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.
An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos. Although they’ve been around since 2014, NFTs are gaining notoriety now because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. A staggering $174 million has been spent on NFTs since November 2017. NFTs are also generally one of a kind, or at least one of a very limited run, and have unique identifying codes.
The metaverse is a network of always-on virtual environments in which many people can interact with one another and digital objects while operating virtual representations – or avatars – of themselves. Think of a combination of immersive virtual reality, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and the web. The metaverse is a concept from science fiction that many people in the technology industry envision as the successor to today’s internet. It’s only a vision at this point, but technology companies like Facebook are aiming to make it the setting for many online activities, including work, play, studying and shopping.
NFT ARTISTS
MAD DOG JONES
Michah Dowbak aka Mad Dog Jones is an artist from Thunder Bay, Ontario. His work combines cyberpunk, dystopian imagery whilst exploring the themes of beauty, nature and technology. Dowbak rose to fame in the world of crypto art with the recent success of his Crash + Burn series of NFT artworks, and he is now a headliner in the first major NFT art exhibition at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
‘I think that there’s a lot of misunderstanding and confusion floating around the traditional art collecting community about what NFTs are exactly and how people should go about acquiring these works and supporting these artists,’ he said. ‘By having a traditional auction house sell the artworks it really opens up the door to a much larger community that is not fully immersed in the crypto space. The idea of NFTs is so new and the themes around REPLICATOR are reflecting on past innovation,’ Jones said. ‘It felt right to house this new artwork in an institution so firmly grounded in the past.’
PAK
Pak, whose real identity is a closely guarded secret, has become one of the foremost digital creators and was the first NFT artist to earn $1 million with his work. Throughout the Fungible Collection, he challenges the relationship between scarcity and value while pointing to the future of digital art. Pak has a very active and successful market: the total value of his digital works is around $ 17,536,770.67 (8,457,896 ETH). To date it has sold 1,691 works and the most expensive was Metarift purchased in March 2020 on Makerplace from an anonymous collector – whose nickname is “danny6” for $ 1,013,902.38 (489 ETH).
“I see this collection as the first digitally native mindset of works that’s presented to the traditional art world through a global auction house,” Pak said in a statement. “With this kind of a scale, I expect it to play a major cultural role in telling the narrative of the digital world to the traditional world in terms of the medium definition and value creation. People may be able to right click save as a “jpeg” but how would they save as a digital performance?”
A storyboard is a collection of images that tell a story. Basically, it is a sketch of the ideas a person is trying to portray. It is another way of showing a game plan to an individual with interest on what is going on. The visual elements along with the captions allow for the story to be seen by the person reading it. Disney is to be credited with the creation of storyboards since 1920. Ever since then, it has been a great way to share information.
OUR STORYBOARD
We printed a template out, and then drew on paper what we wanted our 30-second film to be. We drew the key scenes in each box.
This project will be based off of a central question, (below) and we will have to create a 30 second video and a still image in a group of 4. After, one of our creations will be minted as an NFT (non-fungible token) on the public Ethereum blockchain as part of the 2lives NFT exhibition based in Jersey.
What will the future of Jersey look like as a community in the metaverse?
The word “Metaverse” is made up of the prefix “meta” (meaning beyond) and the stem “verse” (a back-formation from “universe”); the term is typically used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe.
Mind Map
First, we got into groups of 4, to create a mind map about the different communities we related to/know of in Jersey.
The communities we thought of were mainly the hobbies we did out of school and subjects in school, such as, Online Community, sports communities, friend groups and the photography community. Where as, other communities such as race, religion and gender we still wrote down as they are some of the biggest and most known communities in the world.
Mood Board
After we we made a mind map, we discussed what communities we thought we wanted to move forwards with for our project. So we chose the communities we were most involved with, they were the online world and the how its a different identity compared to in real life.
This ties in nicely with the 2lives exhibition and how we have an online presence which is different to our real life.
Since, the metaverse is virtual there is no limits. So we all thought it would look highly advanced and futuristic. There is a film called Ready Player One, which is what we think it will look like.
