Julian Germain

Julian Germain is a british photographer born in London in 1962. He became interested in photography while studying at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham. Germain is a successful photographer, publishing numerous books including ‘Steel Works’, ‘The face of the century’ and ‘in soccer wonderland’. ‘Steel Works’, his first book published in 1990 included both images he had taken and historical images. He did this to try and show the whole story of the closure of the Consett Steelworks and the wider issues of industrialisation. This became a process and method that he carried over into other works. In his book ‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’ he uses both images he has taken of the main characters and as well as images from photo albums that the main characters owns to tell the whole story and add to the dramatic impact.

‘FOR EVERY MINUTE YOU ARE ANGRY YOU LOSE SIXTY SECONDS OF HAPPINESS’

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Analysis

TECHNICAL: This image was most likely shot on film as these images were taken from 1992 to 2000. A wide aperture was used as the Charlie is in focus and the background is out of focus. Germain has used natural light in this image. The curtains on the window have been opened slightly to let light spill on the wall behind but the rest of the room is still dark. He has also exposed for the face which is much brighter than the room making the image feel very dark.

VISUAL: By directing the light onto Charlies face by only opening the curtains slightly keeps the majority of the room in the dark with some light spilling onto Charlies face and the wall behind. This adds a lot of contrast to the image. The small amount of light spilling onto Charlies face highlights his smile. Germain does this to emphasise Charlies happiness with the things he has. The light projecting onto the back wall shows some pictures hung up, some of them are of the landscape and nature and I assume one of them is of his wife. This also highlights the things he loves and is happy about.

CONTEXTUAL: This image is from the series “For every minute you are a angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’. The series is about an elderly gentlemen called Charlie Snelling. Germain describes him as being ‘a simple, gentle, man’. Charlie loved flowers and colour as well as his wife who had passed. He loved colour and surrounded himself with it which is evident in the book as the wall of his house are yellow and orange. Charlie lives by himself in a two up two down terraced house on a street with other two up two down terraced houses.

CONCEPTUAL: The idea behind this image and many images other images in the series is to show the premise of the title of the book. ‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’. Julian Germain named the book this because he wanted to show the belief that Charlie had which was that the best and most important things in life don’t cost anything. Charlie was a happy person and found joy in nature and getting out and about. In this image and many others he is smiling. He is content with his life and is happy with the things he has.

Why I am Studying Julian Germain

Julian Germain has a much more stylistic and technical approach to his photography which suits my preference and the way I like to photography. He focuses on the story but also spends a lot of time making his images look good as well. Using shallow depth of field , lighting, composition and knowledge of focal lengths and angles he not only tells a good story but also creates beautiful images.

Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan born July 13th 1946 in Brooklyn, New York was an American photographer. He grew up and spent most of his life in San Fernando Valley, California. He studied at the University of California in Santa Barbara and then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He also studied at the San Francisco Art Institute where he received his master’s in fine arts.His career started in the 1970’s, he was a conceptual photographer. He created a series of images called ‘Pictures from home’ this was his pioneering book. The project was created over around 10 years. The project is about his parents and their retired home life. He explores the relationship that his parents have with each other and tries to capture those unique moments. He also published many other photo books which included ‘Evidence’ from 1977, ‘the Valley’ from 2004 and ‘Here and ‘Here and Home’ from 2014.

‘PICTURES FROM HOME’

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Analysis

TECHNICAL: The woman in the photo is in focus but the back of the man’s head is slightly out of focus meaning a wide aperture may around f4 or f5.6 was used. From looking at the image it looks like there was no artificial lights used and the photographer has just used natural window light which appears to be coming from the right hand side. The image would have been taken on film as the images were taken in the 1980’s and 90’s this will have an impact on the images as film can have a very different look to digital photos.

VISUAL: The first thing I think when I look at this image is how flat and filmic the image looks. There is very little contrast in the image only from the shadows behind the woman and behind the plants and curtain. The green wall brings casts onto the image giving it that ‘cinematic green tint’ without completely changing the colour of the other elements of the image. Also the colours in the image make it feel old and vintage. The main colours in the image are a green and purple, these colours are opposite to each other on the colour wheel meaning they compliment each other well. The unsaturated look of the image helps to show the age of the image aswell.

