Category Archives: Task

Filters

Author:
Category:
Reading, Resource, Task

Archives – Essay

Leave a comment

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.

Independent, Reading, Task

Identity and Community – Artist Inspirations

Leave a comment

William Collie

William Collie was a Jersey photographer from the 19th century. He was introduced to me at the societe jersiaise photo archive.

https://societe-jersiaise.org/photographic-archive

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.

An oak tree in winter – William Henry Fox – 1842

The first pioneer of calotypes was a photographer called Willam Henry Fox.

Some of Colliers previously unpublished photographs featured alongside those of Fox 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 work capturing these portrait style images was one of the earliest signs of tableau photography recorded. Tableau photography is an intentional form of photographing characters whom are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the photographer/viewer.

Marin Toft – from Tableaux Vivants

William shot a series of photographs, some of the oldest in Jersey, of Jersey market women. They were tableau photographs were the women were dressed up to look like market women.

I believe this was a huge step into the progress of photography, specifically photography as an artform. Photography during Colliers era was mainly focused on documentative intentions, photos were mainly used to record events, document, log and report. William was part of the early photographers who brought an essence of art and creativity to photography and these early tableau’s support this notion.

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 produce 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. The image has an artistic contrast created by the calotype method of photography that Collier was renowned for. The negative light give a wide tonal range from dark tones in the subjects 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.

Dana Lixenberg
Dana Lixenberg is a Dutch photographer and filmmaker. She lives and works in New York and Amsterdam. Lixenberg pursues long-term projects on individuals and communities on the margins of society.

(self portrait)

Her work strips down her subjects to their fundamental characteristics. Her photographs allow the viewer to interoperate every element of the characters identity and essence.

Dana uses a large format field camera which are completely mechanical sheet film photography cameras. The process is highly meticulous, none the less Dana sacrifices convenience for high quality negatives. I believe that Danas use of these cameras is also a way of making the photography process a more meaningful tangible affair. This sentimental process is also probably a method of connecting with the subject she is shooting more, as her passion is contagious and will leak into the subject she shoots.

It makes the process what Dana calls a ‘slow dance’ with her subjects.

Dana pursues long-term projects with a primary focus on marginalized communities. One of these projects being Imperial Courts 1993 -2015.  It is Lixenberg’s most extensive body of work to date. The project took inspiration directly after the 1992 Rodney King riots. Spanning 22 years, the project tracks the shifting configuration of an underserved community in Watts, Los Angeles. In contrast to the often one dimensional, sensationalized media coverage of this neighborhood, Lixenberg employs a more unobtrusive and community driven photographic approach. Like her other projects, Imperial Courts consists of a series of photographs and a publication. Exploring other media for the first time, Lixenberg also included audio recordings and created a three-channel video installation. The project was awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize in 2017 and continues to be exhibited internationally.

http://www.imperialcourtsproject.com/

She manages to give us such an in depth look into the residents of this neighbourhood with just street portraiture.

The above is a comparison between William Collie’s image on the left with Dana Lixenberg’s image on the right. Both these photographers are highly evolutionary with the art of photography and telling a story; they both strived to get the most out of their subject. William is pioneering new photographic technology and new styles of shooting portraiture in an artistic way. Dana is evolutionary in the opposite way. She did not try and implement the newest technologies but rather stepped away from the mainstream digital boom of photography she was born into and used older equipment to make her photography a connecting process with her subjects.

Both images are negatives and feature a black and white colour scheme. 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. Both images are composed in a similar way with their subject sat down in a similar way with similar body language. The way their body’s are at a tilt and their hands are together allows both photographers to capture the subjects sense of innocence. The main difference with how the subjects have been composed is that Dana’s is engaging with the camera by looking directly into it; whilst Williams’ subject is pretending the camera isn’t there. Danas portrait makes the viewer feel as if they are engaging with the subject in a personal way whilst William’s is more tableau, making the viewer feel like they are ‘standing on the side-lines’ watching a natural scene take place.