It is a dystopian world and people use a utopian metaverse to escape poverty and corruption. The concept of living two life’s; online and offline, is an idea which we liked, and relates to the exhibition name, 2lives.
STATEMENT OF INTENT
Together we are interpreting the theme of community as online and offline. And how we have bonded with people in person, but online they can be a totally different person. Also, online you can basically do whatever you want in a virtual world with anyone you want, where as in person you are limited to what’s around you. We plan to make a short film which visualises friends in real life and what changes when they go into the virtual world online.
CONCEPT: What will the future of Jersey look like as a community in the metaverse?
Describe in:
3 words – futuristic, modern, advanced
A sentence – St Helier will be a futuristic, modern, advanced world where people are living the perfect utopia life.
A paragraph – The community of St Helier would be idealised as a perfect utopian life in the metaverse. It would have futuristic, modern, and advanced qualities, as there is no limit to a virtual world. It would most likely to be sunny all the time, with flying cars and trains, with holograms everywhere. To people living in St Helier, and their community would mostly communicate online using screens, rather than in person as quality of life would be increased and the way of living would have changed.
CONTENT: How will you make your film?
Our 30-second film will be very visual, so we will be using mostly photo and video responses, video recordings, animation, analogue/ digital montages to create a story about the online and offline community of St Helier. The use of audio and sound effects would be impactful to exaggerate actions in the video, and possibly some loyalty free music. We plan to animate some parts of the video to represent the online world, where as the other half we plan to meet up and record some scenes based off the storyboard.
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.
Before we started the NFT project, I already have experience with NFT’s as I created and minted one on the Ethereum blockchain through Foundation.
I chose to mint it on Foundation as at the the time it was the best place to buy and sell NFT’s. You had to get an invite to the platform in order to start selling, which I did after speaking with a few different artist and showing them my work. Foundation is probably still the best platform to sell single pieces, however opens is the best place to sell collections.
I chose to mint one on my pieces that I’ve already created using Blender (a free 3D modelling software) and Photoshop.
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.’
I have finished my Zine, which I designed in indesign.
This is the front cover, which I made in Photoshop, by using text on a path the follow the same curve as the cars roof, so that the text was parallel to the car, as it look asteycilly pleasing. I used the same blue as the car against the black background to create contrast so the text is easy to read. And I used some blending options to draw attention to the text by making small adjustments to the bevel, stroke, and the inner shadow.
Im starting the zine off with these two images of old cars. I made my favourite image larger by making it full bleed. This works as the cover image is the same as the image on the right, however it is zoomed in more. I have set the theme with the cars which allows me to shift the focus to the newer cars and mechanics and their work place.
I used an image of a slightly newer car to create a small juxtaposition to the older cars before. Then I used a set of three images of mechanics and people working in garages, so that I can include and introduce a sense of human emotion and charisma into the zine. By having these images on this double page spread allows me to have a double page spread next on both the topics of new cars and mechanics.
I used a double page spread to end the juxtaposition of time with in the images of cars. It is also a double page spread as it includes both the topics of cars and mechanics. I made sure that the number plate wasn’t in the middle of the double page as that’s where the gutter would be and it would have been cut off.
I used these images of street art to shift the focus from cars to more of a general view of the streets and lanes, to personal items. I used the colour orange to link the images on the previous page, as orange is the main colour of the sports car and also the graffiti in the right image.
I used all the colourful colours from the previous page to link to the vibrant colours of the different shoes on the window sill, which is an example of multiple items that being to a person or people. Then the full bleed image of a single object in a staged setup, that shows that there is a lot going on in one photo.
The group of 4 images represent the busy, crowded, chaotic town centre. I used a nicely framed image of a restaurant sign to link the candid image of the man outside a coffee shop. Then since I used a person in the last image, I chose that as the link to the street performer and the man carrying the bags over his shoulder. Then to create a contrast, on the right page I included more negative space. I did this by using a smaller image of a ladies face framed through the fences, with a larger image of an elderly mans face, which gives a more personal feel.