CONTEXTUAL: This image is from Larry Sultan’s photobook ‘Pictures from home’ the images in the book are of his parents at home and the life that they have. The images were taken over a 10 year span and were a mixture of stages images as well as documented images of the relationship and daily life between his mother and father. The staged images were created to try and replicate film stills from home movies as well as involving writings, fragments of conversation and other memorabilia. As a result the book seems to blurr the lines between documentary photography and staged images.

CONCEPTUAL: This image can be interpreted in different ways. A popular perception of this image is that this image shows a sense of patriarchy and misogyny. This is because of the composition and placement of the subjects in the image. The two people in the image are the parents of the photographer, in the image the father is watching the Tv by himself while the mother just stands to the side looking like she doesn’t know what to do. This creates a sense of patriarchy as the man of the house is stereotypically watching sports on the TV while the woman is not joining him. The woman’s body position seems uncomfortable like she doesn’t know what to do or is nervous. However, because of the name of the image ‘My mother posing for me’ I interpret this image as being a staged image where the mother has seen the camera and quickly tried to pose therefore looking awkward.

Why I am studying Larry Sultan

I chose to study Larry Sultan and specifically his book ‘Pictures from home because I like the way he has dones his project and the idea I have for my book is a similar feel his book. I want my project to be a documentary of the here and now but to include memories and archive footage from when my grandad was alive.Larry Sultan’s work links well to my project because he documented his parents in their house in the 80’s, some of his images were staged and some were natural. The style of his images is similar to how I want to document my Nan who still lives here and the house where her and my Grandad live.

SHOOT 1 – 1st series of Archive Footage

CONCEPT: For this first series of archive footage I am going to look through the photo albums from the Jersey Mini Club. Each year there is an album of photos from events and shows that the club went to. My grandad is in a lot of those albums so I am going to look for images of him with trophies, with his car and with his friends.

WHEN/WHERE: On the Mini Club Jersey Website.

HOW/EQUIPMENT: Access to a laptop and the internet

IDEAS/MOODBOARD:

SHOOT 2 – The garage and memories

CONCEPT: Take some images of his garage where he kept his mini highlighting details and his tools. Also the spare room where there are trophies and stuff he won. I plan to get eide establishing shots as well as ‘macro’ shots of individual details which have significance.

WHEN/WHERE: In the garage at my Nan’s house as this is where he kept the mini.

HOW/EQUIPMENT: I will set up my SL60W light with a softbox because is is quite dark in the garage. I will put it off to the side of the work bench and point it down onto the desk as this will cause some nice shadows. I will use my Sony a73 with a 70-200 or 50mm 1.8 for the details to isolate the subjects and a 35mm for widershots.

IDEAS/MOODBOARD:

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SHOOT 3 – My Nan at the house

CONCEPT: I want to capture the details around the house where he lived, and my Nan who still lives there. I plan to get both candid and environmental portraits of my nan in her house, reading the paper, watching TV. Also the chair where my Grandad use to sit.

WHEN/WHERE: In my Nan’s house during the day so I can use natural light in the house to take the photos. When covid rules relax more.

HOW/EQUIPMENT: I am going to use my Sony A73 with my 35mm lens to get the wider interior shots of the house and of my Nan. For the details I will use either the 50mm or the 70-200mm zoom lens to really isolate the the details I am capturing. I want to use window light for most the interior shots of the house and not use the ceiling lights as they are a different colour and make the photos look really dingy and colour contrast with the cool window light.

IDEAS/MOODBOARD:

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SHOOT 4 – Me and my Mini

CONCEPT: At the end of November I bought my own mini. I want to get some photo’s, some taken by a friends and some self portraits. I am looking to get both candid and environmental portraits of me working on the car and driving it. For environmental images I want some posed shots of me in my grandad’s old mini club jumpers sitting on the car or next to it. I also have an old steering wheel which was my grandad’s so i could also be holding that in the photos.

WHEN/WHERE: Location 1. – In the garage working on the car. Location 2. –The 5 mile road, L’etack, Le Pulant driving the car and posing next to the car.

HOW/EQUIPMENT: I will do a mixture of self portraits and some photos taken by James Rouault. I will use my Sony a73 on a tripod with a 24-70 for the self portraits as it is makes things easier to take the photos myself.

IDEAS/MOODBOARD:

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STORY: What is your story?

