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Identity and Community – Analysis

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Sebastiao Salgado

Sebastiao Salgado, born in 1944, is a Brazilian social documentary photographer, known for taking powerful photographs that depict the lives of the suffering and oppressed. It can be said that this flare for activism originated when Salgado joined a political movement that opposed Brazil’s military government, in which he was exiled for. Salgado first started to take photographs after being sent to various African countries on business trips, whilst working as an economist. It is here that he became fascinated with the artform and as a result quit his job to pursue photography full time. This decision led to Salgado travelling to hundreds of countries for his different projects, often focusing on hardships of these places. This includes his project named ‘Workers’, published in 1993, which looked at the end of the large-scale industrial era.

Analysis

Sebastiao Salgado’s ‘Workers’ series

This black and white image taken by Sebastiao Salgado depicts a worn out firefighter drenched in oil walking towards the fiery landscape in the background. This high contrasting image displays a large juxtaposition between light and dark with the oil fuel inferno and the heavy dark smoke that is blackening the sky, leaving no trace of daylight. Here Salgado has confined the frame to only show one man and the impossible task he is faced with, leaving a section of empty space in the center that separates the two. This creates an ominous tone to the image that may both unnerve a viewer of this piece, and also cause them to be in awe of the worker’s bravery. In addition, it can be said that repetition is produced in this image with the round spattering of oil and the bubbled clouds of smoke rapidly emerging from the flames, that hold a similar form.

When looking at this piece technically, it is easy to see that this photograph was taken with solely natural lighting, due to the outside setting. Furthermore, Salgado’s main source of light for this image seems to be coming from the blazing flames in the background, as any sign of sun is block out by smoke. As a result of this lack of light the ISO setting used was presumably high, to create an image that would not be under exposed. The shutter speed used in order to take this photograph was most likely on a fast setting, as the clouds produced by the flames are in crisp focus but must have been forming and reforming at a rapid pace, the same can be said for the spurting oil. In addition, due to the fact that these flames are in focus, it can also be said that Salgado used a small aperture, allowing the entirety of the landscape to have the same amount of visibility.

This photograph was taken as part of Salgado’s ‘Worker’ series that was focused around oppressed manual labourers, that were considered to be over-worked and under-paid. This photograph tells the story of the environmental disaster that occurred in Kuwait in 1991. This expanse of fire and flames were a result of the Gulf War, that saw the United States pitted against Iraq in a fight over oil. With over 700 hundred oil wells alight, firefighters were given the impossible job of containing the raging flames. With this context, it is easy to understand the almost unfazed firefighter walking towards the fire, whilst being showered with oil, with his head hung low in disbelief and exhaustion. Salgado claimed that “In all my long life, I never again found this kind of light” when talking about the flames.

Percival Dunham

Percival Dunham is best known for being Jersey’s first photo journalist, taking many photographs for newspapers such as Jersey Illustrated Weekly and the Morning News from 1913 to 1914. Although little is known of his heritage, due to him having no records of family in Jersey, Dunham played a key role in the documentation of key events of Jersey’s history, contributing to the photographic archive immensely. The first records of Dunham are of his photography business, located on 57 Bath Street, in 1911. Before working as a photo journalist, Dunham was known for taking photographs of events such as the Battle of Flowers and the shipwreck of Roebuck. Dunham spent some time away from jersey when serving as a gunner during World War One, but returned soon after and married a Miss M Mourant.

Analysis

Percival Dunham – 1914

This black and white image taken by Percival Dunham displays troops packing up supplies and preparing to embark from Jersey harbour. Here a large contrast between light and dark is presented through the white uniforms of the soldiers and the darkness of the barrels, pier and the ships. Dunham has framed this image to show the military men in the foreground and the ships to the right in the background, showing the viewer what awaits them in their future. Leading lines in this photograph are created by what appears to be metallic pipes and tracks running across the ground, guiding the viewers eye down the slipway towards the ships and the sea.

