NFT stands for non-fungible token. “Fungible” is an economic term which refers to a good or asset that can be exchanged for another good or asset of equal value. If something is “non-fungible,” it means it can’t be swapped for something of completely equal value. An area of land would be non-fungible, since land is unique, and finding another area with the exact same value would be difficult to impossible. Art is another example of a non-fungible asset, since its value is highly subjective. A quote from NFT book, by Two Lives ‘2 LIVES is the first exhibition ever that aims to educate and connect traditional art to digital art and the finance world to the art world, by showcasing NFTs through their multi-businesses opportunities to artists, students, curators, collectionists, stakeholders, creators and whoever involved in the NFT space. 2 LIVES is an homage to the island of Jersey through its best-renowned artists and their stories, in order to create a forever lasting exhibition in the virtual world (The Metaverse) and accessible from everywhere to become a blueprint for the future of exhibitions, jobs and community building in NFTs.’
A community of the future will celebrate diversity, equality and inclusion and propose a new digital world; a metaverse where everyone is equal regardless of class, race, gender and age. A digital ecosystem that transcends all virtual identities into a utopia for peace, prosperity and progress.
CONCEPT: What will the future of Jersey look like as a community in the metaverse?
Our group for this project brainstormed many ideas surrounding community, and how communities may change or evolve in the future. We produced a mind map with themes such as religion, class, family etc – however a common area of interest was the evolution of feminism and how equality may look in the Metaverse. I then produced a mood board demonstrating different communities of women, may it be protesters, family members, diversity activists – the list goes on – all with roots linking to feminism and equality.
Describe in;
3 Words – Equal, Diverse, Free
A Sentence – A community full of equality between men and woman, a future with women’s rights and freedom.
A Paragraph – The evolution of women’s rights into the future Metaverse, a time when diversity and equality are the norms, where a woman can choose what she does with her body without the input from the government and society around her. The aim for this project is to represent a future community, both digitalised and physical, where women are empowered and are seen as equals to men. Challenging dominant ideologies surrounding feminism and the female gender, this project will show how the representation of women has changed over time, and how it will continue to change as our world evolves into a more digital and automated society.
Here is a presentation of my final completed Zine, I have titled it ‘Street Stories’ drawing in connotations of street photography and community. I wanted to display the lives that are unknown, the people we see and know nothing about, their lives are a mystery but we can make guesses and make up stories we think would fit. Juxtaposing these candid images are reflections of environmental portraits, market workers and record salesmen giving us a glimpse into their working environment and engaging with the camera naturally. When I took these portraits I didn’t as for a pose or smile, I left it up to the subject to decide how they wanted to be seen. I believe this truthful display can never be entirely real, not as real as a street photography portrait, but it gives the observer a better chance to see who these people are, or how they present themselves when the camera comes out. As I spoke about in my previous post, the narrative and sequencing of my Zine shows the similarities and differences of St Helier streets, of people and of architecture – I wanted to use a mix black & white and colour images spread out across the Zine, linking back to ideas of old and new throughout time. I really enjoyed created this Zine, the presentation style is not one I had come across before and I believe it’s small size and orientation strongly helps with relaying the idea of a close community of people who ‘are not all so different’.
In terms of narrative, my Zine will focus on the various stories that pass through Jersey’s parish of St Helier everyday, the light and shade of a community that may get overlooked in modern society. I will use my images from my Character of Community and Sense of Place photoshoots to create a Zine inspired by the work of James Jay, his layout of images, style of photography and overall Zine design is something that has influenced me greatly in this task. I aim to show juxtapositions within each page of my Zine, for example an old building placed next to a modern building, representing the changes in these communities over time, or the differences between the old and young that may live there, or even suggesting the neglect some of these communities have had to face while others grow and flourish – it is up for the observer to decide. Nevertheless, in this Zine I also aim to promote the narrative of the popular theme ‘we’re not all so different’, showing the similarities between certain street scenes/buildings/architecture – the list goes on. I want to convey a story of memory and nostalgia, capturing the areas where communities feel safe, at home, comfortable and where people can fully be themselves.
Sequencing;
The overall layout of my Zine will be simplistic and easy to follow – however I wish to create some double page spreads where one image is bigger than the other, or have a different orientation. My plan with this layout idea is to break up what would be a Zine of symmetry and order, something I do not wish to convey – I want to demonstrate the freedom of being part of a community that is accepting of you, where you can feel truly yourself. My aim is for the contrasting orientations and layout to create a dynamic sequence for the observer to follow, the symmetry within certain pages will get disrupted and the storyline will hold hints towards freedom and relief. Additionally, providing juxtapositions and similarities within each double page is something I really want to develop. I plan on using my images from both photoshoots to find either a contrast or a subtle link, for example I wish to use some of the environmental portraits I captured placed on one side, with an image of something linking to their profession on the other. I want to experiment with how colour also effects how these two images link, by placing a black and white image next to a vibrant colour one I will demonstrate possible stereotypes, may that be of people or places.
Above is a screenshot of a part of my editing process on Adobe InDesign, where I experimented by placing two images with a similar colour palette next to each other. Both images show older architecture as their primary subject, however the image of St Helier’s General Hospital on the right has a wider depth of field as we can see the side of the more modernised part of the hospital in the background. This creates a more 3-dimentional image, and in comparison to the left image, forms a jolted view for the observer. I think by placing these two images next to each other (although they hold several similarities) it does not provide the full effect of what could be portrayed, for example young Vs old if I were to place it next to an image of fully modern architecture. Additionally, while editing I had the idea to use similar geometric shapes within each image to represent the, sometimes, uniformity of a community with strict rules and regulations – juxtaposing the freedom conveyed in other pages throughout my Zine. I believe that breaking up the flow of my Zine with jarring shapes, colour changes and contrasting orientations creates an inventive and freeing piece of natural life portrayed through ‘the photograph’.
