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.
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:
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
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.
The photographer I want to study in more detail and analyse his work is Henry Mullins. Henry Mullins is a very famous photographer especially in Jersey’s history as he was one of the first famous photographers to influence Jersey photography. The unique thing about his photography is that all his images were portraits of people. This is quite important and powerful for our history as it shows us visually what individuals of different class looked and dressed lie in the 80s. His photography allows us to see a visually representation of Jersey’s culture back in the day and how much it has evolved over all these years up until now, such as fashion
Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, setting up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. Initially he was in partnership with a Mr Millward, about whom very little is known. By the following year he was working alone and he continued to work out of the same studio for another 26 years.
For a brief period in the 1860s he also worked in London, but judging by the collection of his photographs which is now held by La Société Jersiaise, he found plenty of willing sitters in the island prepared to pay half a guinea (promoted as “one half of that in London”) to have their portrait taken by him.
analysis of one of Henry’s photographs-
As you can see this photo is a portrait photo that has been taken in black and white. His face and body has a much darker tone compared to the background that is just all plain white, this nicely contrasts together and makes him stand out in the portrait. Mullins would have mostly likely used natural lighting and photographed this young man in a studio as the background is all white or even in his own home. He’s positioned to be photographed directly in the center of the image which makes him the main subject and focus, as this is a portrait photograph. You can probably figure out his class and wealth status just by having a look at what he’s wearing. He’s dressed in a neat dark suit with a tie which suggests he’s most likely middle or upper class as he would definitely need to have money to buy a good looking suit instead of just being in old slacks and photographed in a farm. Him being dressed well also suggests he probably has a good earning job and his hair looks well put together too. This is why Mullins taking portraits is very important and empowering as you can see and tell so much just from one image.
How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?
Archives show us the past and educate us on the history through visual evidence.
Société Jersiaise
The Société Jersiaise was founded in January 28, 1873. They have now been collecting photography for 140 years, holding history with context helping present generations gain knowledge of Jersey. Photography arrived in Jersey in 1840.
Thomas Sutton was a pioneer who developed new camera equipment and photographer equipment. In 1859 he developed the panoramic camera with a wide-angle lens and in 1861 he developed the first single lens reflex camera. In 1861 Sutton took and developed the worlds first colour photo of a Tartan ribbon with James Clerk Maxwell who directed him to take three photographs of the ribbon through different coloured filters for each . He also worked on the development of dry photographic plates.
The world’s first permanent colour photograph, Ribbon, by Thomas Sutton, 1861
Multi-portraits, a technique used under licence by Henry Mullins
Henry Mullins was the first photographer to come to Jersey in 1848 and after his death he had a collection of 20,000 negatives which was given to La Société in 2006.
He first started working in London but then moved to jersey in July 1848 to set up a studio which was initially a partnership but the year after he was working alone and continued to do so for 26 years.
For a short period in the 1860s he also worked in London but based on his photographic archives at La Société Jersiaise, he found more people in Jersey prepared to pay to have their portrait taken by him.
William Collie took images of French Migrant Workers which some were early forms of staging photography as he had his friends dress up to create images. In the archive he currently hold 157 photographs.
He also was one of the pioneers of the photographic processes which help lead to paper prints invented by William Fox Talbot.
One of the earliest photographs printed on paper. Jersey market women, by William Collie, 1847
From looking at the photos from the past we learn of the physical developments from the past such as the difference between our buildings, roads and land. We also learn the difference in society and the way of life, such as jobs and dress sense. As a family we have many old photos kept in physical photo albums but also albums on phones and social media platforms such as Facebook which also show the difference between looks and society from 10 years ago. Also we have archives of text messages which are kept on our phones and tell us a little about our personalities, because if someone was to read them they would have enough to be able to judge you as a person.