From a technical viewpoint it is clear to see that this film photograph was taken with natural lighting, as a result of it being taken outside at a harbour. From the natural lighting, it could be said that this photo was taken at what seems to be midday from the brightness of the image, however this is hard to tell due to the overcast sky. With this it is probable that Dunham used a mid to low ISO setting to allow for a image that was not under exposed. In addition, it also appears that Dunham used a medium shutter speed setting, in order to capture the movement in this image clearly, but also letting enough light into the lens for the image to appear bright enough. Also, the aperture setting used was most likely low, allowing for the ships in the background to be clear and visible, as well as the soldiers at the front.

Here it is clear to see that this was a piece of Dunham’s photo-journalism, due to the candid and un-staged nature of the image. Dunham may have wanted to capture this photograph to display the serenity of the soldiers in that moment, in comparison to the harsh and violent conditions that await them. This can be related to Salgado’s ‘Workers’ image, in the sense that these men are both preparing to head into a place where their lives are being put in danger for their job.

Independent, Task

Archives

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Archives

“Everyone today has a story; the world’s an archive.”

― Anne Rice, The Wolf Gift

An archive is a database with records holding the history of humanity. These include, books, certificates, photographs, items and more.

These records actually gives the current and future generations knowledge of previous events, what the world used to look like in the past in comparison to today. They may also provide context which helps us understand why a certain picture was taken, it provides reference points between information sources which improves our knowledge of the world and past.

The reason to looking back into the past is so we learn about various events but most importantly past mistakes so we do not repeat history.

Société Jersiaise Photography archive

Only nine months after it was initially published in the major centres of England and France, photography arrived in Jersey on May 9 of 1840.

It features 19th-century photographs by notable photographers such as William Collie, Charles Hugo, Thomas Sutton, and Henry Mullins. The collection includes collections from late-nineteenth-century studios by Jersey photographers such as Ernest Baudoux, Albert Smith, and Clarence Ouless.

In the 21st century, we have had a major photo-journalist, the Emile Guiton-archive archive, who’s an honorary curator and the founder of the Photo Archive of Société Jersiaise, which contains more than a thousand negative images by Dunham Percival.

Along with this, we got the chance to see Mullins’s portraits of Victorian islanders as preserved on the pages of his photograph albums, which served as a catalogue of clients for his professional
practice at the time.

Henry Mullins

Henry Mullins began his working at 230 regent Street, London in the 1840s. During this time he was part of the circle of photographic pioneers at the Royal Polytechnic Institute, Regent Street, London here the first photographic studio in Europe opened in 1941. Mullins then went to Guernsey in the summer of 1847 and ultimately moved to Jersey in 1848 and set up a studio called the Royal Saloon at the 7 Royal Square in St. Helier.

By 1849 he worked alone and began his work on Cartes de visite which translates to visiting cards. They were daguerreotype photographs which for Mullin, his subjects were people. He would take portraitures of family and their children. By the end of his life, he had created an album of at least 9,000 portraits of islanders between 1852 and 1873, Jersey population at the time was 55.00 therefore he managed to capture at least 16% of the population.

He was one of the most prolific photographers of the first generation of Jersey photographers in the mid-nineteenth century.

He ended up being the photographer of choice for leading members of Jersey society and successful local and immigrant families. It was common for his portraits to be printed on a visiting card which were commercial photographs created using egg whites to glue the photographic graphic chemicals to the paper. This is what a daguerreotype is. These cards were very small normally measuring 54×89 mm and commonly mounted on a piece of card measuring 64 by 100 mm. However, Mullin mounted his shots on an album.

Image analysis

Substance:

This image was taken in the 19th century by Henry Mullins.

Obviously, this is a daguerreotype; as mentioned above, “It was common for his portraits to be printed on a visiting card which were commercial photographs created using egg whites to glue the photographic graphic chemicals to the paper.”

It was taken to document the types of people in Jersey.

Composition:

Considering the image was taken in the 19th century, the composition of this image is quite amazing. For example, Mullins has successfully centred the subject. This suggests he used the rule of thirds to compose the image. This allows enough space for the subject to appear while revealing pieces of the background equally.

