After creating this first one I decided to add in more photos because I noticed how good photoshops algorithm is at piecing them together.

Version 2

3rd Joiner

After analysing and comparing my previous experiments I went out to a different site and took a lot more pictures than I previously had as I could see how the more photos you use the more interesting the image comes out.

After waiting 20 minutes my image didn’t come out exactly as planned so I went back to the site to take the images again from different angles.

For my black and white images I used the black and white filter selection

For this image I used the graduated filter tool to create an effect on the sky

What is a geopark

a UNESCO-designated area containing one or more sites of particular geological importance, intended to conserve the geological heritage and promote public awareness of it, typically through tourism. UNESCO Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.

Jersey geopark

Geosites are places around the Island with special significance. A Geopark is about more than rocks. Jersey is a strong contender for this special designation because of our Island’s exceptional geology and our important cultural heritage which forms the outstanding surroundings we enjoy every day. Whether exploring Jersey’s diverse landscapes or seascapes there is lots to discover and inspire you.

Final Images

Out of my final Lightroom edits, these were my 6 best and favourite images All of my best and favourite images were in black and white, this is because I believe it makes the images look much more interesting.

Overall, I am happy with the final images I have produced from the photography trip to L’etaq. I believe that I produced some cool and interesting images of the natural landscape around Jersey. Creating black and white edits of these images also added more absorption to the images and added an extra sense of life to the images.

Started off my editing process by going through my images from the photoshoot and picked out the best ones that i felt would stand out well by themselves or as a joiner.

We started our photoshoot along the cliffpaths by L’Etacq, where we got a chance to capture some images for our joiners. We took photos of the rocks and their texture whether it be a close-up photo or an image of the whole bay, being up in the cliffs gave us a good range of photos to take e.g the one below. I like this image because it shows a lot in one image and you can see different varietys of texture with the rocks, grass, and sand.

After being in the cliffs, we walked down to Stinky Bay which is a beach around the corner from L’Etacq. In the bay there were lots of little caves that had all different rocks and crystals forming. There were many good photo opportunities there, hence why the majority of my best images were taken at the bay. The one below i think is really interesting, because i wanted to capture the ray of light but once i looked at my image i saw there was the reflection of rainbows from the light, which i thought made my photo look cooler.

The next two images I also really like because they show a lot of texture that might make the viewer question what the photo is, e.g the one below has lots of jagged dark lines and edges, and at first glance might not appear to be a rock, which is why i like this image as it has a conceptual element. The second photo was taken walking along the road to L’Etacq beach, i noticed there was a wall with jagged edges that I thought would make a good photo. I like how this one turned out because the colour is a contrast from my other images whilst still adding texture.

My final best image was also taken at the bay when i noticed there were crystals running through the rock, i decided to take a photo because of the way the light reflects off off it. I edited the photo in black and white so the focus was on the rock and the background darkened to draw attention to the white crystal in the rock.

Introduction

Geopark: A geopark is a unified area that advances the protection and use of geological heritage in a sustainable way, promoting the economic well-being of the people who live there. There are global geoparks and national geoparks. With this year’s additions, the number of sites in the Global UNESCO Geoparks Network is brought to 177 in 46 countries.

Many UNESCO Global Geoparks promote awareness of geological hazards, including volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, and many help prepare disaster mitigation strategies among local communities.

‘The aim of the centre is to introduce the Aspiring Geopark project and encourage people to explore Jersey and discover its stories along the way. The Island has been shaped by tide and time over millions of years. Jersey’s exceptional geology and important cultural heritage form the outstanding surroundings we enjoy every day.’

With the new threats of climate change and further urban developments- Geopark sites are heavily protected and are spread around the island, they include dolmens, heritage sites-such as Gronez Castle- and rocky outcrops. All sites are significant in Jersey’s heritage- with some sites dating back to over 6,000 years ago.

Sights of Special Interest

Natural Sites of Special Interest (SSIs) are places that are considered to be of public importance because of their special zoological, ecological, botanical or geological interest, or a combination of these and other special qualities.

SSSIs are designated in accordance with the duties in law placed upon each of the country nature conservation bodies (CNCBs) to notify as a SSSI any area of land which, in its opinion, is of special interest by reason of any of its flora, fauna, geological, geomorphological or physiographical features.

Jersey Sights

The Island’s first ecological Sites of Special Interest (SSIs) were designated in 1996 and we now have 19 – mainly in the south and west of Jersey and covering a total of four per cent of Jersey.

Examples of these sights of special interest are L’Etacq, Le Pinacle and Stinky Bay which are all Geopark sites. These are parts pf the islands incredible history and add to its landscape, they contain many different types of rock including sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic.

Le Pinacle is a protruding pinnacle of rock, at the coastal edge of a Les Landes in the north-west of Jersey, with remains and ruins at its base dating from five periods including the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. There is also evidence of a rectangular Gallo-Roman temple.

