Next I would like to work more in depth on landscape (seascape) as the ocean really inspires me to take images whenever there is a storm or big swell. Jersey coasts are a great area to capture this sort of imagery as the stormy seas cross over from the Atlantic ocean. I would like to explore taking images from different perspectives, angles, day light, and quality. I feel as if seascapes is a good theme to focus my future projects on as living in jersey its easy access to coasts.
Why it matters to you?
I would like to photograph the ocean as its a major part of Jerseys identity. This is because not only is the island shaped by erosion caused by rising sea levels over thousands of years, But the beauty that is found with the stunning scenery on beaches is all thanks to the huge tidal ranges we have every day. In fact Jerseys tidal ranges are known to be so significantly big that they are recorded to be in the top 10 biggest tides in the world.
How you wish to develop your project?
Firstly with looking at local seascape photographers work I will manage blog posts with artist references, mood boards, analysis etc. I want to gather together a load of contact sheets of different areas in jersey that receive the most swell from either a big tide or storm. I also want to capture erosion in action, such as sets of waves smashing into cliff faces or walls. I feel as if doing this will make it an easy link to jerseys identity physically.
When and where you intend to begin your study?
I intend to begin my study in the west side of the island where most swell is built up. Examples of areas I wish to visit to photograph are… st.ouens bay, plemont, grev, corbiere, stinky bay… After a few photoshoots and more research about Jerseys seas, I would like to put together a photo book relevant to whatever inspires me the most when physically taking the images.
With jersey being in the top 5 worlds biggest tidal ranges, Jerseys seas have history and passion. Whether its the historical intake for visitors such as Elisabeth Castle, Rocco Tower, The Lighthouse, or the natural beauty of the bays, or the power within swells and storms, theirs a variety of choice to photograph, view and visit when living on a rock. Jersey is surrounded by quickly rising tides all year round with erosion taking place frequently slowly over time. In my opinion Jersey Is surrounded by the ocean which makes the sea a very important aspect within its identity.
Throughout my past two years of being a A level Photography student I have covered many topics and learnt different photography skills such as learning the features of using a camera, using the school studio, light equipment, using adobe (Photoshop, Lightroom etc.) I especially enjoyed the abstract topic in year 12 as well as our project on focusing on plastic wastage as it interests me the most. Throughout the blog posts I have created I have felt as if the research and analysis has been my strong point and for the next few months I will be focusing on taking more photos than I did and to focus on being more creative with my final outcomes within projects. Here are some examples of my previous work..
SURFACE AND COLOUR 10/04/2020
“I have placed a pineapple among yellow watermelons for a strong contrast between the colours of yellow and cyan/green. To have the focal point on the pineapple I erased some black obvious specs on the watermelons and cropped the image to be more central. Finally I heightened the contrast levels and darkened the shadow level slightly as well as making a more vibrant appeal to the image.“
ANTHROPOCENE PLASTIC BAGS 27/05/2021
“This image above in red clearly relates to the theme of Anthropocene as it is describing the destruction of plastic and how damaging it can be. The red gloomy look makes the plastic looks as if it is deadly and is ready to do damage. The crisp edges seem to be sharp and aggressive.”
Currently I am focusing on an NFT film with my partner Chantal, here are some examples of what we are doing on adobe premier…
We are currently putting together a short film and learning how to use the features in adobe premier such as audio content, transformations between each scene, quality of video content etc.
Artist that intrigued me the most…. Mandy Barker
Mandy Barker is a British photographer. She is mostly known for work with marine plastic debris. Mandy inspired me the most out of many Photographers throughout the last year as her work expresses clear issues within the plastic wastage across out oceans. This image in particular I analysed and produced my own work on as I found it intriguing to find a solution in a way to photograph this type of photography
I started off by selecting 3 Stephen Shore quotes that I think I could include in my image analyse of one of Stephen Shores images. The first quote I found online, and the other two were from an interview that was on a PowerPoint resource.
1.
“I don’t have to have a single point of emphasis in the picture. It can be complex, because it’s so detailed that the viewer can take time and read it, and look at something here, and look at something there, and they can pay attention to a lot more.”
2.
But even in that strange world, you were definitely making “Stephen Shore” pictures: intersections, shop fronts.