Evidently, the focal point of this image is the man. He appears to be important since he is wearing a uniform and uniforms were typical of someone of authority. Considering his dead stare, it may be argued he’s part of the military since they are normally serious. May be argued he’s a soldier since we see no medals.

Mise En Scène:

As mentioned in Composition:

We can successfully see Mullins has captured an image of someone of authority.

He’s dressed in uniform with buttons and a collar which usually suggest military.

His appearance is quite radiant but serious at the same time; having his eyes fixed on a specific point.

He appears to have a bag with him since there is a strap going over his chest.

Techniques:

This daguerreotype is a direct-positive procedure that creates a very detailed picture on a sheet of copper with a thin silver layer without the use of a negative. To fix the picture, the plate has been submerged in sodium thiosulfate or salt solution and subsequently toned with chloride gold.

Atmosphere:

This photograph makes me feel quite intimidated since he looks important.

This image also has me wondering who this man actually is, is he a soldier? Sergeant?

Lighting:

The lighting in this image is quite low due to the quality of the daguerreotype. However, it may be argued that artificial lighting was used since it was taken in a studio and only one part of his face us properly lit.

Obviously, there are dark tones in this image due to the process used.

Conclusion

In summary, I largely agree that we can really learn from prior photos. As noted earlier: “These records actually inform current and future generations of previous events about what the planet used to look like in the past. They can also provide a context which enables us to understand why a certain photograph has been shot, which provides points of reference between data sources that enhance our understanding of the world and the past.” In order to display the difference in classes we learned, for example.

Through his work we have also learned that everyone is human at the end of the day. His role, power and dressing are simply the only distinction between people.

In addition, it’s vital to look back at the past in order not to repeat past errors such as the holocaust but to learn about diverse events that have made humanity to where we are today.

On the other hand, I felt that photos and archives are vital for conveying a tale, for showing how people used to be and how we have thus far evolved.

Henry Mullins has led me to portray people from a range of professions for my own project. And to use film to generate an effect comparable to photographs of Mullins. I’ll take my time on vacations to Madeira (my place of birth), go to museums and possibly archives, and photograph Madeira and Jersey, since they have both shaped my identity.

Task

Identity and Community – Shoot 1

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On the 7th of June, the day we visited the ‘People make Jersey’ exhibition at Jersey Museum, we also spent a portion of our day doing practical work. This consisted of walking around certain areas of town, that previously were known as sections of cultures and communities that belonged to different immigrant backgrounds. These three areas that we focused on were known as the merchant quarters (in red), the French and Portuguese quarters (in yellow), and the British expats and wealthier resident areas (in blue). On this walk we aimed to take photographs that showed the environmental differences between these culturally different communities, such as architecture, religious places and symbols, people and businesses. For this shoot we split into groups, with the group I was in focusing mainly on the French and Portuguese quarters.

Using the photographs from this shoot I have edited and developed my best images, that I believe help us visualise what makes a community and how they contrast with the other quarters around St. Helier.

Contact Sheets

For this shoot I took approximately 400 photographs, so in order to sort through them I used Lightroom to determine which images I would edit. This allowed me to compare photos and decide their relevancy when placed in a sequential format.

I first imported all my photographs from this shoot into my identity and community collection on Lightroom, and then went on to flagging the images I wanted to look at more closely and edit, and those I didn’t. I did this by using SHIFT P to flag the images in white I thought were my best, and using SHIFT X to flag the images in black that were not good enough to edit, due to them being out of focus or not interesting composition wise.

After flagging my images I then went further with my selection process by rating each of my photographs out of 5, in order to determine which images I would edit. The photos with a rating of 4 and over are what I believe were my best captured images

With most of my photographs I used the survey view to help to decide which out of two similar images I should choose to edit and display. This helped me recognise which image was more focused, especially if it was a portrait as I zoomed into the face on both photos and was able to compare them and see which was the best.

I also used the survey view to see if my image would look better in black and white or in colour, as it allowed me to see the before and after of the editing. I then decided to develop the image in black and white as I believed it created a more dramatic piece and a stronger contrast between the lightness of the sky and the darkness of the structure in the bottom right corner.