Design and Layout
Experimenting with ‘full bleed’;
During my editing process of the Zine, I experimented with how the size of my images impacted the overall mood created by the page. For example, the screenshots above show two images I decided worked well together due to colour, composition and lighting – however I could not decide whether they should be full bleed or not. A full bleed image extends or ‘bleeds’ to the edges of a page so that the image completely covers the entire page and does not show borders or white space around the edges. As these two images are landscape orientation, using full bleed while keeping the image in full frame was difficult to make work due to the large amount of white space above the image, with none at either side. Nevertheless, I enjoyed how the full bleed created a sort of togetherness between the photographs, as if they were linked in more ways than just the formal elements. I experimented with whether joining the images in the middle created the impression of the landscapes bleeding into each other as if they were the same building, however due to the composition this was a challenge. After moving the images around and changing their sizes, I decided it was better to not use full bleed on this page as the negative space surrounding the images created a clean, symmetrical layout that I believe works best when presenting images of two man-made structures.
Layout of pages;
The order in which I placed my Zine pages was based on how their formats, colour schemes and layouts. I started with my front cover image, a black and white long shot of a woman’s silhouette doing some shopping, natural and normal with a sense of mystery. I wanted each double spread in my Zine to tell a story or link to each other in some way, therefore I wanted the back cover to relate to my front one; using another black and white image taken in the same shop. I then wanted to show some colour in my Zine, so my first double page shows two different buildings with minimal editing in colour, one older and one more modern. I aimed to show juxtaposition between two very similar structures. I moved on to focus on demonstrating vibrancy and portraiture and throughout the rest of my Zine I aimed to compare monochrome images to colour, relating them to each other through similar themes, shapes or ideas.
A Zine is a self-published, non-commercial print-work that is typically produced in small, limited batches. Zines can be created through a number of different mediums, sometimes by physically cutting and gluing text and images together onto a ‘master flat’ for photocopying, however more and more recently zines have been created to showcase a photographer’s work through computer editing and sequencing. Zine publication (of Zine’s most similar to those we see today) first began in the 1930’s, traced back to the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago’s sci-fi Zine called ‘The Comet.’ One of the most popular, and recognizable decades of the Zine, was the 1990’s – all thanks to the Riot Grrrl scene. During this time young girls were encouraged to make their own music, zines etc – in a male dominated industry this was a big moment for women to make a stand. Riot Grrrl was more than just a musical genre, it was a feminist movement, as Max Kessler wrote in Paper, “Whatever Riot Grrrl became – a political movement, an avant-garde, or an ethos – it began as a zine.”
Recently, Zines are created to showcase projects, illustrations, art, photographs – the list goes on. Below I have created a mood-board of zines that interest me, may it be with their layout, images, colour palette or storyline – I wish to discover more about why artists create the Zines they make. For more on the history of zines, click here.
James Jay; I Love The World I See
James Jay is an American photographer and artist who began photographing the world around him in 2005. Jay’s images are intimate and familiar, I was really drawn to their warm yet mysterious atmosphere. The project of work I am creating a reference for is Jay’s Zine entitled ‘I Love The World I See’, which is a series holding two separate Zines, one in black and white and the other in colour. What I love about the work in this project is the way Jay can capture a different view of the community that surrounds him everyday – it is almost as if he knows every alleyway or corner of the streets to walk to capture the sincerity and honesty of his local community. An exert from the beginning of Jay’s Zine states ‘I started to shoot the world around me, everyday things. Then came my online photoblog named ‘I Love The World I See’. It was a place for me to post things that I saw, made or thought. That blog no longer exists but the phrase I Love The World I See still stays stuck in my head everyday. I love the world around me, even the chaos that comes with it, I love being able to see those things that other people sometimes neglect to see, either because they don’t slow down to look around or do not care to see. I try to capture those moments.’
Why do I want to take inspiration?
James Jay’s Zine shares with us the community around him, giving the observer an insight into his life, and those lives that pass him by everyday. His street photography style reflects that of famous candid photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Vivian Maier with his black and white mysterious images whose ambiguity leave the observer waning more, stretching their imagination to decide who this person is they are seeing, why are they there, what do they want? I think this is what inspires me most about Jay’s Zine, I wish to recreate the feel of community, the familiarity and honesty that I see around me. I am always inspired by photographers that create strong narratives, storytelling is very important to me, I aim to take inspiration from ‘I Love The World I See’ by telling the stories of each different community around St Helier, using my images from my ‘Character of Community’ and ‘Sense of Place’ photoshoots. Jay’s Zine layout is also something I wish to take influence from, I really enjoy the way he uses a range of formats to display his images, some taking up the full page, some meeting in the centre etc – I believe it helps the fluidity of the Zine, straying away from using a symmetrical format reflects the natural environment of the images not needing to be perfect; another element I wish to demonstrate in my Zine.
Percival Dunham worked for Jersey Illustrated Weekly and The Morning News for a brief period in 1913 and 1914 – he is known as Jersey’s very first photojournalist. Dunham had been in business as a photographer at 57 Bath Street since 1911, and had already been taking photographs of the Jersey Battle of Flowers and events such as the grounding of the Roebuck in St Brelade’s Bay in 1911. Dunham found great success while with the Illustrated Weekly and Morning News, as they were the pioneers of photojournalism, allowing Dunham to capture candid shots of the streets of Jersey in a new and upcoming style of photography. Percival Dunham presents a remarkable picture of life in Jersey before and just after the outbreak of World War One which, although it had nowhere near as dramatic impact on the island as the second global conflict which would follow 25 years later, nevertheless marked the end of an era in Jersey. More of Dunham’s images can be found here (search Dunham under ‘photographers’). His work was ahead of its time, as the term ‘photojournalist’ hadn’t even been coined yet – the images he captured relate to the modern term ‘street photography’ and show the public living their everyday lives, uninterrupted or disturbed by the camera, demonstrating sincerity in each scene.