That’s true. Most of the pictures do have little indications that it’s a movie set. A contemporary car in the background or some scaffolding. But even the decision to shoot in colour meant that I was making photographs that couldn’t have been made in the period setting of the movie, It’s an anachronism. There are streets in New York that still look like those streets, but the décor and dressing are anachronistic, too. It was great fun.
3.
Can you describe what you had been doing?
In making Uncommon Places, I was walking down the street and watching all the relationships changing watching objects in the foreground change in relation to the background, thinking about how space is going to be seen in monocular vision on a picture plane. What happened for me was that, right away and throughout the work, structural issues and questions came to my mind. I had to solve those questions, and in the process of solving them other questions would arise. But it wasn’t as it I was sitting around thinking about them.
Analysis
Stephen Shore’s ‘Uncommon Places’ (book) finds the beauty in the most mundane. His sprawling vision of America has become a contemporary classic, a landmark of visual Americana, influencing a generation of photographers to take to the highway.
This photo demonstrates how Shore finds interesting and unusual places by walking around, this is his usual method he uses to find places to photograph, as he was asked in an interview, “Can you describe what you had been doing?”, and Shore replied with “I was walking down the street and watching all the relationships changing watching objects in the foreground change in relation to the background, thinking about how space is going to be seen in monocular vision on a picture plane.” This shows how Shore think about how the image will look through the view finder before setting his camera equipment up. Photo walks are very important for photographers, as they’re not only perfect for meeting other camera enthusiasts, but also for honing your skills as a photographer, learning new ideas, and experiencing different places through your camera’s viewfinder.
Walking around and exploring allows Shore to capture images of shop fronts and intersections, which have been named the, “Stephen Shore” image. the interviewer asked Shore how he creates the classic image, that comes out so perfect. Shore states, “Most of the pictures do have little indications that it’s a movie set. A contemporary car in the background or some scaffolding. But even the decision to shoot in colour meant that I was making photographs that couldn’t have been made in the period setting of the movie, It’s an anachronism.” This shows how Shore uses anachronism to his advantage. Anachronism is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, and objects from different time periods. For example in this image the colourful cars are lined up perfectly in front of the old, squatting, lit-up movie theatre in the background. This creates a juxtaposition between the colourful cars and the bright movie theatre in contrast to the dull, brown factory looking buildings, which creates a focus on the centre of the image drawing the eye to the theatre, and the people outside which gives life to the image.
The camera position in this photo is across the road from the subject, which is the theatre. This shows how Shore photographs a scene that he finds on his walks. However, Shore has thought about the composition in this image, as Shore uses depth of field to his advantage as the cars in the foreground are blurred which focuses the eye on the main focal point. Shore once said, “I don’t have to have a single point of emphasis in the picture. It can be complex, because it’s so detailed that the viewer can take time and read it, and look at something here, and look at something there, and they can pay attention to a lot more.” This image is a good example of how Shore creates the composition of an image. However, there is a main emphasis point, which is the theatre, and it is surrounded by several sub focus points, which is the cars. The surrounding buildings and lamp posts on the street, and more detail to describe the atmosphere of the scene. The choice of shooting in the early evening makes the darker buildings less noticeable, which creates a contrast with the light, white theatre building. The light blue sky is a similar colour to the blue accents on the theatre, which creates a balance in colours between dark red, light blue and white. These colours are also the same colour palette as the American flag, this is important as Shore is an American photographer and perhaps he wanted to represent himself and glorify the American lifestyle.
In groups of two (Ollie and I) we had to produce a poster that reflects on one of the key areas of Jersey Identity, we were given “Communities” to explore.
This is our poster, our main focus was the different communities in each parishes, and how each parish is slightly different which is depicted on there way of life. For example, St. Helier is very built up and Trinity is more rural and less busy.
The notes around the outside inform the reader about the how, the Honorary Police is one of the oldest police forces in existence, and embodies the best Peelian principles of policing by consent. The Parish Hall Enquiry system has been celebrated as a highly effective model for restorative justice, with minor offences dealt with at a community level in a way that does not necessarily criminalise first-time offenders. Meanwhile, the twice annual Branchage and the Visite Royale are both examples of important historic rituals that form part of Jersey’s Identity.
Under the map, there’s information about how the parishes got their name, with the correlating symbol on the map and next to the information. For example, St. Helier and how the blue symbolising the sea, and the axes symbolising the martyrdom of Helier at the hands of Saxon pirates in 555 AD.