Edwin Dale
Edwin Dale was a photographer who took pictures of jersey in the early 20th century (between 1910 and 1920), specifically landscapes. He focused on Harbour scenes and steamships, churches, houses, country lanes and coastal views, sport and the railway. He also took some portraits of working people. He travelled around the island on his motorbike to take his photos.
His photos are part of the Photographic Archive at La Société Jersiaise and private collectors. He photographed events such as the Royal Visit of 1911. In 1914 around 40 of his images were published as a series of postcards.
Edwin Dale’s work helps us learn about the past of Jersey such as building developments and lifestyle changes.
From studying Edwin Dales work we can gain knowledge of the past and how Jersey has changed with new technology and inventions. Like in ‘A penny farthing bicycle’ (shown above) an old traditional bicycle is pictured showing the difference between modern bicycles. Also, the other two images show a difference in the landscape, for example the harbour has now changed completely as in the photo it is used as the main harbour for big boats but now is used mainly by fishermen. Furthermore, in recent years the land around La Colette has been expanded with landfill.
Image Analysis
Key Themes– Edwin Dale’s work is inspired by every day life and taking images best showing the everyday life that would have been in the early 1900s, 100 years ago.
Context– A picture of a man standing on top of a traditional Vraic Cart pulled by a white horse on a field. A man in the background holding a pitchfork and a line of horses in the back. It is taken from eye level with the cart in the centre of the image. The title ‘Vraic Cart’ educates the audience because before knowing the title I did not know what was gong on, but the title tells us it is a cart using Vraic to fertilise the soil. It also implies that this is the main focus of the image and is maybe why he took it, to solely educate the future society.
Vraic Cart, Edwin Dale
Formal Elements– The image is in black and white which makes the image have a high tonal range and creates a large contrast between the shadows and highlights. The image is taken outside meaning Dale replied on the natural lighting. At first the image looks a bit dark in nature but then if you look closer there is a shadow on the ground meaning it was a sunny day which changes the mood of the image as it is just an average day and Dale is probably out on a capturing the natural everyday working people. The image follows the rule of thirds as he has positioned the line of houses in the top third of the image and has kept his main subject (the horse varic cart) in the centre.
Conclusion
Referring back to the essay question (How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?) I think that it is obvious that we can learn a huge amount from archives of any sort, specifically photographic archives as they can help us visualise and see things like how they did in the past. For example they are a good way to see how they lived in the past and how technology has changed, showing the difference between the past and the present. They can also show the difference between the lives of different class, gender, race and religion and how they lived together as a community but also the difference with those groups to the present day.
To develop my own work forwards I would like to adapt a similar style to Edwin Dale by taking images in the style of photojournalism. for example I could go to town where it is busy and take images capturing the lifestyle of people and them in their routines going to work, shopping or socialising.
The ‘People Make Jersey’ exhibition showcased within Jersey Museum, allowed us as students to explore the rich history Jersey contains as well as its vast number of occupants that have helped shape that history. This exhibition displayed just how much variety Jersey has in terms of culture, describing the Island as a mixing pot of people who have come from countries all over the world, or even people who’s families have been here for centuries. From visiting this exhibition I have learnt of the many different stories of migration that played a crucial part in creating Jersey’s cultural identity, varying from religious and political refugees to economic migrants.
One section of the ‘People make Jersey’ exhibition focused on the many ‘Alien’ registration cards, which were introduced in 1920 and issued to migrants who had relocated to Jersey. These cards displayed various pieces of information such as the profession, previous residence and nationality of the person, alongside an image of them. This therefore gives us a visual representation of the many different backgrounds and stories Jersey holds in small fragments. In addition, this also allowed for the public of Jersey to be given an opportunity to view images and information of distant family members, that established their roots on the island, for the first time, providing them a link to their diverse family histories.