Moodboard Of Images
George Georgiou
Overview –
George Georgiou (1961 -) is a British photographer and Photo Journalist who studied photography at The University of Westminster. After working for six years in Serbia, Greece and eastern Europe, he was recently based for four years in Istanbul. His work in Turkey led to a series of photographs titled ‘Fault Lines/Turkey/East/West’, which has led to several exhibitions and a book. Georgiou has also taught photography at Barnet College in London and a number of workshops in Europe. Georgiou’s work mostly focuses on communities of people that are split up between different cultures. An article on Georgiou’s career wrote ‘Arriving somewhere new, Georgiou’s approach is first to unburden himself of pre-existing images of the place and to try to see through superficial differences with places he knows; he then looks for commonalities and actual differences. He starts by himself and only when well underway hopes to attract commissions and make sales.’
Last Stop –
‘Last Stop’ is a series of images shot through the windows of London’s double decker buses, published as a double sided concertina book by George Georgiou in 2015. Georgiou wrote ‘The essence of Last Stop is that you might take the same route everyday but what you see, the ebb and flow on the street takes on a random nature, like a series of fleeting mini soap operas. The concertina book format reflects and mimics the flow of a bus journey, but more importantly it gives the viewer the opportunity to create their own journeys by spreading the book out and combining different images together. This moves the book away from an author-led linear narrative to one of multiple possibilities.’ Georgiou would ‘take random buses and get lost across the city’ in hopes of capturing street photography images and candid portraits from the windows of people living their everyday lives, allowing the observer to make up their story and scenario. In a video on the creation of ‘Last Stop’, Georgiou said ‘as a photographer I wanted the challenge of not having full control, taking whatever free seat there was next to the window only being able to photograph what was in reach of my static position in front of me’. I really love how he can still capture these moments without truly being involved in them, only seeing them at a glance, but portraying an entirety of different stories. When researching for my street photography photoshoot on ‘identity and community’ I wanted to take inspiration from Georgiou’s presentation of images, capturing ambiguity and mystery along with familiarity and warmth. Several of ‘Last Stop’s’ images were featured in the book Unseen London, more info can be found here.
Moodboard Of Images
Analysis – Dunham
Percival Dunham | Soldiers at Town Arsenal | 1914
I made the decision to analyse this image by Percival Dunham due to it’s wide range of techniques used from ‘The Formal Elements’, yet also its ability to foreshadow and story tell. The black and white filter on the photograph shows the time period it was taken, pre-World War 1 when Dunham’s images first caught the public’s eye. From this era, we can make an assumption to which camera was used at the time; possibly the Moy & Bastie cine camera, made of wood and metal, which was the type used by British Official cinematographers working with the armed forces during the First World War. The geometric shapes on the wall behind the soldiers show defined and consistent rectangles, possibly reflecting the systematic job and duties that these men carry out. The repetition of these symmetrical shapes could link to the soldiers having to repeat the same tasks daily on the battlefield, symbolizing the methodical planning and strictness of their life. Additionally, the uniformity of straight lines created by these rectangles relates to the respect a soldier gains from his uniform.
Dunham had the ability to capture such raw moments in time, parts of history that would otherwise be imagined instead of seen. During an exhibition on Dunham’s photography at The Jersey Arts Centre in 2014 Gareth Syvret, from the Societe Jersiase, said “he really had a natural affinity for what is later called ‘the decisive moment’ in all the photographs you see around here, there are figures; he was clearly interested in the social life of the town of St Helier and Jersey and its a really powerful documentary he’s left us.” I really enjoyed this quote from Syvret as I believe it sums up Dunham’s work perfectly, with such monumental history as WWI as his setting and still creating such intimate and warm images is inspiring.
The lighting in this photograph tells such a tragic and true story, with the darkest point of the image in the background through a door behind the men- leading to a sort-of abyss of darkness and mystery. Contrastingly, the lightest point falls on the floor where the soldiers stand, creating the impression of these men starting their journey with peace and security; however lurking in the background is a foreshadowing darkness reflecting the horrors of war to come in their future. Similarly, there is a leading line created from the outline of the canon to the right of the soldiers, drawing the observers focus again to the background of the image. Here we can see a juxtaposition between the consistent pattern of ordered bricks, to the damaged building and rubble to it’s left, further in the distance. This, along with the brooding darkness behind the men, suggests Dunham wanted to capture a composition with more ambiguity and ruin further back into the image to symbolize and foreshadow how much death and destruction this war would bring.
Analysis – Georgiou
George Georgiou | Last Stop | 2015
I chose to analyse this image, taken by George Georgiou in 2015, as I really enjoyed how well it told a story, a story that would be different to anyone else who saw the image. From my perspective, considering the formal elements, the reflection of the woman in the shop window on the right of the image represents how this route she walks is one taken daily – possibly taking her son to school, or going to work; the possibilities are limitless. This reflection is like a reflection of time, showing the repetition and never ending cycle she may endure while on this journey. Additionally, there are several geometric shapes in this Georgiou image, in particular the repetition of rectangles in shop windows, signs and tile flooring. The echo of this rectangular shape throughout the photo could represent uniformity and hint towards a homogeneous society where nothing is different or unique. While this series of Georgiou’s images demonstrates ‘that you might take the same route everyday but what you see, the ebb and flow on the street takes on a random nature, like a series of fleeting mini soap operas’ this one image could show a counterargument to this statement or may indicate that while the people and stories may be ever changing, the locations and surroundings witness all and stay the same. Furthermore, the range of colours in this image are limited and dull, with only brief pops of brightness of bold red, yellow, green and blue. With the only source of bright colour coming from these primary shades it reflects the child-like nature of having daily routines and set ways to live each day, as if teaching a child – Georgiou’s image may represent how each day can hold new possibilities and adventures, and that people are allowing dull ideas to overwhelm their (what should be) adventurous life.