Dana uses a very narrow aperture lens. This gives her image a shallow depth of field and a lot of bokeh. This isolates the subject and creates a neat visual aesthetic with not too many elements clashing. On the other hand William has everything in focus in his portrait. This intentionally allows the viewer to interoperate what environment the woman is in, thus giving her the identity of a market woman.

Independent, Reading, Task

Identity and Community – Photo Walks

Leave a comment

With this series of images I attempt to tell a story about an area of St Helier with historical or contemporary links with migrant communities.

My work will focus on three main elements to capture the historical context of the theme of identity and community in St Helier:

A sense of place – for example; location, site, environment, residential area, communal park, architecture and details, Interior of church, community centre, house or home.

Character of community – for example; street scene, decisive moment, staging or performing for the camera.

People and portraiture – For example, a resident outside his/her house/apartment block, shop/ business owner, street portrait/ passer-by.

I focused on three contrasting areas of St Helier:

Route 1: Merchant quarter – This area of town was once where the core community of merchants were located. It was once located right on the waters edge in the 1800s but now boarders the marina – this gives merchants easy access to their ships and therefore gives insight into why this area is dubbed the merchant quarter. I enjoyed photographing the character of community in this area as people fused with their environment and seemed to interact with it well.

Route 2: French/ Portuguese quarters – This area of town is where most of the European migrant such as the large number of French and Portuguese people that began settling. This area features a diverse range of neighbourly people who form a lively community. This is why I found this area was most interesting to shoot in terms of people and portraiture.

Route 3: British expats/ wealthy residents (Rouge Boullion) – The United Kingdom is Jersey’s closest international partner. Deep social, cultural, economic and constitutional links between us have been built up and maintained over hundreds of years. This area is where most of the wealthy residents and British expats began to settle. The rich architecture in this area is what I found most interesting to shoot. The wealthy British would bring their builders over from the UK to build the magnificent houses. Shooting a sense of place in this area was what I focused on.

Mood Boards

Sense of Place

Character of Community

People and Portraiture

Contact Sheets

Shoot 1 – a sense of place

During this shoot I focused on capturing St Helier’s buildings and homes in a manner that encapsulated the social and historical contexts of Jersey. I did this by shooting different styles of buildings – Portuguese, British, houses, shops, offices. I also shot structures which had different ages; I shot newer office blocks and also old houses that had been around since St Helier’s birth.

During my editing I focused on aesthetic composition; I therefore made sure to frame everything in a symmetrical or artistic manner.

I also focused on dramatizing the buildings using deep colour schemes and contrast.

Final Images:

The image above presents a pleasing visual aesthetic as the images share a consistency. They are consistent with framing and composition with the two doors and stairs framed identically. This image tells a story of community and their connection through identical housing, but also shining focus on unique identity shown by the different colour choices of the doors. These images are also effective at referencing a sense of place A few other images that achieve this message in one composition are shown below.

The below images share warm tones and a ‘lens flare’ in the top of the composition that give the images a sense of prosperity that suggests the buildings have been stood happily looking down on the community for a long time.

Shoot 2 – Sense of Character

For this shoot I shot people of St Helier interacting with their environment and each other. This produced a wide range of emphatic images expressing emotion and telling a story about the area they are in and about what type of people they are.

I also shot images where there was a lack of people in the shot in a physical sense. I instead shot urban landscapes where there was a setting created by people and shaped by the community but lacked the physical presence of people. For example this image of a food stall tells a story about the community and their everyday lives without anyone actually being present in the image.

The following images are of scenes composing of characters of the community. I like the way they are composed in a way were they blend in with their environment, and all look to be living the hustle and bustle of St Helier, just like their migrant fisherman, merchant ancestors.