Finally, the part under the map is based on the different languages in Jersey such as, English, French, Portuguese, and Polish. However, the main section is about the language Jèrriais, as it is in the DNA of Jersey. It’s a crucial historical aspect of our identity. To quote Professor of Linguistics Paul Birt, ‘There are few languages I know with such a richness of expression, some of her idioms are poetry… Jèrriais belongs to Jersey, and without it Jersey would, I believe, stop being Jersey.’ However, if we can agree that we should not allow Jèrriais to die, then we must fund its revival properly. Jèrriais should be an integral part of our Island Identity, promoted by Government, the States, businesses and organisations, and can be used as a unique selling point to those beyond our shores, also helping to differentiate us further from neighbouring countries. Teaching it in schools can embed a sense identification, pride and citizenship in Jersey school children, regardless of background.
French is also one of the crucial components of Jersey’s cultural heritage and identity. It is important for its own sake as the language of our nearest neighbour, and as a stepping stone to Jèrriais comprehension. Additionally, all of the road names are in French, like, Rue Due Mielles.
Clarissa Sligh, born in 1939, is an American artist and woman of colour who is best known for her work that comments on various social issues that relate to her own identity. Sligh creates her pieces through different mediums, including photography, collage and drawings. Sligh’s love for photography started at a young age, asking for a camera for her 12th birthday. However, Sligh only started to pursue this as a career path after quitting her job at NASA and working two part time jobs whilst taking painting classes at Howard University, after vowing to “find a richer life, with art making a part of it.”. It was here she claims she first started to see herself as an artist. Sligh’s series ‘Reframing the Past’, shown below, displays Sligh’s old family photographs and combines them with other images, drawings or text in a collage like manner. Here she re-reads and re-evaluates her family’s photo albums.
Reframing the Past – Clarissa Sligh
Analysis
Clarissa Sligh – Reframing the Past
This collage image created by Clarissa Sligh showcases an old photograph of Sligh’s family standing in front of what is most likely their family car, placed in a setting of blossoming nature in front of what appears to be the USA’s capitol building. This image seems to be composed of cut outs of images and drawings, which could be from a post card, however the portrait in the centre looks as if it has been blended into the illustrated background, meaning that Sligh may have uses a tool such as Photoshop to artificially layer these images. The black and white tone of Sligh’s family portrait strongly contrasts with the vibrance of the surrounding artificial setting. Here the branches of the cut out trees frame the central portrait, encircling it. These branches act as leading lines in this composition, drawing the viewer’s eye around the edges of the piece and into the centre photograph, which acts as the focal point of the image, as well as into the background towards the capitol building. There is little amounts of empty space in this piece, with the exceptions being the sky surrounding the capitol building and the illustrated grass in front of the portrait.
From at technical viewpoint, it can be said that from looking at the central image, natural light was used to take this photograph, as it is taken outside in an informal manner. This appears to have been taken at midday, due to the shadows being directly below the car and the children. As a result of the children in the image it is likely that a fast shutter speed was used to take this photography, as the younger children appear to still be in movement but are not blurry. In addition, the aperture used seems to have been small to mid setting, as the photograph is taken from further back, allowing to capture all the children, and the car behind them appears to have the same amount of focus placed on it. However as the remaining background has been cut out, it is hard to say this for definite. The ISO setting here was also most likely low, due to the large amounts of natural light entering the lens.
This piece of work is part of Sligh’s series ‘Reframing the Past’ which she stated was an attempt to re-evaluate and re-investigate her family photo album. She did this after realising that her early family album project was a produced through the lens of a stereotypical white American family, meaning that with this project her aim was to create a record of positive images of her black family. With this information, it could be argued that this image was an attempt to place her family in an idealistic setting in which she wished she was surrounded by in her youth. With this the capitol building in the background could represent the traditional American family values she feels she was deprived of. This may be a comment on racial injustice and how black people in The USA were forced to conform to colonialist views that white people were more civilised. This in turn forced many black people to have to surrender their cultural identities and backgrounds to these Eurocentric ones that they had been forced into. Alternatively, Sligh may also be trying to communicate how it actually felt to grow up in her family, surrounded by life and vibrance, which the original photograph may not fully indicate.