I wanted to include some black and white images so I thought that now is the right place as the pervious page has concluded the images where the subject includes people, however I used a image of people to continue the flow. I made the image on the left have white borders to emphasis the mans white shirts, which also gives the man in the black t-shirt contrast as they are at different levels, and it brings out his face as he is against a dark background. It also allows me to make the image with the pigeons full bleed as it is a visually strong image and shows motion.
I wanted the back cover to end with a simple abstract image. I chose this image as it continues the black and white trend and is complex and interesting as the light from the skylight shows the details on the banister. It could show the journey of Jersey and the history of Jersey since it was taken in the Jersey Museum.
Overall, I am happy with the outcome which I have come up with, as there is a clear path of progression throughout the zine, which is not normally my usual work style, as I prefer to come up with 1 unique image or images that aren’t related. I have also created some very visually strong image and I am proud that I was able to include them and link them to other images that aren’t necessarily as strong.
Francis Foot was born in 1885, he is from Jersey, he was the son of Francois Foot (1847-1918) and Louisa Hunt (1843-1934). His father Francois was a china and Glass dealer in Dumaresq Street, at a time when the area was one of the more affluent in St Helier.
Foot started his working life as a gas fitter. However, he soon became fascinated by photography and the early phonographs and gramophone records and realised that he could earn a living from them.
So the family took on a second shop in Pitt Street, where Francis worked as a photographer, while his father and mother sold gramophones, records and other wares in Dumaresq Street. After his father’s death, Francis concentrated his photography business in Pitt Street.
Mood Board
I found the images from Google and Jerripedia. As you can see Foot is focused on event photography and portrait and photographing people.
Analyse – Margaret with Dora and George
This photo was taken by Francis Foot at 13:25, its called Margaret with Dora and George and it was taken in 1920. Foot has taken an image of what looks to be a mum with her two children. Foot used the background of a forest to contrast the white clothing of the children. To make them stand out, perhaps this shows how important the children are to the mother. The simple pattern of the clothes, juxtaposes the texture of the leaves and the trees, which reflects on how simple life used to be in the 20th century. Other than that, it is a basic family portrait.
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.
Societe Jersiaise is home to a photographic archive holding 100 000 images. It is the primary collection of images in the nineteenth and twentieth century in Jersey. The archive contains images dating back to the mid-1840s. England and France are two nations who were highly innovative in developing the practice of photography from its early stages. Jersey, being sandwiched right between these gave it a rich history of photography that the archive stores away safely. This was also because when photography arrived at the Island 9 months after its discovery in 1840, it was practiced without the worry of patents restricting the medium. The archive came to be in 1873. Included in its creation were a museum and a library. The society immediately realised the importance of recording photographic history as well as buildings, monuments, and ruins. With passion for documenting through the medium of photography consistently developing for over 140 years the archive has resultantly gathered an immense record of Jersey’s history and, consequently, an amazing capsule of the history of the art of photography. By the boom of photography and its technological developments in the 1860s, the number of photography studios in St Helier has increased drastically. The archive is located in St Helier, on Pier Road which is right beside where the bustling Jersey merchant traders used to operate. Merchant trading and ship trading were huge markets in Jersey, this makes the location of Societe Jersiaise quite appropriate. The archive holds works from many photographers that operated in these locations during the boom. Early photographers such as William Collie, Charles Hugo, Thomas Sutton and Henry Mullins. Included as well are later nineteenth century photographers such as Clarence Ouless, Ernest Baudoux and Albert Smith. To follow in the 20th century the archive holds very value images from a rich point in history in Jersey. This being WWII; specifically, images from the German occupation and the liberation of the island. This proves the idea that we can learn about the different people and communities that developed through history by looking at Jerseys past. We get a direct link between what the photographers experienced and the image they took. This correlates with the idea that most people in modern times exercise some form of archiving. Archives such as family albums are common medium found in many homes. Family albums are an example of photos taken over a period and preserved within a family. They hold a special importance for many families. Just by opening it every once in a while, memories are reminisced on, evoking strong emotions and nostalgia. These archives are normally in physical form, normally a little photobook stored away in a cupboard or on the coffee table. These have tangibility about them, and a person can connect with the archive by physically picking up the album and flicking through the pages. However, some everyday archives are kept in digital format. As we move to a more digital age, almost everyone alive has a mobile phone stuck to their hand. This means that almost everyone is some form of archivist. Most of us have vast albums of photos on our mobile devices. Newer phones are always coming out with larger amounts of storage to facilitate these images. This means most of us are carrying around a rich archive of images we have created and preserved on our mobile devices. We carry around affluent history on our phones. Even the text messages we have accumulated over years and years can be seen as a form of an archive. These archives can immediately tell a comprehensive story about one’s personality and history. Detailed insight into a person’s life and their experiences, their relationships, their interests, where they live, their career and everything in between just by looking at their camera album on their phone. This further gives understanding of society and its technological development along with its cultural development and history.