In addition, the repetition of blue from the child’s clothing and rectangular structure on the left of the image could represent the feeling of security, as blue symbolizes trust and safety. Georgiou could be pointing out how society feels safe in their own little bubbles, isolating themselves with their own stories secret to the world around them – the child feels safe in his mother’s company, yet the story could be so different for the mother, it is for the observer to decide. A quote from Georgiou says “surveillance in the city is all around us but on the flip side of this is also our sense of invisibility, how we allow ourselves to express very private behaviour in public space, like a family argument. I see the photography as straddling, street photography, surveillance, landscape and documentary fiction.” In terms of light, the natural lighting shows it was probably mid-day as there are little shadows in the image, also hinting the weather was cloudy as there are no major reflections or highlights created by the sun. Lastly, there are many straight lines in the image, for example the straight thin lines of the shopping baskets on the right of the photo – the metallic shine on these lines is modern and mechanic, possibly portraying the idea of mass industrialization and overconsumption (also linking to this image being photographed outside a food shop). In my opinion, Georgiou capturing this repetition of a mundane, everyday object in quite a stylistic way really sums up what I have taken away from this series of images; that while everyday can be draining, similar and sometimes dull, the smallest things can make differences – life doesn’t have to be ‘an author-led linear narrative’ in the words of George Georgiou, it can ‘move to one of multiple possibilities.’
Who – For one of my photoshoots I plan on capturing street photography style images of people passing through town, running errands, working, chatting etc. I aim to photograph normality and comfort in many of these images by highlighting the warm atmosphere of location.
What – I plan on photographing people living their day to day lives without interfering with or changing anything within the frame, capturing realness and sincerity. I really enjoy taking images in this street photography style as I believe they really allow the observer to feel immersed in the photo as life carries on around them.
Where – I am going to carry out this photoshoot around the Merchant Quarter of St Helier, focusing on the busier streets of shoppers and workers. When researching these areas of St Helier it was interesting to find out which buildings and businesses have drastically changed over the years and which still hold similar shops to those decades ago.
When – I aim to take these images on July 10th as it is a Saturday meaning the St Helier streets will be quite busy, additionally the weather is meant to be bright and sunny which will aid my images in creating a warm atmosphere and mood, and again will increase the chance of more people being in town to photograph.
How – I plan on walking through the Merchant Quarter of St Helier normally, going into shops when I need to and capturing images as I go. I aim to have some images holding a different mood to the rest, capturing singular people on the streets or in shops alone. Additionally, I want to create 3 environmental portraits on my photoshoot with the subject interacting with the camera to contrast the street photography style.
Why – I want to carry out this photoshoot to show the character of this St Helier community by focusing on portraiture and street photography. I am aiming for some my images to show sequences depicting workers to their work and shoppers to their shopping, sort of showing a juxtaposition between them.
Editing – Contact Sheets
When I first imported all images from my photoshoots into Lightroom I did an initial delete of any photographs I knew were not up to standard, were blurry/out of focus or had issues concerning White Balance or Exposure which there was little point fixing due to another image of the same scene being of better quality. After this first sort through of images I was left with 75 to look at in depth, editing them down with star rating and flagging. I went into ‘Develop’ mode to start filtering my preferred images. I started by using the ‘Flagging’ filter, using controls ‘P’ for a white flag (preferred image) and ‘X’ for a grey flag (disliked image) and holding down ‘shift’ – this allowed my editing process to speed up massively and let me clearly see which photographs were my favourite. Next, I used the ‘Star Rating’ feature to filter each image from 1-5, one star as the worst and five stars as the best, which again helped me select the best images that worked well together in groups, sequences and pairs. .
Experimenting With Sequences
While on my photoshoot through St Helier, I found it important to stop in shops along the way to try and capture some shots of people browsing and buying items for themselves, after I captured this first silhouette style image on the top right of a lady carrying a shopping bag I thought of the idea to also photograph the area of the shop she had come from, showing the motivation for her movement. I really enjoyed how this sequence demonstrated context to the final image captured, almost like a backstory to the scene. When editing the first two images in Lightroom, I wanted to experiment with a black and white filter to add a more dramatic and mysterious atmosphere to the scene as I believe it reflects the ambiguity of the woman’s silhouette and her back turned to the observer. Contrastingly, I wanted to create a similar sequence to the first however using warmer tones and direct address to the camera to create a more welcoming atmosphere. The second two images were captured in the St Helier Market at a fruit and veg stall, I was really drawn to its vibrant colours and tones, juxtaposing greatly with the first sequence. After purchasing some produce from the stall I asked the server whether she would be happy having her photo taken for this project, explaining the interest in the merchant communities. I really wanted to capture a natural and comfortable image of the lady, her warm energy was infectious and I found it important to not stage the image too much in fear of losing this. To capture this vibrant photograph I continued having a conversation with the woman about her day, snapping moments where she would laugh or smile at the camera naturally – I found it so interesting to discover the history of the time she has spent working in the market and how she loves when customers would actually have a conversation with her when she serves them, it was very eye-opening. To reflect this positive energy when editing I made very minimal changes due to the camera already capturing such raw vibrancy, only heightening the brightness and contrast slightly to match the boldness of the fruits in the first image.