Another section of the exhibition on the other hand, looked at family names that are often associated with being typical ‘Jersey’ names which contain a long line of family history on the island. Originally, these typical ‘Jersey’ names were in fact used to identify where certain immigrants were from, with names such as Le Breton, De Gruchy, Norman and more originating from various areas in France, and names such as Hamptonne, Le Gallais and Langlois originating across Great Britain. Even hundreds of years later after first arriving in Jersey, these predominant names can still be seen and recognised as an important part of the island, with establishments like Normans and De Gruchy, located in town, still running to this day.
However, when reflecting on the statement ‘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.’ displayed within the exhibition, I found that the section that explained the English influence to Jersey life, to be personally the most interesting aspect. This is as although I was born on the island, the rest of my family originated mainly from Manchester and had no previous links with the island. I was even more so fascinated with the small piece of the exhibition that explained the introduction of the English education to the island, made first available to the boys at Victoria College, due to the fact that my mother first moved to the island to continue her career as a teacher, as a result of Jersey being in a shortage of the profession.
The exhibition is based on the fact that, “Every Jersey resident has a story of how they come to be living in the Island, whether their family came here 500 years ago or five years ago. ‘People Make Jersey’ explores some of these stories and the ways in which immigration has shaped and influenced the Island we know today.”
The oldest items in the exhibition belonged to Jersey’s first permanent settlers, who arrived around 7,000 years ago. The created basic stone tools and lived in a sheltered place where they could plant their crops and raise their families.
Picture of tools, Jadeite polished stone axe and ring. These would have been brought into Jersey from mainland France around 6,000 years ago.
It then follows the waves of immigrants who have arrived in Jersey over the centuries. Some of the people were religious, which introduced different cultures and beliefs into the island.
There was an glass display island in the exhibition which displayed lots of passport type cards. These were the Aliens registration cards, which show lots of French people living in Jersey in 1920.
There were also some residents from much further afield. Jersey in 1920 was a surprisingly international community. E.g. Belgium, Toulouse, and Czech Slovakia.
There was a wall which featured the current generation holding there ancestors registration cards, this was a good way to visualise the different cultures in Jersey and its history.
Near to the registration cards, there was a map on the wall, which mostly focused on France. It showed where some of the popular surnames originated from. In the old days the surname just meant where you were from, e.g. John Coutanche, who was from Coutances, France. These are all the names and places displayed on the map :
UK – LANGLOIS from England – LE GALLAIS from Wales – HAMPTONNE from Southampton
FRANCE – DE CARTERET from Carteret – DE LA HAYE from La Haye de Puits – DE GRUCHY from Gruchy – COUTANCHE from Coutances – LE BRETON from Brittany – NORMAN from Normandy – PERCHARD from the Perche region – LE POIDEVIN from Poitou – D’AUVERGNE from Auvergne region.
There was a wall that had items which people brought to Jersey when they first came. Each person had one item that had a significant value/memory to them. Some of the weird/interesting items was a, Potato grater, which was brought to Jersey from Poland by Karolina Klonowska, as it was very old and belonged to here grandmother, she brought it to Jersey so she could cook her favourite Polish dishes. There were other items such as dolls, passports and, musical instruments such as a flute.
Around the exhibition there were old images of Jersey maps, notes and news papers. I thought they were interesting as so much has changed over the years, for example the Waterfront wasn’t even there in the map, as it was build recently. These are the Old vs New comparisons using images from the exhibition and new versions from today.
OLD NEWSPAPER VS NEW NEWSPAPER
OLD MAP VS NEW MAP
OLD FRENCH MONEY
PHOTO SHOOTS
After the exhibition, we visited the Victorian part of the museum, and went on 2 walks round town. The first walk we were looking at the different types of bricks and stones in the buildings. There was this one building which have blue bricks that reflected in the sunlight (the building with the French flag). The second walk we went round town. This is a image of a map where we went. We took photos as we walked around town of the buildings and anything we saw, mainly focusing on:
MIGRANT COMMUNITIES IN ST HELIER – a sense of place – character of community – people, portraiture
EDITING IN LIGHTROOM CLASSIC
I imported all my images into Lightroom from the museum trip on the 7th June.