Describe in:

• 3 words
  • What’s left behind
• A sentence
  • A story about the legacy and memories that my GrandFather (Papa) Terry Batho left behind.
• A paragraph
  • This story is about looking to into the life of my Grandfather (Papa) Terry Batho (My Mother’s father). Terry Batho was quite a quiet man who. was extremely kind and loving, he was the handy man around the house and and worked for his brother in law driving trucks. However, he had a passion for engines and mechanics. Over the years, Terry Batho had many classic Mini’s. He was a one of the founding members and chairman of the Jersey Mini Club and went to many classic car and mini meets and car shows. He won medals and awards for his cars. In October 2010 Terry passed away because of a very aggressive cancer. At his funeral there was a driveby of many Mini’s from the mini club. In the emotional drive by, was my dad and my uncle driving my papa’s latest and most prised mini (it was a limited edition 2000 Mini Cooper works). I was also sitting in the back of the car. This was the first time I remember being in the car. I remember 10 year old me falling in love with the classic interior and from that day on I have in love the with cars aswell. When I passed my driving test in November 2020 just over 10 years after the passing of my grandad I bought my own classic mini. This story is about documenting the legacy that he left behind, I will be documenting his wife that still lives in the house, the garage that still has all his tools in and the car that is still owned by my Aunty.

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

• Images > new photographic responses, photo-shoots
  • A photoshoot of his car, the details inside.
  • The home garage.
  • The home and his wife, my nan.
  • The mini club and his friends.
• Archives > old photos from family albums, iPhone
  • Archive images from mini shows.
  • Wedding photos
  • Old images of him with us as children
• Texts > letters, documents, poems, text messages
  • Wedding certificate
  • Vows
  • letters between my nan and my papa
  • Statements, quotes from his friends and family

MODERNISM

Overview:

Modernism emerged from the age of the Enlightenment. During the 17th and 18th century there was a movement to emphasise the research and study of science and reason. Photography came from modernism as human progress was moving forward and ‘fixing an image’ was invented

Time period:

1860’s – 1960’s

Key characteristics/ conventions :

A combination of all the Avant-garde art movements. Modernism began with the invention of photography as people began to experiment in a new way with photography. Modernism was about people exloring and finding new ideas and work. Compared to post modernism which is more current, modernism was original and the it was more about the work being created than the artist creating it.

Artists associated:

Ansel Adams, Eadweard J. Muybridge, Margareth Bourke-white, Walker Evans, Hannah Höck, Alexander Rodchenko, Claude Cahun.

Key works:

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Methods/ techniques/ processes:

Artists and photographers from different movements and isms used their own techniques. Pictorialists used vaseline on th elense to blur the images making them look like painting, straight and realism photographers used wide apertures and looked for shape and tone to create their images. People from the dadaism movement began making photo montages and the Russian avant-garde did double exposures.

POST-MODERNISM

Overview:

Post modernism is was born in the late half of the 20th century. it came around in the 1960’s when the world was opening up in terms people coming out as gay or other members of the LGBTQ society without fear of going to prison or less risk of being discriminated. Architecture was the first art form to use the term postmodernism.

Time period:

1960’s – 2000’s

Key characteristics/ conventions :

Using art, photography and other art forms to give messages. Barbara Kruger used advertising and slogans on her images to represent woman and in particular the female body and the struggles women go through.

Artists associated:

Barbara Kruger, Cindy sherman, Sam Taylor-Wood

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes:

Shoot Plan

WHAT: Take some images of his garage where he kept his mini highlighting details and his tools. Also the spare room where there are trophies and stuff he won. I want to capture the details around the house where he lived, and his my Nan who still lives there.

WHERE/WHEN: In my Nan’s house and in her garage. During the day so I can use natural light in the house to take the photos.

EQUIPMENT: I am going to use my Sony A73 with my 35mm lens to get the wider interior shots of the house and of my Nan. For the details I will use either the 50mm or the 70-200mm zoom lens to really isolate the the details I am capturing. I want to use window light for most the interior shots of the house and not use the ceiling lights as they are a different colour and make the photos look really dingy and colour contrast with the cool window light. For areas where more light is needed and definately in the garage I will set up my SL60W light with a softbox. I will put it off to the side of the work bench and point it down onto the desk as this will cause some nice shadows.