Final Edited Sequences
Environmental Portraiture
During my street photography and portraiture photoshoots I wanted to capture 3 environmental portraits with the subject engaging with the camera. The reason I kept this number of portraits low was because I wanted to spend time getting to know the subjects and the field of work they were in, taking the time to understand the to capture an image representing them naturally.
The first image is a photograph of Simon who owns the metaphysical shop Zen, in my image I wanted to reflect the welcoming atmosphere of his business through angles, body language, composition and light. I positioned my camera with Simon in the centre of the frame, his natural body position worked brilliantly with demonstrating the shop’s open friendly mood and the soft artificial lighting provides a range of dark and light tones across his face that hold no harshness or bold disruption to the rest of the image. Additionally, in the background of each environmental portrait I wanted objects depicting each person’s field of work, in this first image I wanted the most negative space however with hints towards the business and its goods, this was because I wanted to reflect the mystery of the shop while also using negative space to highlight and draw the observer’s attention to the main subject, Simon.
My second environmental portrait was taken in Seedee Jons of owner Jono. I wanted to capture Jono in a natural position, however still showing his fun and easy-going personality through angles, body language and lighting. I took my image just below eye-level, standing to the left of my subject and asking him to engage with the camera in whichever way felt most natural to him. I believe this angle contrasts well with my first and last image as the side-on view reflects the business’s cool unique atmosphere of the shop. Furthermore, I wanted this image to hold darker tones with more contrast to mirror the gradient of tones on the shop logo wall in the background of the image. I captured this range of dark and light with artificial lighting and when editing in Lightroom I slightly increased the ‘Blacks’ and ‘Highlights’ of the photo to create this more edgy atmosphere. I also wanted to capture the different shapes in the background of the image, showing the contrast between the geometric rectangle of the mirror behind the subject and the repetition curved circles to the right of the image.
My final environmental portrait was taken of a worker in the Cartridge Centre phone repair shop. I took this image at eye-level, with artificial lighting capturing minimal shadows or distracting highlights over his face. I wanted to capture the repetition of straight leading lines that fall across the background of this image creating a sense of movement due to their link with the business’s fast paced and quick working style to help customers and repair items with tight deadlines. Additionally, the geometric shapes in the background of the photograph also hint towards technology and modernised items showing this job requires more technical thinking and skills. The black and white filter allows the range of contrast and tones in the image to be emphasised, with the darkest tone falling over the subject’s hair and the lightest on the phone products behind him. This draws the observer’s focus towards the centre of the image, with the main focal point on the subjects face.
Street Photography – Colour
Street Photography – B&W
During my photoshoots capturing portraiture and the character of a community I photographed many street photography portraits of people walking the the Merchants Quarter of St Helier. I wanted to do minimal planning for the photos as they were to look natural and unstaged, I captured images of people shopping, walking, talking etc, trying to be as subtle as possible to photograph an organic moment. My first set of images I have kept in colour, doing little editing on Lightroom by only touching up exposure and brightness when needed – I chose which images worked best in colour by looking at my subject’s surroundings where I decided I wanted each colour image to have the repeated motif colour of red somewhere in frame. This red colour appeared frequently in my photoshoot and I loved how much of a vibrant and warm atmosphere it created. Additionally, my colour photographs all have a landscape orientation and all but one have more than one person in frame, capturing more of a community feel and a busier composition. My second set of images held more of a dreary mysterious atmosphere, so I have edited them with a black and white filter to emphasise the darker tones. The subject’s surroundings in the photos are more bare and empty, with only one or two people in frame, some with their back turned or from a side-on angle. In addition, my subject’s facial expressions are not smiley or content and sometimes hidden away from sunglasses or a hat – I wanted to include these images in my final edits as they show a great contrast to my environmental portraits and colour street photography, demonstrating how in a community there is a range of different people, having different emotions and days which can be translated through a photograph in a right or wrong way. The ambiguity of the images leaves it up to the observer’s imagination to decide what kind of person the subject of the image is, but they will never really know.
On Monday 28th June, as a photography department, we had a day of learning and information at The Societe Jersiaise Photo Archives. During the day we went out into different areas of St Helier focussing on separate communities who came from different immigrant backgrounds, such as the Merchant Quarter, the French/Portuguese Quarters and the British Quarter. My aim for this photoshoot around town was to capture a sense of place, photographing different buildings, shops, businesses, architecture, streets as well as capturing some environmental shots of people working/living in or just travelling through these areas. The group I carried out this photoshoot with focused on walking through the French/Portuguese Quarters, I was able to plan while walking about the kind of people/places and types of buildings I wanted to take images of. My plan was to photograph the comparison between old and new St Helier buildings, showing how the sense of place changed over time, as new communities entered and old ones left. Additionally, I planned on capturing street photography inspired portraits of these communities to show a range of ethnicities residing on the island – I found it important while taking these images to be respectful around certain areas where people were not comfortable having their photo taken. Altogether, I really enjoyed this photoshoot around different migrant communities, showing a sense of place changing over time and people in a natural and not staged environment.