Shoot 3 – People and Portraiture

For this shoot I focused on capturing the emotion of the people I shot. I also focused on shooting people who were busy going about their day in a variety of different ways, weather that be playing guitar on the pavement or taking a smoke break; the images tell a story of identity.

Independent, Reading, Task

Identity And Community – Shoot 1

Leave a comment

After our tour of the museum we were able to explore the beautifully restored Victorian House and enter the drama of a Victorian family in crisis. Thereafter, we were taken on a tour on the streets near the museum by a passionate historical architecture expert Stuart Fell.

https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2021/03/25/our-aim-should-be-to-make-the-place-beautiful-again/

I documented the tours keeping migration and communities in mind and shot it in a fashion that focused on

– a sense of place
– character of community
– people, portraiture

I began my editing process by using the software Adobe Lightroom Classic to start identifying my most powerful and useful images. I did this by working in the Library window and implementing LR’s features that help organise and rank photos. I gave a series of images a ‘flag’ which indicates if I picked them or not. I then gave each image a star rating which narrows down how much I like the image even more and therefore makes the displaying and selecting of my images an easier process. Finally I colour coded images that I believed would work well presented together

I then used the compare views feature to make comparisons between the same photo edited in deferent ways and to reflect on the before and after of my images to experiment how they could be tweaked differently and what works well to emphasise the emotion in my photographs.

The above is an example of this feature being used where I compare two different images edited in two different fashions. The feature makes it easy to see which image works better at one quick glance.

The above is an example of a before and after comparison where the image is split in half and an easy examination into what editing took place can be made.

When editing my images the first element of the image I pay attention to before I start tweaking anything else is composition. I adjust the image using the crop overlay tool to frame and compose the image artistically.

After this I experiment with the colour elements of the image

I do the same but, experiment with a completely desaturated monochrome version of an image.

Below are the final edits of the museum and architecture walk grouped into two collages.

Independent, Task

Design and Layout

Leave a comment

Design Drafts

Here I produced quick arrangements of my photographs to see which images worked well together in a sequence, for example I tried placing portraits together and architectural ones separately. This helped me gain an idea of the order I will put my images in, as well as how they work together to tell a story. Ultimately I decided to place my images in a sequence that alternated between portrait and landscape, as I believe it will create a sense of balance in my zine.

Next I stuck down my images down onto a booklet template, in the order I had decided on, allowing me to see what it would look like once printed. Here I decided to place a black and white landscape photograph as a double page spread in the centre, as I believed it could further develop my idea of balance within the zine, whilst also creating a kind of symmetry between the start and end of the piece.

For my front and back cover I have chosen my images of doorways that are next to each other to show the duality of the communities existing throughout St. Helier. This also could be used as a metaphor for looking inside the lives and lifestyles of the people in this town. In addition it represents the polarised contents of the zine, that shows both the architecture and the people of who inhabit the different quarters.

For the first page of my zine I have chosen to display two images, one containing multiple sets of flats and housing, and the other a portrait of a lady standing in front of her restaurant. For every image of architecture, I have chosen to add a black background to further contrast with the vibrance of the portrait opposite it, additionally it also contrasts with the white sky in the photograph.

On the second page I have included again both a portrait and an architectural image with the same backgrounds and layouts as the previous page. The image on the left showcases St. Thomas’ Church accompanied with a portrait of a man at work in a garage on the right, both taken within the French/Portuguese quarters within town.

For the third page I have chosen to follow a similar layout to the previous pages with the exception of the portrait having a full bleed to the edge of the page, not allowing room for a white border. The photograph on the left displays the view from a courtyard in the centre of town. The portrait on the right shows a man, who appears to be a carpenter or builder, at work leaning in a doorway.

For the centre page I have placed my black and white landscape image of a run down building in town. Here I have chosen to make the image full bleed, as I think that it will be more impactful without a white border around it. This building is located around the centre of town, which I think ties together the theme of divisions as it provides a place of intersectionality.