This is the selected flagged images, that use the p (pick) and x (reject). The white flag is placed on the good images, where as a black flag on the rejected images. I used this to filter all my images, which was around 300 to get it down to 10-30 good images.
I did basic adjustments to the images, increasing clarity, decreasing dehaze, increasing contrast etc. Including gradient and radial filters.
I took some of the images into Photoshop (using edit in –> Adobe Photoshop, option in Lightroom) and removed distracting elements such as ropes and security cameras.
I tried a black and white, (monochrome) look to see if it would add more drama and create a moody atmosphere.
Then I used Lightroom compare view to compare the edited black and white image with the edited colour image.
Portrait – I like how the black and white brings out the details, and adds more age to the image. This works well due to the subject being of age. Although, I prefer the colour version as it shows more personality, which is crucial in portrait photography. The detail in his eyes and mouth is more defined in the coloured image, the colours also create depth, which is hidden in the black and white version.
Detailed Image – There is lots of detail so, the black and white image separates the whites and the blacks making them more defined creating depth. It gives a cleaner look the the image, but this is not the aesthetic I wanted as it is a messy, dirty building site. Which is why I like the coloured image more, as I shows sections of dull colour between the metal poles.
Fast Shutter Speed Image – This image shows motion in the faster flying birds, whist still freezing time as the birds fly. I like this image better in black and white, as there is more contrast and detail, compared to the coloured version. It also helps bring out the shadows in the birds more.
CHOOSING MY FINAL IMAGES
Lightroom made it easier to see all my images, as they were all in one place. Lightroom has different view features, such as, full screen, compare view, and survey view.
I used the survey view to display my good images, them I ordered them best to work using the star system inside Lightroom.
The purple colour tagged image was the best/my favourite, so I marked it 5 stars. This becomes useful when I have to make a zine, so I can just filter by 4+ stars, so I get my best images.
I colour coded my images based on its topic. Ill will try to keep it consistent throughout to year, so it is easier to find images.
The colours are: – Yellow – Indoors – Green – Outdoors – Red – Portrait (environmental) / People – Purple – Black and white photography
These are the final images in Lightroom, I then exported them into my PHOTO-SHOOTS folder in a sub-folder called June 7th Edits.
FINAL IMAGES
The larger images are my favourite ones, as there have a really nice compositions and colour.
Overall, there was a good variety of images, consisting of portraits and street photography. My favourite type is street photography, just walking around and using temporary objects to create foreground elements, since I use angles, reflections, and shapes to create my images, E.g. the car reflection in the orange street art image.
On Monday the 7th June we met at the Jersey Museum so that we could see the last day of the exhibition to do with Identity and Community. The exhibition was to do with the history of immigration from different parts of the world and the stories behind those who came here. This included historical information from the 1800 – 1900’s and information from the first and Second World War. The idea of the exhibition was to hear the stories from people who came 500 years ago or 5 years ago and how ‘People make Jersey’. We went to the exhibit at 9 am on Monday the 7th to see the last day of the exhibit before it was taken down.
The exhibit had information about settlers in Jersey spanning from recent settlers and settlers up to 7,000 years ago.
Above I have grouped the images I took at the museum showing the idea of identity and backgrounds of people in Jersey. I took photos of some of the people of Jersey talking about their heritage but also examples of how the non-native people were treated. To the bottom right of the images above, there are small coloured cars given to people coming to Jersey to live called “Alien Cards”.
Above I have grouped images I took of maps new vs old and examples of old publications. It shows a newspaper and book as well as a map of France and England showing where the origins of “Jersey” names come from. I am interested by the maps as it shows how much we have changed the layout of St Helier. It is also interesting that we have reclaimed land and built more space for Jersey to spread and thrive.
Finally, above I grouped photos that were historical items you wouldn’t see now for example a pair of old clogs, old money, an old accordion, an old crown and finally a stone age flint tool. This shows the diversity in the past of Jersey and how it was influenced by people who came from many different places.