Editing – Contact Sheets
For the editing process of this photoshoot, I took a different approach, in class this week we learnt how to use different filters such as ‘flagging’ and ‘star rating’ using Adobe Lightroom to filter out specific images I liked or disliked to perform a quicker and easier edit. During the photoshoot I took around 100 images in St Helier, before importing them to Lightroom I did an initial sort through and delete of any images I knew that I did not like/did not tell a story or were just not right in lighting/angles – this left me with around 60 images which I imported to edit. Once my images were in Lightroom I went into ‘Develop’ mode to start filtering my preferred images. I started by trying the ‘Flagging’ filter, using controls ‘P’ for a white flag (preferred image) and ‘X’ for a grey flag (disliked image) and holding down ‘shift’ – this really helped speed up my selection and let me clearly see which photographs were my favourite. Next, I used the ‘Star Rating’ feature to filter each image from 1-5, one star as the worst and five stars as the best, which again really assisted me in seeing which images worked better than the others.
Editing – Over Exposed
While I was editing my images, I discovered a few came out very over-exposed during the time where I was experimenting with my camera’s shutter speed. On Lightroom I went into develop mode to see whether I could edit these images to correct their exposure – under the ‘tone’ section I lowered the highlights, exposure and blacks. Furthermore, on the image where I have photographed the ‘Romanian Delight’ shop, under the ‘transform’ section I discovered how to straighten my image to create more symmetry and level lines throughout by changing it to ‘auto’. I wanted to edit these images in this way to represent and really show the bright colours of the communities we visited, heightening the vibrancy of the coloured houses and shops to demonstrate their character and beauty in the more secluded areas of town.
Editing – Black and White
During my editing process of this St Helier photoshoot, I decided to experiment with editing some of my images with a black and white filter. I wanted to edit in this way to see how darker and lighter tones would affect the mood and atmosphere of an image. I produced this edit in Adobe Lightroom, highlighting each of my five star flagged images and selecting the ‘soft black and white’ filter. After seeing what each image looked like black and white, I was able to select my favourite monochrome photos that worked best in terms of contrast and tone. Additionally, I chose these six images due to their link to my theme of this shoot, showing the change of a sense of place in St Helier through it’s architecture. Each image forms a pair with the one next to it, the left hand image represents an older sense of St Helier and the right image shows the more modern/re-built buildings around town. Each pair is a sort of mini sequence showing the progression of architecture, I love the way the ‘older building’ images have darker tones and harsher shadows which symbolizes the possible atmosphere of St Helier’s past around these secluded areas. Contrastingly, the ‘modern buildings’ hold lighter tones with more white and negative space, creating a clean and crisp atmosphere. The natural lighting produces a softer texture, which is interrupted by the repetition of details on each building such as the windows, brick work and doorways.
Final Edited Images
As well as producing black and white edits of certain images from this photoshoot, I have also decided to experiment with how different colours can tell a story within an image. I edited these final photos on Adobe Lightroom, after filtering out my favourites with flagging and star rating, exploring the different features of the app and correcting any mistakes made while photographing outdoors. For example, as shown before in this post, I made the mistake of over-exposing two interesting images, however was able to amend this by turning down highlights, blacks and exposure. Additionally, I wanted to portray the realness and natural atmosphere of these photographic locations, hence why I conducted minimal editing so not to tamper too much with the ‘sense of place’. I wanted vibrancy, however not so overly enhanced that the images looked artificial – I heightened the contrast and highlights of several images to achieve this bright and lively atmosphere. I wanted to edit my images in this way to juxtapose the otherwise empty streets I was capturing, while some images show life and movement, most are static without people to provide character. This was the main reason I wanted to show a sense of place with the area’s architecture, through repetition, space and shape, connoting the idea of a built up landscape of small business and homes which may not seem much to some, but to those living there is their world.
‘People Make Jersey’ was an exhibition held at the Jersey Museum which we visited on Monday June 7th. Information and facts on resident’s of Jersey’s history were displayed around the site, from farmers to local last names, the exhibition told it all. We started the day with a talk from an expert at the exhibition who took us around the area explaining different sections, such as information on religious/political refugees, economic migrants that arrived to support new industries such as oyster fishing, ship building, construction, agricultural workers and tourism.
Statement from ‘People Make Jersey’ –
‘Every Jersey resident has an immigration story – whether their family came here 500 years or five years ago. This exhibition explores some of these stories and the ways in which immigration has shaped and influenced the Island we know today.’
After attending the exhibition, I carried out some further research by speaking with my grandparents about their heritage, where their family lived, their jobs and any other interesting information on their lives being residents of Jersey. At the exhibition I was really interested in a display listing several local Jersey surnames, the display had information about where these surnames originated from and when conducting further research I wanted to discover more. When speaking with my grandmother she told me of how people of similar last names in Jersey would live in specific areas of the island. For example, my grandmother’s maiden name is Perchard; a very local Jersey name meaning ‘a man from Perche in the South of Normandy’ – many Perchard’s resided in the east of the island, in St Martin and Grouville. Additionally, when speaking with my grandfather he told me of how his father was born in Jersey and how people with his (and my) surname of Mariette were also from the East of the island in Gorey, and how many Mariette’s were fishermen. More on Jersey surnames can be found here. I found out that my grandmother’s parents were also both born in Jersey and as were their parents before that, when asking my grandmother about her parents careers she told me of how her father was the manager of a big general merchants store called ‘George D Laurens’ which was believed to be established as early as the 18th century, originally a hardware store but by the 1960s was one of Jersey’s major toy shops as well as selling general goods. I found it so interesting to compare some of my family’s heritage to the peoples I read about at the Jersey Museum, learning about their careers and lives was very eye-opening.
St Helier’s History – Stuart Fell
Later in the day, half of us joined Stuart Fell on a walk around the St Helier town centre discovering information about the architecture of this area in Jersey. We learnt about how wealthy residents who arrived in Jersey had an impact on these buildings, I found it so interesting to find out about how influential these people were in actually creating the foundations of our island. Stuart also gave us heaps of information on the different types of bricks used in St Helier’s architecture, for example we found out that brick making was once a thriving industry in the island during the 19th Century, which traded across the world, and that the most common colour of Jersey brick was red. On our walk we looked out for any red bricks in building’s chimneys, as Stuart informed us they could have been built over 150 years ago. More information on the Jersey brick making industry from islander Enid Gautier can be found here.