For this next page I have swap around the order of the portrait and architecture photographs to continue the theme of alternating between black and white landscape and colour portrait. These pages reflect the pages before the centre page, with the portrait being full bleed instead of having a white border.

This page displays a portrait of two men who appeared to be on a break and standing outside the door of their workplace, next to a black and white image of St. Thomas’ church which is a strong signifier for this community, due to the large scale of the building and its towering over the rest of town.

For the final double page I have showcases an image of a woman on her balcony looking down into the courtyard I was standing in, placed next to a block of flats that I thought looked similar to the exterior of the building this lady was in.

For the back cover, I have chosen another photograph of two houses and doors side by side in order to replicate the front cover. This creates a sense of symmetry within the zine. In addition, the two different colours of the house increase message of duality and separate communities within St. Helier.

Independent, Task

historical Artists : Victor Hugo

Leave a comment

Victor Hugo

Who was Victor Hugo?

Victor Hugo was born February 26, 1802 in Besançon and died May 22, 1885 in Paris. He was a French poet and playwrighter , he marked the history of the nineteenth century, and is still recognized thanks to his literary works, and also by his political speeches. He wrote works very well known as Les Châtiments (1853), Les Contemplations (1856) and Les Misérables in 1862.

To Jersey from France

Because of his political opinion, Victor Hugo could not stay in France during the reign of Napoleon III, and had to refuge in a discreet place. He moved to Jersey in 1852 and he stayed until 1855. Thanks to his refuge he was able to publish his political pamphlet against Napoleon III Napoléon le Petit and Histoire d’un crime. During his period of leaving in jersey he also composed and published some of his best work like Les Misérables, Les Châtiments 1853; Les Contemplations 1856 and La Légende des siècles 1859. Very quickly Victor Hugo becomes very interested in photography. He wants to use it as a political tool to show his image in France. So it becomes a family affair. His sons Charles and, François-Victor, organize a photographic workshop . The Jersey workshop was a unique adventure. It was both a look at the landscape that sometimes inspired Victor Hugo’s drawings and a testimony to an outlaw in exile. The Jersey Workshop was a photographic studio in the greenhouse at Marine Terrace. Victor Hugo’s project was to create a book on the Channel Islands illustrated with images. But the book was never finished, he still produced an intense production of salted paper prints.
The purpose of the workshop was to preserve the memory of the exiles, the portraits which were taken were placed in many albums which were sometimes adorned with paintings or collages by Charles Hugo.

Independent, Reading, Task

Identity and Community – Research

Leave a comment

My visit to the Jersey Museum began with a dive into an exhibition room with multitudes of well designed walls detailing Jerseys lengthily history which began almost 250,000 years ago when the first people arrived in Jersey and continues through the centuries to explore the factors that have shaped this unique Island and the people who live here. This intrigued my interest in immigration and specifically how people from all over the globe come together in an inspiring feat of unity. This interest can be sourced from the fact that I am an immigrant in many forms as I have lived in a few countries and all of them have been extensively culturally diverse such as the place I call my home; South Africa. Which is just like Jersey in terms of its diversity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_nation#:~:text=Rainbow%20Nation%20is%20a%20term,fully%20democratic%20election%20in%201994.

I moved to the island just 3 years ago. The exhibition states; ‘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.’ This statement immediately creates an a sense of belonging and inclusivity for me being a recent immigrant to the island considering that everyone has a story they can share and relate to one another with, even the most local islanders.

The section of the museum we visited first focused on immigration to jersey and tells the story about why people have moved here over the centuries.

https://www.facebook.com/JerseyHeritage/videos/735935120595905/

One of the areas of the exhibition I was most interested in was the section on tourism to jersey. Jersey saw a boom in tourism in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Photographs_of_Jersey_in_the_%2760s_and_%2770s_by_Pierre_Mette

It was nicknamed honeymoon island as it was a favourite location for newlyweds. Jersey attracted this boom of people as it had everything people wanted when they started looking to holiday in the post WWII years. Jersey was an escape from life on the mainland and it had better weather and better beaches.