Here I viewed the before and after of my editing of this architectural image. On the right is my developed photograph, in which I increased the contrast and saturation to enhance the duplicity of the two houses. This was useful in helping me decide if my images needed more done to them to stand out more, or if they were over edited.

Edited Images

Independent, Task

Lightroom Adjustments

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Original Image
Edited Image
Original Image
Edited Image
Original Image
Edited Image
Original Image
Edited Image

How I edited my images

Firstly, I converted the original colour image into black and white to add a uniformed monochromatic theme to the images.

I then adjusted exposure, brightness etc in order to achieve a higher contrast between the black and white tones, and to also give the images a similar tone overall, and making sure none were too dark or too bright.

I decided to make these images black and white as I believe this uniformed theme adds a sense of unity between the communities of Jersey, but also adds a sense of ambiguity to the identities of the people in the images.

Independent, Reading, Resource, Task, Uncategorized

Jersey museum analysis

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On Monday June 7th, the school had arranged a trip to go to the Jersey Museum to discover an exhibition called ‘ People Make Jersey’. The exhibition showcased how immigration has influenced change in jersey from cultures, buildings and why people decided to immigrate to Jersey over the centuries. We learnt that in the 19th century that the jersey economy was boosted increasingly due to wealthy immigrants coming over. These individuals mainly came over from the UK or British colonies due to the attraction of the tax scheme, mild climate and for the way of life of living on the island. Due to these high value residents coming over to Jersey, this helped with creating local jobs and contributing to the growth of St.Helier in this time period.

After we went around the museum taking pictures of a rich merchants house, we went out on a walk through town with Stewart to take pictures of buildings and chimneys that had a lot more meaning behind them than anyone thought. For example there where buildings that have bricks which where darker than the others and the reasoning behind this was because those brick’s had been charred for a longer amount of time then the other brick’s in the process of making them. As for the yellow chimneys, we got told that they had some sort of military meaning behind them for the Jersey military in understanding which of those buildings that had the yellow chimneys where owned by the Jersey military.

Independent, Task

identity & community – photoshoots

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For my first photoshoot I walked the route above (from Royal Sq walk towards St Thomas Church via Broad St, Pitt St, Dumaresq St, Hue St, Le Geyt St, Devonshire Pl, Great Union Road + side streets with character, such as Journeaux St, Aquila Rd, Poonah Rd, Albert St, Columbus St, Dorset St, Clairvale Rd towards Rouge Boullion) and took photographs of anything which caught my eye or sparked my interest. I did my best to ensure that my images were as interesting and as eye catching as possible.

EDITING IN LIGHTROOM

To start with I imported all of my images into Lightroom into a collection called ‘Identity and Community‘ and then into a subfolder entitled ‘Photoshoot 1‘.

I then went through all of my images with the flag tool, and rejected the ones that I didn’t feel were my best work until I was left with a set I was happy with.

I then decided to give my remaining images a star rating out of 5 until I had my final images from my first photoshoot.

For my second photoshoot, I followed the same route (from Royal Sq walk towards St Thomas Church via Broad St, Pitt St, Dumaresq St, Hue St, Le Geyt St, Devonshire Pl, Great Union Road + side streets with character, such as Journeaux St, Aquila Rd, Poonah Rd, Albert St, Columbus St, Dorset St, Clairvale Rd towards Rouge Boullion). This time, however, I attempted to take photographs of different things that perhaps I hadn’t seen last time, or didn’t think were interesting enough. Again, I tried to keep my images as eye catching as possible. I also used the same methods of editing in Lightroom.

FINAL IMAGES

EVALUATION

Overall, I think that my images from both of my photoshoots around St Helier produced some good quality images. However, one thing which I could improve upon would be the positioning of the camera when I capture the images. This is because I had to reject some good photographs as they were wonky or blurry. For my next photoshoot my aim is to think more carefully about where I am positioning the camera as well as myself in order to produce an abundance of quality work.

Independent, Task

identity and community – jersey museum

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‘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.’