Initial Shoot – Test

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I took these initial images as I was already visiting my Nan’s house. I wanted to see what the lighting is like just from the ceiling lights. I wanted the chance to edit these images first and see whether I need to bring a light when I do the proper shoot. I am happy with these imaged but I think they are lacking contrast which I can get from using an artificial light.

Edited Images

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I am happy with the outcomes of these images, I didn’t want to completely change the images but rather enhance the old look and make them look aged.

Edit Process

PICTORIALISM

Time period:

Late 19th and early 20th Century (1880’s – 1920’s)

Key characteristics/ conventions:

Trying to make photography a handmade proccess. The idea was to make the photos look like art or painting. ‘Fixing an Image’.

Artists associated:

Peter Henry Emerson, Heinrich Kuhn, Hans Watcek, Hugo Henneberg,(Vienna Camera Club) Joseph Gale.

Key works:

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Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on the lenses to make the image soft so it looks less like a photograph, scratching the negatives to look like brushstrokes.

REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period:

‘1910’s – 1940’s’

Key characteristics/ conventions:

Go back to the qualities of photography as it recreates accurate and sharp images. They wanted to take photos of what they actually saw. They took things the way they were and not manipulated in the darkroom. Trying to emphasise and focus on shape. The art came from the skill of the photographer

Artists associated:

Paul Strand transitioned into and pioneered straight photography. Walker Evans, Ansel Adams. Group f.64 – A group that were interested in capturing the amazing natural landscapes.

Key works:

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Methods/ techniques/ processes:

Photographers interested in the genre of straight photography would use a very small aperture to get everything in focus. A group was formed called group f.64. This represents the smallest aperture a large format camera can go to on the lens. This became a trademark and a common feature of photographers like Paul Strand and Ansel Adams

1.What has inspired me from the personal investigation. (Themes, tasks, photos, film, documentary, tableaux)

During the personal investigation of the theme Love and Rebellion, there were many areas which I enjoyed and inspired me. I really enjoyed creating the zine and it inspired me to look more into my own family specifically my Dad and my Grandad. I have really enjoyed the documentary side of the project and I have been inspired to do more documentary photography and start my own personal projects. I also really enjoyed making the short film. It forced me to get out and do things that were out of my comfort zone. I developed in my skills as I was forced to act quick to get a capture a certain moments. I was pleased with the results and our group worked well.

2. Examples of work from the project

The zine:

The 90 second film:

https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/b87b8553-e3d3-48e1-944c-3fe27b8c1ae2

3. Mind Map / Moodboard of Love & Rebellion with new inspirations

4. Initial Statement of Intent

I plan to investigate the motoring heratige of my family. In particular my Dad, Uncle and Aunts and both my Grandfathers. I plan to make a photo book looking at the 3 generations of my family on both sides of the family and their involvement with different forms of motoring, whether it is mechanics, racing, world record or just hobbies. During this project I hope to learn more about my Grandfathers, who they were and the legacy they left behind. Both of my Grandad’s died, 1 of which I do not remember, and I therefore want learn more about them. I am going to investigate them my speaking to my Nan and Gran about their husbands and the fascination they had with engines, cars and bikes.

5. Possible Shoots

I already have a plan for a couple shoots to do with this project. I am going to use the photos I have already taken of my dad in the garage as part of ‘his’ section of the book, but them I am going expand and explore as I take more photos to develop the project further.

DAD

WHAT: I want to show the contrast in my Dad’s life between his love for motoring and his ‘office’ jobs. I am going to document him working at his office and preaching as he is one of the lead pastors at Freedom Church. I plan to do a lot of environmental portraits accompanied by some candid images.

WHERE/WHEN: In his office in freedom centre, on the roof and the building site that is freedom centre (the old odeon cinema). I will probably do this when he has finished work around 5 o’clock but this doesn’t matter hugely as I will be shooting inside with artificial lights apart from the shots from the roof or outside the centre.

EQUIPMENT/HOW: I plan to use my Sony A73 with my sigma 35mm 1.4 as it has a wide aperture so is good in low light as I will be shooting inside. By using an aperture of around f2 – f2.8 I can get. some background blur which helps to isolate the subject. I probably won’t use a tripod as I don’t like using them and I have quite steady hands, I am also more free to move without one and it will save time. For lighting, I will try and use natural light where possible for example window lighting, however I might resort to using my Godox Sl60w constant LED light with a softbox if the natural lighting is not sufficient and I can create whatever kind of look I want.