Jersey's rich immigrants 'contribute lots to the community' | Jersey Evening Post

Everything in jersey at the time was also much cheaper which attracted even more holiday goers.

This boom in travel to Jersey changed the island in many ways. Just one example being the fact that aeroplanes used to land on the beach at low tide in jersey but due to the boom they built an airport. This segment of the exhibition took my attention due to the fascinating and aesthetic vintage travel posters used by British and Irish airlines and French railway lines to advertise travel to the island

This part of the exhibition also rang bells in another personal way for me. It relates to another South Africa to Jersey migration story. The story begins with a pair of South African surfers in the 60s got fired from the Umhlanga Hotel for swinging on the chandeliers. I grew up surfing in this area and this is a hotel I have stayed in many times so this story has many personal connections with my life and to learn about these migration stories is incredibly compelling and fulfilling. The surfers then decided to hop on a boat to the UK after getting fired from their job to look for greater opportunities. While working in the UK they realised that the cold, rainy weather and being far from the ocean was not for them. One evening they spotted perfect curling waves and blue skies on a Jersey tourism ad during the time of the tourism boom and hopped on the next boat over. They built their own boards and began surfing down at St Ouen’s Bay. The owner of the Watersplash restaurant and night club at the time noticed the lads and due to the increased number of ocean related deaths happening outside the restaurant, he decided to hire them as head lifeguards. The South African lifeguards continued to surf outside the Watersplash and this grabbed the attention of the local islanders as surfing had not yet arrived on the island. The two men had created a surge in popularity for surfing in Jersey and are responsible for bringing one of Jerseys most popular sports to the island.

Independent, Task

Jersey Archives – Essay

1 Comment

How are archives a repository of knowledge? 

The Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive is a key part of Jersey’s history and an indispensable tool that allows us to gain knowledge and understanding of our past, not just as an island but as individuals. This institution was founded in 1873, 33 years after photography was first introduced to the island, with the intention of collecting documentary records of the times. After 148 years, this archive has now accumulated to over 36,000 images and 100,000 items that tell a story of Jersey’s past residents, architecture, landscapes and more. With this collection we are able to view what life was like during various historical periods that were significant in shaping the Jersey we live in today. This includes the German occupation during World War Two, in which photography aided us in remembering why we celebrate our gained freedom, and the hardships others went through in order to get it. An archival image is not required to be the most impressive and aesthetically pleasing photograph ever created, but only needs to tell a story that needs to or should be remembered. That is why, we may not realise it however, even the most casual photography we do in day-to-day life, whether it be the collection of photos on a platform such as Instagram or just a single image amongst thousands of others on your phone, it could be a crucial archive of the times we live in now. It can be argued that this has become even more true during the past year, as due to Covid 19 our photographs will provide people in the future with an insight into our lives during these difficult times.

Photographer Emile Guiton

There are many photographers that played an important part in the early days of photography in Jersey, but it can be said that Emile Guiton’s work was some of the most influential and important for the island. Born in 1879, Guiton was a Jersey native credited with being one of the founding members of the Société Jersiaise, helping build up this crucial collection of images with his photographic career that spanned from 1910 up to his death in 1972. The subjects that were of interest to Guiton varied from archaeological excavations to still life images, leaving this amateur photographer with a large amount of creative freedom. This side of Guiton that was fascinated with documentary photography resulted with him being one of the few to be issued a permit, allowing him to photograph the German Occupation during the Second World War. With this record of history, we are able to gain knowledge of not only Guiton’s artistic viewpoint of everyday life during war, but the what the German army wished to be recorded. This may have included Guiton’s many different photographs of German artillery around the island, which could have been used to aid the Germans in projecting their power. As well as this, Guiton’s career also entailed some of the first experimentation with colour photography, using the method of Autochrome. This allowed a whole new perspective of life in Jersey, with colour bringing the streets of St. Helier to life, in turn resulting in viewers being able to connect and relate to these images more. 