Jersey’s first permanent settlers arrived around 7,000 years ago. They were driven by a changing climate to seek a new and sheltered place where they could plant their crops and raise their families. Since that time, waves of immigrants have arrived in Jersey. Some were fleeing religious or political persecution and they found refuge in this Island. Others were economic migrants seeking a better way of life for themselves and their families, from retired English army officers in the 19th century to Breton farm workers in the early 20th century.

The French Wars of Religion took place during the 16th century between Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants). Consequently, many Huguenots fled to Jersey in order to escape being persecuted for their beliefs. In fact, so many Huguenots came to the island that an additional market day had to be introduced to cope with the crowds. Large numbers of Protestants left France after 1685, when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, which took away their right to practice their religion. This therefore led to an influx of Protestant immigrants who established many small businesses on the island. The shipping industry was created on the back of the Atlantic cod trade.  The first large scale commercial shipyard was built in Jersey in 1815.  The industry benefited from the Island’s tax-free status, being able to import timber more cheaply than competing British shipyards.  Much of the labour in the shipbuilding industry was migrant labour from other parts of the British Isles.  The shipbuilding and shipping industries began to decline in the 1860s as a result of a depression in world trade and the switch from sail to steam.

From 1820 the Jersey economy was boosted by the first real inflow of wealthy immigrants, largely retired military offers, half pay officers and senior officials from the colonies.  These individuals came mainly from the UK or British Colonies and were attracted by the tax regime, mild climate, improved travel and the Island way of life. It was estimated that there were 5,000 English residents in Jersey in the early 1840s three-quarters of these were half-pay officer s and their families.  Their local spending power would have created local jobs and contributed to the growth of St Helier during this period.  High Value Residents continue to come to Jersey for many of the same reasons.

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/family-history/jersey-immigration

The part of the exhibition which I found the most interesting was the ‘Alien Registration Cards’, which were introduced as a result of the Aliens Restriction Act passed in February 1920. Under this new law, all aliens over the age of 16 living in Jersey were forced to register with an Immigration Officer, no matter how old they were or how long they’d been living on the island. The Alien cards were issued up until the 1960s and, initially, any woman who married a foreign national was also required to register for a card, as well as anyone of foreign parentage. 

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/news/alien-registration-cards-added-to-jersey-heritage-s-online-catalogue

Independent, Reading, Task

Identity And Community Photo Shoot 2

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We went on a walk around the Merchant Quarters, and took photos on our walk.

Route 1: Merchant quarter around St Helier Parish Church > Royal Sq, Library Pl, Bond St, Broad St, Mulcaster St, Hill St, Snow Hill, La Motte St, Colomberie > follow onto Ann St, Hillgrove St (French Lanes), Wesley St, Ingouville Pl, Belmont Pl/ St towards Minden Pl, Rue de Funchal walk towards Val Plaisant towards St Thomas Church.

Editing in Lightroom Classic

I imported all my photos from the walk into Lightroom Classic, then used the P and X method to filter out the good/bad images.

Example

This is an example of my editing process using the 2 images of the old cars.

BEFORE AND AFTER
  • BEFORE
  • AFTER

For this edit, I wanted to show how simple life was in the old days without technology and other distractions. I started by removing the detail in the background where the door was. I then removed the modern lights on the wall with the spot healing brush, as they conflicted with the old car, as it is the main focus. I used the adjustment brush, to create a mask on the background then brought the shadows, and blacks down to make it completely black, to create a simply composition, made from the white wall, black background and the car.

BEFORE AND AFTER
  • BEFORE
  • AFTER

I used the same process as the other car image, so they would match in a collection. Then I used Photoshop to edit the chain out of the photo, as it was distracting.

Editing a monochrome image

I made this photo into black and white to add more mood and make it more serious. The composition of the subjects is good as they are at different heights. It would of been better if they swapped places, so it wasn’t black on black, and white on white.

Final Image Selection

Meaning of the colours:
– Green = Good
– Yellow = Medium
– Red = Bad

All the green colour coded images are the final images, and will be displayed below.

Final Images

Analyse

Overall, I like how my images turned out. Most of the images were colourful, and used different techniques.

The street art image was taken using my phone as a reflection, so that way I didn’t have to include all the people walking on the pavement. Instead, it created a unique reflection.