PAPA (Dad’s dad)

WHAT: As my Dad’s dad has past away I am limited to what I can capture. Therefore I am going to ask my gran for old pictures of my papa, especially ones with cars or motorbikes and digitise them. There is also some footage of a car breaking a speed world record that my grandad worked on which I could take screen grabs of and layout in a sequence.

WHERE/WHEN: In the next few weeks I am going t

EQUIPMENT:

PAPA (Mum’s Dad)

WHAT: Take some images of his garage where he kept his mini, the trophies and stuff he won. I want to take his mini out to a spot along St Ouens bay to get some nice images of it at sunset and also some interior shots.

WHERE/WHEN: I want to take these photos down at St Ouens bay or around L’Etack/Gronez Cliff Path area as this is where the sun sets. This will provide nice soft lighting for the shots of the exterior and interior of the car.

EQUIPMENT: I may use a tripod for this as it will be getting darker and darker so I can stable the shot so I can have longere. shutter and reduce the ISO. I will most likely use my 35mm f1.4 with my Sony A73 for the wide shots of the car and either my 50mm f1.8 or 70-200 f2.8 for the interior shots of the car. I will probably shoot at the widest aperture possible as this will let in lots of light and make the subjects pop especially the interior shots.

Aunty Tammy + Uncle John

CONTEXT: Both My Mums sister and her husband are into motorsport specifically motorbike racing. Every Year they go the Isle of Man to watch the famous TT which is an incredibly dangerous road race where track racers from around the world come to prove themselves. They also enjoy watching other bike racing, they regularly watch me racing motocross and when away on holiday they try and go to a motorbike race of any type. Also their youngest son Ikey who is 3 years old has shown an extreme interest in motorbikes. For his birthday he got a little electric bike with all the motocross kit. He also often comes to watch me race and isn’t fazed by the loud bikes which is usually rare for a child his age.

WHAT: Therefore for this shoot I want to get some environmental portraits of my Aunty, Uncle and kids wearing their TT merchandise. I also want to capture them watching motosport on TV.

EXAMPLES:

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Our Film

Here is a link to our final film – ‘Together

https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/b87b8553-e3d3-48e1-944c-3fe27b8c1ae2

Evaluation

Overall I am happy with the finished film. With more time I would have liked to have taken more of our own footage and rely less on archival footage but I am happy with what we have achieved. I think the topic we chose is relevant to the current social climate and I am happy with the way we portrayed it.

Pre-Production

We planned out film by created a shot list and a storyboard so we could delegate task to each of us in the group. Having the story board and shot list helped us to know what we were doing and to keep to a plan.

Production

The production mainly consisted of two elements. ‘Found/Archive footage’ and ‘Filming’ we split up the tasks between everyone so we all had certain clips of archive footage to find on youtube and from other sources and also shots we needed to go out and film .

Post production

The post production editing of this film took a long time. I didn’t anticipate how long it would take to look through all of the archive footage and choose what I wanted to use. I had to be ruthless as most of the time I had to choose a very shot couple second clip from a whole video which could sometimes be 10 minutes in length. Overall, I really enjoyed editing this film. I really like the topics we chose and I think that we successfully made a film through the use of filming and editing which shows the comparison between the WW2 and the current pandemic.

1. Layout/ Structure

2. Footage

3. Text/Graphics

4. Audio

The Audio in this film is probably the most important part in terms of bringing the film together, and creating the mood. The song we chose was from the Starwars The Clone Wars and the track was called ‘Buring the Dead’ The song title was relevant to the film but we felt that the song worked extremely well with out vision for the film. The centre piece of the audio was ‘Churchill’s Fight on the Beaches’ speech. I opened the film with a montage of news reports about Covid and Donald Trump. I also included bits of boris Johnson’s speech on going into lockdown, a snipit from Freedom Church’s online service and the queens speech about covid.

5. Colour

I don’t have a lot of experience colour grading video, I found it quite difficult and i did not grade every clip. With more time I would have tried to match all the footage that we took and found from during the pandemic. What I did do was make primary corrections and get all the footage to a good neutral base. This meant tweaking the exposure, highlights, shadows and contrast to make the clips either brighter or darker.

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6. Drafts

Watch the First Draft

Watch the Second Draft