Emile Guiton, Marett Road

This colour photograph taken by Emile Guiton displays a residential street located in St. Helier containing a car and two children, one in the foreground and one in the background. Here leading lines are created by the dark strip of cobblestone running through the centre of the street, resulting in the viewers eye being led deeper into the heavily housed area. Contrast in this image can be seen through the juxtaposition of the light brick houses and the dark clothing the children are wearing, as they lean against the wall. In addition, it can be said that the right half of the image contrasts with the left, due to the shadows of the houses that shed onto the street. From this it is clear that Guiton used only natural light to take this photograph, as he does with his other images. Also it can be said that it was most likely taken in the hours leading up to sunset, due to the length of the shadows and the slight golden glow. In order to produce this colour photograph, Guiton used a process named Autochrome, invented by the Lumière brothers in 1903. This method consisted of one glass plate, covered in a thin layer of potato starch grains dyed green, red and blue that acted as a filter. This would then be given a coat of varnish before and after passing through a high pressure roller, followed by a layer of emulsion. Finally this would then be flipped and placed into the camera where the light would pass through and create and image. This is said to be one of the first colour images of a street in that parish, giving us an insight into what domestic and community life was like. From this image it could be said that this part of St. Helier was once a seemingly quiet and peaceful area, contrasting to what we now consider the busiest and most lively parish on the island.

In conclusion, it is clear that the use of archives aids us in gaining knowledge of past events and past day-to-day life. Whether a photograph displays soldiers marching through the streets or a family outing, there is still information to be gained as a community. An archive such as the Societe Jersiaise allows us to view life from the perspective of hundreds of photographers from different backgrounds, all aiming to capture Jersey in a unique way. Furthermore, as this archive continues to grow so does the story of this island. With what I have learnt from this, as a photographer, I would aim to take a more documentary approach to my work, after discovering there is more value in the un-staged than I previously thought. Although the changing architecture of the island tells an interesting story of the past, I believe that the inhabitants of Jersey are clear signifiers of what makes this islands culture what it is today, which is what I would like to focus on in the future.

Task

identity and community – Editing and Developing shoot 2

Leave a comment

Contact Sheets

I started by importing all my photographs from the seond photo-shoot we did as a group, during our trip to the Société Jersiaise. After this, I then went through each of my images flagging my best images with white, and my worst in black to start off my selection process. I then went through my white flagged images and started to rate them out of 5, allowing me to see which images I should prioritise editing and those I want to include in my series.

Editing and Developing

I started off by editing my 5 stared photographs, first of all cropping my images to allow a strong focus on my subjects. I then experimented with black and white for my portrait images, whilst adjusting the exposure, contrast, shadows, highlights, blacks and whites. I did this for each of my portraits and decided to create an edited image in both black and white, and colour for each of them.

Here I used the survey view in order to compare the difference between my portraits in black and white, and colour. I decided to do one edit of each as I believed when placed in a series, although containing the same things, they would tell two different stories.

I also used the survey view to make sure that I was editing my images with similar tonal values to each other, in order to make sure they would fit together in a series, without looking too jarring when placed side by side. I ended up editing my black and white images with a strong contrast and darker tones.

I also experimented with black and white with my architectural photographs, deciding to only create edited images in this style, as I found it emphasised how old or how modern the structures were. This helped me to build up a story and a visual representation of what each part of St. Helier represents and looks like.

Edited Images

Independent, Reading, Task

Essay – Archives

1 Comment

How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?