William Collie was a Jersey photographer from the 19th century. Some of Colliers previously unpublished photographs featured in an exhibition at the Musée Dorsay in Paris in 2008. This exhibition boasted some of the first photographs taken on paper in Britain from 1840 to 1860. Below is one of those photographs. It was taken in 1847. It is of Jersey Market women.
This photograph leads onto the next interesting element to note about Williams work. Williams works capturing these portrait style images was one of the earliest signs of tableau photography recorded. Tableau photography is an intentional form of photographing characters who are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the photographer/viewer. His work is featured at Societe Jersiaise’s archive. The archive further gives us knowledge of some of the first photos ever taken. William’s contribution is highly valuable. This is not just because he was one of the first to bring photography to the island but because we start to see the contribution of artistic entries into the archive as apposed to just documentative entries. The archive can provide an archaeological view into when photography started to shift from a documentative process to a more artistic one; all due to Williams early tableau works.
The above photograph is part of Williams ‘Market Women’ collection. The image is of a professionally composed tableau portrait where a young lady is dressed as a Jersey market woman. She is wearing what would be working class clothing of the time. The mise en scene of the image tells the story of a market environment with the hanging basket and what seems to be produced on the ground. The subject has been directed to look away from the lens. This enforces a notion that the subject is absorbed and used to create a dramatic effect; this almost gives the character a sense of elegance but also sovereignty. This sense of emotion the lady is portraying could give us an understanding of the historical context of the image as in the 19th century Jersey saw massive changes in society. A large influx of immigrants from England made Jersey a more connected island than ever before and brought with it cultural changes and the desire for political reform. During this period, the States reformed to become more representative of the population and the Jersey culture became more anglicised and less religious. The island also grew economically, and the built-up areas of the island expanded, especially St Helier, with the development of public transport on the island. This lady could have been represented as a part of this powerful time in St Helier as she is portrayed as a market woman, aiding in the growth of the town. William Collie was probably the first photographer to use the calotype process in Jersey. This is a technique, were a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride was exposed to light in a camera obscura; those areas hit by light became dark in tone, yielding a negative image. The image has an artistic contrast created by the calotype method of photography that Collier was renowned for. The negative light gives a wide tonal range from dark tones in the subject’s hair to a pure white tone just an inch down on her collar. This contrast also gives the background a grainy texture as the shadows on the bricks are accentuated. I believe this allows the viewer to focus on the structure of the image and creates a clear contrast which builds the foundation of the image and shines focus on the features of the character being shot.
In conclusion a lot can be gained from archives in terms of physical, political and social contexts in our society by looking at history in a sensory fashion; looking at images gives us a way to see through the eyes of people living different lives before us. We learn about the different emotions of each social structures at different times by interpreting the photographers’ emotions that get portrayed into an image. This will be the fashion I approach documenting communities in St Helier. I want to be able to capture detailed history of the communities at the time but at the same time interpreting William Collies artistic approach to capture the emotion of the social structures through my images.