My Images
After taking photos inside the museum, we moved on to take photos in town to look at the different sections of town that were for the different migrant communities. On the first walk we went on, we went from the Jersey Museum to the St Helier Church.
Lightroom
From the 400 images I took on the first photo shoot, I only flagged 51 that I liked and may wanted to use. I then filtered them down into red green and yellow. I only edited the yellow and green rated images. This left me with a final 16 images to edit.
To edit the image above, I applied the vivid colour filter and increased vibrance/ hue slightly to make the colours more vivid.
Artist Inspirations – Niall McDiarmid
Who is Niall McDiarmid?
Niall McDiarmid is a Scottish photographer and he mainly documents the people and landscape of Britain. McDiarmid was born in 1967 in Scotland and over his photography career has had his work shown at the Museum of London, Bristol and the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Mood Board
McDiarmid positioned the subjects to be in the centre and slightly to the right of centre. The camera is also zoomed out slightly so we can still see the facial expression of the main subject but also the background of the natural street showing people doing their own things.
The subject is being naturally lit but some parts of the image are quite dark. The colour yellow is used as a form of repetition in the image and appears multiple times. Firstly the subject is wearing a yellow jumper. He also appears to have yellow tobacco and another box that is yellow. The van behind him is yellow and the flag behind him is also yellow. I believe this repetition is used to show how the subject is different from other people who aren’t wearing yellow in the background behind him.
‘People Make Jersey’ was an exhibition held at the Jersey Museum which we visited on Monday June 7th. Information and facts on resident’s of Jersey’s history were displayed around the site, from farmers to local last names, the exhibition told it all. We started the day with a talk from an expert at the exhibition who took us around the area explaining different sections, such as information on religious/political refugees, economic migrants that arrived to support new industries such as oyster fishing, ship building, construction, agricultural workers and tourism.
Statement from ‘People Make Jersey’ –
‘Every Jersey resident has an immigration story – whether their family came here 500 years or five years ago. This exhibition explores some of these stories and the ways in which immigration has shaped and influenced the Island we know today.’
After attending the exhibition, I carried out some further research by speaking with my grandparents about their heritage, where their family lived, their jobs and any other interesting information on their lives being residents of Jersey. At the exhibition I was really interested in a display listing several local Jersey surnames, the display had information about where these surnames originated from and when conducting further research I wanted to discover more. When speaking with my grandmother she told me of how people of similar last names in Jersey would live in specific areas of the island. For example, my grandmother’s maiden name is Perchard; a very local Jersey name meaning ‘a man from Perche in the South of Normandy’ – many Perchard’s resided in the east of the island, in St Martin and Grouville. Additionally, when speaking with my grandfather he told me of how his father was born in Jersey and how people with his (and my) surname of Mariette were also from the East of the island in Gorey, and how many Mariette’s were fishermen. More on Jersey surnames can be found here. I found out that my grandmother’s parents were also both born in Jersey and as were their parents before that, when asking my grandmother about her parents careers she told me of how her father was the manager of a big general merchants store called ‘George D Laurens’ which was believed to be established as early as the 18th century, originally a hardware store but by the 1960s was one of Jersey’s major toy shops as well as selling general goods. I found it so interesting to compare some of my family’s heritage to the peoples I read about at the Jersey Museum, learning about their careers and lives was very eye-opening.
St Helier’s History – Stuart Fell
Later in the day, half of us joined Stuart Fell on a walk around the St Helier town centre discovering information about the architecture of this area in Jersey. We learnt about how wealthy residents who arrived in Jersey had an impact on these buildings, I found it so interesting to find out about how influential these people were in actually creating the foundations of our island. Stuart also gave us heaps of information on the different types of bricks used in St Helier’s architecture, for example we found out that brick making was once a thriving industry in the island during the 19th Century, which traded across the world, and that the most common colour of Jersey brick was red. On our walk we looked out for any red bricks in building’s chimneys, as Stuart informed us they could have been built over 150 years ago. More information on the Jersey brick making industry from islander Enid Gautier can be found here.