An archive is a collection of historical documents/records which provide information about a place, institution, or group of people. An example of an achieve is Jersey Archives, starting from 1993 Jersey Archive has collected over 300,000 archival records and, it is the island’s national repository for holding archival material from public institutions as well as private businesses and individuals. The Jersey Archive can offer guidance, information and documents that relate to all aspects of the Island’s History. Although, the most common reason for using an archive is to settle legal claims, clarify family history, they are also extremely helpful for historians, filmmakers and authors, as it gives them a sense of the way’s things were.

Archives collect primary source materials such as student newspapers, yearbooks, directories, documents related to groups and organizations, photos, and art pieces. Archives are mostly organised into fonds. A fonds is the entire body of records of an organisation, family, or individual that have been created and accumulated as the result of an organic process. Each fond is kept separately from other fonds to prevent the records from becoming disorganized and mixed up with other information, which would mean that they become inaccurate.

Société Jersiaise, is a photographic archive with a collection of 100,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day. It was founded in 1873, for the study of Jersey archaeology, history, natural history, the ancient language and the conservation of the environment. There are approximately 35,000 historical images in the photographic archive are searchable online. Société Jersiaise also have an extensive library with access to may publications and records relating to the island’s history, identity and geography.

William Collie was born in Skene, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in October 1810. He stared his creative career as a professional portrait painter. Later he moved south, to St. Helier, Jersey in 1841, where he had a portrait business. He became one of the earliest photographers working in the Channel Islands, operating from Belmont House, St Helier. In the late 1840’s he made a series of genre calotype; which is an early photographic process in which negatives were made using paper coated with silver iodide, portraits depicting ‘French and Jersey Market Women’ which were well received by the photography critic of the Art Union (1 June 1847) who compared them to the work of David Octavius Hill, who was a Scottish painter, photographer and arts activist. These studies were later exhibited at the London Great Exhibition of 1851.

The Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive lists 157 photographs by William Collie. Although none of them are available to view online, due to copyright. However, you can still see them on some websites. The vast majority of the 157 images listed on the Société Jersiaise website are portraits, but there are four pictures of Jersey scenes which, if the information in their records is accurate, they are of, the church of Scotland (Not Jersey), Mont Orgueil Castle, houses on Queens Road, a granite, thatched cottage. One of his most famous portraits listed on the Societe Jersiaise website is of Elie Jean Filleul, who died aged 102 in 1851. From these images we can gather information about the history of St Helier, by using old images of streets and buildings. Also, we can identity the fashion and lifestyle in the 19th century.

William created his images using a photographic process called calotype, also called talbotype. Calotype comes from the ancient Greek word “beautiful” and “impression”. It is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide, once its dried it is floated on a solution of silver nitrate in a dark room, which forms a photosensitive silver chloride compound on one side of the paper. This is then dried and ready to be exposed to light. When exposed to light the silver chloride darkens, creating a negative image. Which is made to make multiple positive prints simply by playing the negative onto a sensitised piece of paper and exposed to light.

Elie Filleul - Jerripedia
Elie Jean Filleul

Collie’s image contains a good, high contrast as the highlights are bright and the shadows are dark. This is a good aspect to have in portrait photography as it defines facial features. Collie’s image is very clear and sharp even though it was taken in the 19th century. It contains highly detailed textures and patterns; this is due to the fact that it was processed in a dark room using multiple chemicals. This is why the edge is overexposed and has the fading look. Collie’s has positioned the subject in the centre of the frame to draw attention to them, which is an important aspect in portrait photography. By including props, like walking sticks, bowls in the background and a child, it creates a scene and a story which relates to the person being photography. We can tell by the image that the subject is of age due to a beard and the walking stick. This juxtaposes with the child on their lap.

In conclusion, archives are a good repository of knowledge and historic information, they are a good way to reflect on the past, as the contain historic photos and documents which can be compared to the present day. This shows a comparison of what life was like and how it has changed. The photos from the archives can help develop my project, as it displays different cultures and communities, which I can juxtapose to the current day and show how much they have changed. I can also use the archives to get photos to compare past and present buildings, this creates a comparison which shows a positive outcome.