The restaurant and the portrait of the lady, were both using the framing technique. It helped removed unnecessary features and it leads the eye to the subject.

I really like the images of the cars. I was able to accomplish the simplified style I was going for by darkening the shadows, and removing modern light. the teal/light blue car really stands out against the white walls, and dark floor and background.

Independent, Task

Identity and Community Photoshoot

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Photoshoot plan

Identity and Community Photoshoot

In this photoshoot, we walked around certain areas of town in order to capture elements of community and identity. I tried to focus my work on identity of communities reflected in the architecture of the area, such as English-style buildings and more colourful, unique building designs. I also managed to capture candid portraits that reflect a particular part of that person’s identity, such as their job or hobbies.

I think my photos highlighted in green are my most successful images as the distinctively capture the identity of a singular person or a group of people. The way the images capture both the person’s clothing as well as the surroundings around them, such as a building site or an area where a a particular community inhabit provides an easier outlook onto that person’s life through their career or hobbies.

I believe the images with a red cross through them are my least successful as the theme of identity and community can only be applied very vaguely, as majority of these images are close-ups of random buildings or have distractions in the image, such as other people on the trip taking images at the same time.

To edit these images, I will add a black and white filter and make the contrast slightly more exaggerated. This is to give them a similar appearance to the images in the archives, and provide a vintage atmosphere to the images.

Independent, Reading, Task

CONTEMPORARY Artist Inspiration – Dana Lixenberg – (Identity And Community)

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Who is Dana Lixenberg?

Dana Lixenberg (born 1964)s 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.

Her most recent project is called “Imperial Courts”, and was made between 1993-2015. It is a project about Imperial Courts, a social housing project in Watts, Los Angeles. The project contains work made over a period of 22 years and consists of a book, exhibition and web documentary. 

“Austere and involved perspective” was her style as quoted by Muse Magazine, by one of her most great supporters.

Mood Board

This images were constructed from Dana Lixenberg’s website in the Portrait section.

Analysis – “Brian” – 2015

Firstly, Lixenberg has positioned her subject in a way which creates a moody composition. The subject, isn’t making eye contact , which signifies anger and wanting to be alone, to not talk to anyone. The subject is also slightly leaning forwards to create an engaging pose, and he has his body and shoulders slightly away from the camera for a more natural feel.

This image was shot in natural daylight, so the subject is well lit. It is most likely a overcast day, as the whites in the image aren’t overexposed, and there are shadows on the subject face, which helps to create depth and define facial features.

Lixenberg used a low aperture e.g. f/1.8 and focused on his eyes, to completely blur the background which helps keep the focus on the subjects face. It also slightly blurred the subjects jacket as well, which created a distinction between his chin and the jacket has they are of similar colour. The background is a good choice, as is completely white, which draws attention to the subject.

Lixenberg, probably used a 50mm lens as the subject fills up most the frame. She was close to the subject to get a sharper image. The reason why I think she shot with a 50mm lens, is because anything over 50mm it can make the subjects facial features seem flattened, and anything under 50mm creates lens distortion.

Overall, I like the aesthetic which Lixenberg was going for. I think it is a great image, and an interesting subject. The detail in his hair and beard help create a unique composition to demonstrate mood. The black and white effect makes us pause and look closely. Removing colour from a picture helps the viewer to focus on a subject’s emotional state.

Links

Imperial Courts introduction video made by Dana Lixenberg:

http://www.imperialcourtsproject.com/portrait/introductie-slide/#

GRIMM Gallery about Dana Lixenberg:

https://grimmgallery.com/artists/42-dana-lixenberg/

MUSE Magazine about Dana Lixenberg:

A great supporter of Dana Lixenberg’s “austere and involved perspective”, he was the first in the United States to publish a portfolio of her Imperial Courts series

https://www.musemagazine.it/dana-lixenberg/

Photo shoot In the style of Dana Lixenberg

I will plan a shoot in her style in a separate blog post. Where I get up close headshots of people using a low aperture, and a 50mm lens. I will ask people in town with interesting facial features.