Will Lakeman is a Jersey-born photographer who focuses on landscape photography. Lakeman attended the University of East Anglia, the University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Sussex. He achieved degrees in American Studies and literature, but his main focus was on digital media, ethnomusicology and online culture. Lakeman has had his work displayed at the Private and Public Gallery, CCA Galleries International, Arthouse Jersey and was awarded the Summer Prize 2021 in the CCA Galleries International Summer Exhibition. Will Lakeman is heavily inspired by cinema and science fiction, which is why his work often contains vibrant colours and almost alien-like symbolism. Lakeman also recently began to experiment with artificial intelligence in his work to produce new imagery.
Will Lakeman’s interests lie in exploring a different side to everyday life, whilst incorporating his passions of science fiction and artificial intelligence to alter his work. This image from his ‘Social Housing’ collection represents this idea well, as the moving light creates a sense of a sort of utopian future from a science-fiction scene. This collection in particular depicts Jersey’s social housing buildings and apartments.
The lighting in this photograph is predominantly artificial, and consists of multiple colours and multiple levels of brightness. The brightest section of the image can be seen in the bottom and middle right of the image. This light has been created through the use of a slow shutter speed, in order to capture the movement and direction of the light. With the image being taken at night, the artificial light creates a harsh contrast against the natural darkness. Shadows cannot be seen due to the time of day, however the middle-ground towards the left of the image is substantially darker. Despite the lac of strength of the moonlight, it falls on the front of some buildings, making them slightly more visible to the viewer.
There is apparent leading lines in the bottom right of the, which are thin and curved. They direct the eyes of the viewer towards the artificially highlighted area of the image. They convey the direction and movement of the light, which influences the direction and movement of the viewers eyes. These lines also juxtapose the darker sections either side of them.
Although there is no sense of repetition within this photograph, there is a sense of echo and reflection in the light in the image. For example, the light in the leading lines create an echoing and almost ghostly affect. Also, the sense of reflection can be seen in the light being reflected into the sky.
There is a mixture of geometric and organic shapes in this image. The geometric shapes of the photograph are seen primarily in the midground and foreground of the image, these consist of the artificially constructed, straight-lined buildings. These shapes contrast the organic shapes that are featured in the top third of the photograph, with that being the natural clouds in the sky.
There is a strong sense of depth in this photograph, as the buildings closer to the background start to become out of focus, which contrast against the buildings towards the foreground that are in focus. The space within the image is mostly positive, which the chaotic lighting and closely-spaced buildings. However there is negative space in the sky and in between the buildings and where the image is darkest.
There is no sense of texture within the photograph as the focus of the image is to display the juxtaposition of light and dark rather than surfaces and textures.
Overall, the tones of the images are dark, how light tones are represented with the use of artificial lighting of cars, housing, and street lighting. The darkest tones of the image are seen in the middle and bottom third of the image, and towards the left. The lighter tones in the image can be found predominantly towards the right, middle and bottom thirds of the photograph. The image leans more towards darkness, which reflects a gloomy and enigmatic atmosphere.
The dominant colours in this photograph are black and deep, navy blue. However, there is miniature segments of colour that can be seen through the windows of the apartments, as well as the yellow-toned artificial light from the cars and street lights. The colours of the image allow the viewer to understand the contrast between dark and light, as well as allowing the light created by the slow shutter speed to be accentuated. I feel as thought the image would not have the same level of contrast if the image were to be in black and white, and the contrast would simply rely of contrast between shadow and light rather than the juxtaposition of colour and artificial light over natural light.
The composition of the image follows the rules of thirds, in the sense that the positive space is largely featured in the bottom and middle third, and the negative space filling the top third. Due to the positive space being concentrated into the middle and bottom third, the image can be considered as unbalanced. The focal point of the image is the movement of the light in the bottom right of the image, which creates the leading lines for the viewer.
