press. I also re purposed my knowledge of the colour wheel to benefit my colour schemes of my background. This benefited my work because it added a new spruce of colour to my work.
Next Steps
In continuing under the title of ‘Occupation Vs. Liberation’ I’m starting a new personal topic on how I interpret it. My new inspiration for this title is the liberation of my mind.
My next project will be covering the idea of finding my sense of purpose and belonging and physicalise what I see day to day. It is not a mental health awareness topic at all, that is not my aim. It’s visualizing how the un-explainable feelings can be explained through images and compositions. My intention is to not portray sadness or pain, i’m just wanting to liberate the stigma behind these feelings.
First Photo shoot
For my first photo shoot, I plan to take self-portraits and disfigure them by scratching my face out of them.
I have learnt a lot of skills whilst looking at the topic of occupation and liberation. It has been a good topic to study and work on as its allowed me to do more research on an event which changed the lives of so many islanders during that time.
My favorite part of this has been the studio photo shoots, as each photo shoot has been different, with capturing images and the presence of Joan to setting up objects to try and capture their age and value. I really enjoyed the color backdrop as it added a sense of obscurity and mismatch to the ancient objects.
To carry on this investigation further I will explore the idea of occupation and liberation, and the subject of bring separated from the outside world. I liked the personal study as it allowed me to study and explore WWII which I have never done so intricately and i enjoyed studying this topic.
I was really happy with most of the outcomes that I produced from the topic of , I really enjoyed the photo shoots from going to Noirmont to photographing Joan.
Personally I liked the final products more from my Noirmont photo shoots more than the rest of my other photo shoots as I was able to really over edit them which created a weird atmosphere, where as in the other photo shoots I kept them as close to the original image as possible which really showed off their shape, dimensions and general feeling as you could see different textures of the objects.
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.
During my personal investigation I learned to do a range of different things that will benefit me during my more in depth personal study.
At the beginning of the personal investigation we learned how to use adobe lightroom efficiently after only having previously used photoshop. Learning how to use lightroom has benefited my images at it allows me to quickly select the best out of a whole photoshoot and also edit them significantly more naturally than the creative edits that can be made via photoshop, and this helps to ensure that the final outcomes look slightly more ‘professional’ especially whilst editing landscapes.
edited using adobe lightroomedited using adobe lightroom
I have also learned how to photograph portraits in the studio using effective lighting and flash. Doing this means that when I take portraits they look clear and detailed. This will help me in my personal study as I would like to focus on people and so will be using this skill regularly.
raw, unedited photograph of Joan from our photoshoot in the studio at Hautlieu.
The area of photography that has inspired me most has been portraiture, I found this area the most interesting as there was so many things that we could cover. I have enjoyed portraiture as I have enjoyed being able to listening to peoples stories before trying to capture what they’ve been through in images.
edited image of Joan
Throughout my personal study I want to carry on exploring portraiture but take a more contemporary approach and instead explore how sometimes people can be somewhat ‘occupied’ by their mental illness, and be ‘liberated’ through recovery.
Above are some of the ideas I am going to look into when going through my personal study. I am going to use a lot of these ideas to create different photo shoots. From these things I am mostly going to focus on landscapes and bunker photography throughout my shoots.
Below are some images that I may use from various artists as inspiration for my photo shoots. These artists often link their work to family and memory, which could help me link my work back to occupation and liberation.
The First March of Gentlemen- Milach Home Sweet Home
These two zines have inspired me with my images for my zine. For instance, the object images I have taken have colorful sugar paper backgrounds like in The First March of Gentlemen and the other images were inspired by Home Sweet Home.
For my zine I hope to tell a narrative about where I live, my house, the objects in it and my parents.
From studying the theme ‘Occupation VS Liberation’, it has allowed me to explore many different themes within the second world war (WWII). My first way into my project was starting with archival imagery which I collected information and images from the ‘Societe Jeriase’ trip me and my class mates took. This trip included searching through archival images from world war two, such as images of fields, homes, german soliders as well as occupation ID cards. Looking into these aspects allowed for me to gain a standard historical understanding into the subject and also changed my insight to how important archives are. To represent my understanding on the subject, I produced an essay where I explained the importance of archives while including artist references. I was then set the case of looking into bunkers in Jersey which allowed me to gain experience in landscape photography. Overall I made two different bunker shoots which lead me to gain experience in landscape photography and allowed me to show Jerseys history through photographic evidence. This also led me to exploring aspects in the Jersey War Tunnels which helped to me to gain understanding of war. This photo shoot linked with our title of looking into ‘Occupation Objects’ and by photographing objects in the dark tunnel and exploring with different lighting sources allowed me to develop my overall project.
After these investigations and photo shoots, I then went into making a zine (photo book) where I explored different aspects such a sequencing and narratives. This was my first time at using Adobe InDesign and allowed me make a photo book, digitally. This photo book included my own images from shoots such as the batterie Moltke, batterie lothringen, jersey war tunnels etc. These all helped me to gain experience in zine making, as well as to help convey a narrative through imagery.
Zine Design Page
After making my first zine, I then decided to spend most of my focus on portraiture within my ‘Home Sweet Home’ tasks. I began my looking into portraiture photographers such as Francis Foot which helped me to explore different types of portraiture photography as well as give me an understanding of successful ones. This led me onto looking into the photographer Richard Billingham who focused on ‘Candid Photography’. Looking into and trying different styles helped for me to gain experience and in this particular style influenced the way I took my images. This led me to exploring more portrait styles such as detail photography, enviromantal photography, establishing shot, as well as looking into interior and exterior photography. We were also lucky enough to take portrait images of occupation survivor Joan Tetley who also shared her experiences with us.
After looking at portraits it was time to look at ‘Objects’ which included a Still-Life project. My first time looking into photographing objects was with objects from the occupation which I photographed in a studio under artificial lighting. Taking part in this allowed me to gain more experience with using studio/ artificial lighting as well as take my images with a tripod. This project also inspired me for my photo montage project where I used the images in mix with archival ones.
In conclusion, I have found that this overall project has allowed for my photographic skills to be enhanced by both researching, experimenting and editing and has allowed me to gain more insight on different types of elements in taking a good image in landscapes, portraiture and in a studio setting.