I have chosen these final images due to their strong link with Anthropocene and their ability to symbolize the growing industrialization of our world. My initial idea was to create a sequence of three images, each showing a different stage of urbanization in a sort-of storyboard style. Each image demonstrates how increasingly unnatural our world is becoming by revealing more of man’s impact on the surroundings. After carrying out photoshoots inspired by Edward Burtynsky and Andrew Moore I made the decision to edit each image with a harsher blue tint each time, so the final Burtynsky inspired image at the end of the sequence was of a cooler temperature, reflecting the landscapes emotionless atmosphere. Furthermore, the increased editing of each image symbolizes how manufactured and artificial the planet is turning out to be from society’s disregard of nature, with each image growing colder and more unnatural. The composition and leading lines in each image draw the observer’s attention along the sequence in a cyclical pattern, as if the story goes on over and over again, just like man-kind is frequently building modern structures and industrial sites which all aid in harming the atmosphere around us. Contextually, several photographs from my Burtynsky shoot (which have been chosen for my final display) document reclaimed land in Jersey. It is a fact that reclaimed land is highly susceptible to soil liquefaction, which can amplify the amount of damage that occurs to buildings and infrastructure – I decided to capture these landscapes to further my point on humans being the main source of global devastation, we are interfering with nature and creating danger for all, even destroying the industrial structures we have built in the process- ironic.
Edward Burtynsky Comparison
I have decided to compare this Edward Burtynsky image to one of my final pieces because of their similarities in composition and their use of the formal elements. Firstly, a clear similarity between them is the capturing of repetition throughout the landscapes, Burtynsky has photographed an area with circular structures reflected in uniform rows. I believe he was attempting to mirror how unvarying our planets architecture, and even societies themselves, are. Repetition is plainly captured in my image in the form of rectangular shapes from buildings, windows and structures – showing the increased artificial landscapes through geometric echoes. I wanted to reflect Burtynsky’s repetitive technique, however slightly differently to demonstrate the way different communities deal with Anthropocene, seeing whether they fight against it or let it take over. Also, the basic and elemental nature of these shapes shows how trivial these modernized areas in the world are. Additionally, another similarity between these photographs is their straight horizon lines which act as an indication for their wide depth of field. The leading line in Burtynsky’s image slowly reveals a disappearing background as the horizon becomes misty and unclear, this could possibly symbolize how man-kind is forgetting, or not choosing to see, their destruction and wrecking of the natural world – as if industrialization is all that can be seen going into the future. In my image there is also a clear straight leading line across the horizon, however in the background there is a hint of hope within the capturing of a natural environment where trees poke through the urbanized surroundings. The comparison between these two uses of leading lines demonstrates how there is still hope for our landscapes future, however if we don’t act now, that hope will disappear. A key difference between these images is the cameras point of view, while there is the similarity of them both being captured from above, Burtynsky’s birds-eye-view shows a greater span of land. Furthermore, due to my editing choice to connote a more derelict and cold atmosphere through turning down my image’s temperature, the colour palette in Burtynsky’s photo is slightly more muted then mine – nevertheless both still produce a sense of sadness, connoting the robotic and artificial mood of the setting.
Andrew Moore Comparison
I chose to compare this image by Andrew Moore to one of my final photographs due to their similarities in texture, composition and differences in colour/temperature. Firstly, one similarity between these images is their busy, rough texture which is created by the repeated leaves and brambles entwined around the greenhouses. In both images this texture connotes ideas of discomfort and restriction, symbolizing how nature is being forced into a corner to try and survive from man-kind’s destruction. Additionally, Moore’s image has a similar composition to my own as both are captured at an eye-level point of view with the main subject taking up the span of the entire frame. The scarceness of negative space in these photographs demonstrates how desperate nature is to withstand industrialization and retaliate against man-kind’s interference. Moreover, this creates a short depth of field as little can be seen beyond the overgrown structures, connoting how little time is left for nature to overcome this destruction. Furthermore, another similarity is the image’s use of shape, both mine and Moore’s photos capture triangular structures which are being consumed by the natural shapes of nature. The juxtaposition between these geometric and organic shapes reveals to the observer how the effects of human interference with the planets natural landscapes is causing nature to use force against what we have created, connoting the theme of man Vs nature. Nevertheless, there are also several differences between my image and Andrew Moore’s, for example they both hold different temperatures. Moore’s photograph has more warm tones of orange and yellow allowing us to guess the time of year is autumn and that the image has been taken later on in the day. The warmth of Moore’s photo could possibly symbolize global warming, showing the danger in industrialization, however the saturation of the tones also demonstrates how nature still finds a way to be beautiful even after all the carnage it’s been through. Contrastingly, my image holds much colder tones to represent the cold-heartedness of society – I wanted to symbolize how man-kind has made these landscapes feel, their atmosphere changed by the impendence of humans.