Archives are a collection of historical documents in any media, such as letters or photographs that keep information and meaning for future generations to learn about the history of a specific place or subject. The Société Jersiaise is a Jersey-based archive and was formed in 1873. They published their annual report named ‘Bulletin Annuel’ in 1875, and finally opened their museum in 1877 due to their sudden growth of interest in 1886. The main aim for the The Société Jersiaise was ‘Recording in permanent photography local prehistoric monuments, buildings and ruins.’. The group focused on collecting already-existing images of Jersey life and landscapes, however this expanded to the group then developing their own photographic documents as a method of research after photography arrived In Jersey in 1840, which still remain in the archives presently, 140 years later. Currently, the archive contains over 100,000 documents and photographs from the mid nineteenth century up until current times, these documented images allow current generations and generations to come about Jersey life and architecture, aswell as the practice and process of photography in the past and how that process has changed over the years. In terms of archives in a broader context, we keep archives ourselves in the form of photo albums on our phones, and physical albums such as family albums that have accumulated over the years. Our personal archives allow people to understand us as individuals with representations of our personalities, friends, families, hobbies and our lives in general. The Société Jersiaise does this on a much larger scale with an archive of what it was like for generations living in Jersey.
Albert Smith is one of Jersey’s earliest and well-known photographers to have his work contained in the archives. After leaving his previous photography career in Waterloo, Smith moved to Jersey and opened his new business on New Street in 1892, where he stayed for almost 40 years. He opened and closed multiple businesses in St Helier and his last studio on Broad Street, which he operated until 1931. Thousands of Albert Smith’s photographs are contained at The Société Jersiaise in the form of glass plate negatives which display his work that focused on portraits and Jersey wildlife. Out of nearly 3,300 photographs contained at the archive, almost 2,000 of these were taken by employees hired by Albert Smith, and a small amount taken by Smith himself. The last images taken by Smith’s business that are contained in the archive are dated from the mid to late 1930’s, with photographs of The Battle of Flowers and the opening of Jersey Airport. These images by Smith and his company allow for an understanding into life in that time, and historic milestones celebrated within Jersey during this time. The method used to take images by photographers in the 1800’s included using a portable camera obscura to expose a pewter plate coated with bitumen to light, however the method of salt paper plates started being used, meaning presumably this was the method used by Albert Smith and his company. Smith and his company contributed greatly to The Société Jersiaise archive as the majority of kept images have been provided through the research of his company, meaning photographic context from this time period is made easily accessible and understandable.
This image by Albert Smith depicts his family in the year of 1893, Smith used the method of “glass plate negatives” in his work around this time, so presumably this is the method used in this image. The method of “glass plate negatives” involves spreading a flammable liquid, collodion, onto a glass plate. It was then placed into a bath of silver nitrate which turned into a photosensitive silver iodide. The process of exposure and processing had to happen immediately before the plate dried to receive the best results. Images produced like this allow us to understand how photographic processes have developed overtime with the developing of technology and knowledge. Earlier images like this focused more on process rather than composition, which is why this image has a simple composition. There is an extreme contrast in the photograph due to the black and white method of film photography, which is seen especially between the black clothing and the pale complexion of the faces.
Linking back to the question, archives can be seen as repository of knowledge in multiple ways. Firstly, photographic archives give us visual evidence of life in Jersey in the past few hundred years, with architecture, fashion and the overall style of photography. Furthermore, these archives also allow us to gain knowledge of early photographic methods, such as wet plates, salt-paper prints and the earliest methods of the camera obscura. On the other hand, photography was only made accessible for high-class citizens as the process of photography was expensive and the knowledge of the science behind the processes was needed in order for the images to be developed properly. Because of this, we have mainly have access to only the insights of the life of the high-class and there was little representation of the lives of lower-class citizens.