Review And Reflection
My aims and intentions for this Anthropocene inspired project were to demonstrate how man made structure were increasingly impacting our natural environment. I planned on capturing landscapes around Jersey in three different stages; the first highlighting the beautiful natural areas in fields and woodlands, the second showing areas of Jersey where nature can still be seen however man’s impact is taking effect and the third exhibiting the cluttered industrial landscapes of our island. While working on this project I discovered the relevance of camera point of view in images, I found it important to capture my photographs from specific locations and angles to represent the message of impending industrialization that I wanted to portray. One of the biggest obstacles I overcame during this project was my lack of confidence in my editing process, I found it difficult to portray my idea uniquely through editing and became stuck for ideas. However, I quickly overcame this obstacle by brainstorming and experimenting on Lightroom to discover how temperature effected the atmosphere of my images, I really love how the increase in coldness over each image symbolizes the heartlessness of the destruction of nature and the urbanization of landscapes. I would say my greatest strength during this project was my ability to create a storyline through a sequence of images, I believe I successfully connoted the growing industrialization of our world and used my time wisely to experiment and analyse my final images in comparison to the photographers I took inspiration from.
During my editing process for this photoshoot I decided to demonstrate how cold and senseless our world is becoming as a result of mass industrialization – I heightened the whiteness of each image using Adobe Lightroom to reflect Burtynsky’s dystopian and modernized landscapes, symbolizing how human impact may fulfil modern aesthetics, however it also destroys natural habitats. When editing I found it important to keep the cold tones and blue hue across the images in order to suggest how the industrialization of natural landscapes is cold-blooded and eradicates the feeling and warm atmosphere that is produced by unrefined and rural areas of civilization. In Lightroom I turned down the temperature of these images and slightly decreased the vibrancy to further the idea of an unconcerned damaged world. In addition, I wanted to refrain from cropping any of my Edward Burtynsky inspired images as I believe the plain clear skyline in each of the photograph’s backgrounds gives the impression of there being a clear solution to the global problems in this day and age, allowing nature to thrive without destroying it for commercial/industrial purposes – linking with the Anthropocene idea that humans are the single most defining force on the planet as a result of mass industrialization.
Black & White Experimentation
I chose to edit these specific same four photographs in black and white to experiment further with how colour can effect the atmosphere of an image. I edited the photos in Adobe Lightroom by turning down the saturation and vibrancy fully, heightening the contrast slightly to create darker tones. This wide range of light and shade in my images creates a more sombre atmosphere for the observer, the monochrome filter adds drama and creates a vintage feel linking to black and white photographs from the past. I believe this editing choice gives the impression and idea that Jersey’s landscapes hold so many memories for those that have lived here their whole lives, grandparents may have once had a home, or went to school here when the landscape was not industrialized – the black and white nostalgic atmosphere created juxtaposes with that which has been captured; a modern land with age-old memories. Furthermore, I believe that editing these images greyscale has emphasized the sheer amount of repetition within them, for example as the contrast is heightened it draws the observers attention to the darkest areas of the images. As these more shaded areas fall on the windows and doors photographed, it creates a grainier texture due to the high amount of times these subjects are echoed throughout. I think that editing these images with a black and white filter has added a dramatic yet nostalgic effect, juxtaposing with how these Jersey landscapes have been modernized over time. However, the monochrome effect does not provide as much of a cold atmosphere and doesn’t show the observer how man-kind is apathetic towards nature, I believe the cold temperature/coloured editing displays how society views their creations as inventive without seeing the danger behind how mass industrialization effects our planet – when deciding final compositions I will need to consider which editing choice works best.
Andrew Moore Photoshoot
I chose to edit these three images from my Andrew Moore inspired photoshoot to demonstrate how human impact on the natural environment makes its beauty deteriorate, even with nature trying to fight back. During my editing process I made the decision to turn down the saturation and vibrancy of these images in order to reflect the dismal atmosphere that is present in these locations, the muted colours mirror how man-kind’s creations try to silence nature by destroying it. Additionally, I decreased the temperature of the original blue hue that fell across the image’s skylines as I believe they added too much of a bright happy atmosphere which is not what I wanted to portray. I also slightly decreased the exposure to produce a more gloomy and abandoned mood around these photographs to symbolize how these neglected landscapes had been left to ruin. I believe that making the choice to carry out more harsh editing on these images links to the idea of Anthropocene strongly, connoting the idea that man-kind’s ‘editing’ of landscapes is wrecking the unrefined blessing of nature – I plan on setting out my final images in a sequence which shows the growing industrialization of our world, which with this editing choice will be furthered seeing the absence of colour increase as man-kind’s effects take their toll.
Multi-Exposure Experimentation
I decided to experiment by creating two multi-exposure images on Adobe Photoshop by merging four different photographs, two from my Andrew Moore inspired shoot and two from my Edward Burtynsky shoot. In Photoshop, I lowered the opacity of the two Burtynsky inspired images and placed them over the other’s skyline. My idea when creating these multi-exposures was to reflect how the future of our planet may look if mass industrialization continues. In the background, the faint St Helier skyline I have edited on really effects the texture of the images as the repetition of buildings and windows creates a more cluttered and artificial feeling. As the modernized setting continues on and disappears into the background it connotes the idea that Anthropocene will proceed into our world’s future, as a wider depth of field is formed. In terms of shape in these images, the geometric patterns from the modern buildings juxtapose greatly with the organic shapes of the trees captured in the foreground. This gives the impression that mass industrialization will not only destroy the natural landscapes of our planet, but also the way society views themselves; the blocky/structural architecture symbolizes how man-kind are becoming robotic homogeneous beings that have no care for the environment around them. The composition of these images also links to Anthropocene ideas, for example the second multi-exposure edit uses the rule of thirds to show the stages of industrialization without needing a sequence of lined up images. The foreground demonstrates nature untouched by man, the mid-ground hints at man’s slight interference with the environment and the background clearly shows mass industrialization. While this technique has its pros, there are also cons surrounding how the ‘stop urbanization’ message could be understood and possibly lost in translation due to the cramped texture and dull vibrancy throughout, as I wanted to reflect the beauty of nature compared to the banal devastation formed by industrial landscapes.