L’Etacq was surrounded on two sides by a forest of oak trees. One year, waves moved up St. Ouen’s beach and began to flood the land. The sea rose until it covered the manor, and eventually it covered the oak forest as well. When the tide is very low at St. Ouen, you can still see black tree stumps – the petrified forest, all that remains of the oak trees that once surrounded the manor.

What is a Geopark?

 A geopark is a unified area that advances the protection and use of geological heritage in a sustainable way and promotes the economic well-being of the people who live there. There are global geoparks and national geoparks. UNESCO Geoparks are territories presenting a unique geological heritage of international value. They are places where thoughtful visitors can meet, experience and touch the “Memory of the Earth”. The 4,5 billion years of history of our living planet. Geoparks are also places with an exceptional natural heritage. Fascinating landscapes, varied ecosystems, and significant biodiversity are valued there and allow visitors to understand the current challenges of our planet. The intangible heritage is the precious witness to the long and intimate relationship between the local population and the Earth. Today extremely threatened, its conservation and transmission constitute an important mission of the Geoparks.

UNESCO’s work with geoparks began in 2001. In 2004, 17 European and 8 Chinese geoparks came together at UNESCO headquarters in Paris to form the Global Geoparks Network (GGN)where national geological heritage initiatives contribute to and benefit from their membership in a global exchange network and cooperation.

On 17 November 2015, the 195 Member States of UNESCO ratified the creation of a new label, the UNESCO Global Geoparks, during the 38th General Conference of the Organisation. This expresses governmental recognition of the importance of managing outstanding geological sites and landscapes in a holistic manner. The Organization supports Member States’ efforts to establish UNESCO Global Geoparks all around the world, in close collaboration with the Global Geoparks Network.

Geoparks can be considered for multiple reasons, including:

• They are considered to be wildlife havens, meaning the animals that live there are undisturbed and protected 

• They can be used as natural laboratories, which provide a site for experiments and research on nature

• They can be used as educational resources, allowing students from many subjects (history, geography, science(s), photography, etc…)

Jersey Geopark

jersey is a strong contender for this special designation because of our Island’s exceptional geology and our important cultural heritage which forms the outstanding surroundings we enjoy every day. Whether exploring Jersey’s diverse landscapes or seascapes there are lots to discover and inspire you.

Jersey’s Geological Heritage – Sites of Special Interest (SSI)

The Island of Jersey has geology that is significantly different to that of the United Kingdom and even from that of the other Channel Islands. Many of the island’s geological sites are of regional and international significance and some have attracted global attention. 

In recognition of this, the States of Jersey has designated 22 of the island’s most important outcrops as Sites of Special Interest (SSIs) so that they may be protected from development and preserved for future public enjoyment and research purposes. All the Island’s geological SSIs are covered here along with information about their location plus basic descriptions and photographs which highlight each site’s significance and its salient features. 

The Jersey Geology Trail

The Jersey Geology Trail, around Jersey in the Channel Islands, GB, reveals a remarkable variety of rock types and structures exposed in Jersey. The beauty of Jersey lies in its cliffs, bays and inland valleys. This beauty is the result of the island’s geology, the colour and the different hardness and structure of the rocks, and their response to the changes in climate over the years.

The Jersey Geology Trail is fascinating, with Precambrian to Lower Palaeozoic rock types varying from shales and sandstones, through andesites and minor basalts, flow-banded and spherulitic rhyolites and ignimbrites to flash-flood conglomerates. These are all folded and intruded by a variety of gabbros, diorites, and various striking pink granites, and a swarm of dolerite dykes plus lamprophyre, porphyritic felsite, rhyolite and various composite minor intrusives dykes and the odd sill. Metamorphic rocks also occur and range from contact metamorphic hornfelses to Green Schist Facies igneous rocks with various minerals easy to see. Finally, these are all overlain by various Pleistocene and Holocene loess, peat and forest, sand and head deposits seen around the coasts from shore to cliff top, in the valleys and marshes and in a fine dune system on the west coast.

Dr Ralph Nicols

Your Jersey Geology Trail guide is Dr Ralph Nichols who graduated in Geology from U.C.W. Aberystwyth in 1958 after reading for the then-called triple crown of Geography, Geology and Economics. In the summer of 1957, He was awarded a study tour of the Kirkuk oilfield in Iraq which inspired him to study carbonate rocks. his lead in 1961, to being awarded a PhD for an interpretation and micro-fossil correlation of the depositional environments of the isolated outcrops of Carboniferous Limestone along the North Wales coast from SE Anglesey to the Great and Little Orme’s Heads and the Llanddulas outcrops.

In 1966, He moved to Canada to join a small research team with the Saskatchewan Department of Mineral Resources, responsible for part of the search for deep oil in the Devonian carbonates under the Prairies. I also became a Lecturer in Geology (in the ‘Extra-Mural’ Dept.) at the University of Saskatchewan, delivering a geology course for the Arts Faculty students who needed science to complete their degree.

He then returned to Jersey and became a teacher. He obtained a post teaching his hobbies – Geography, Geology and Outdoor Activities Later, He became Head of Humanities, which included Geography, History and Religious Education. He has also joined the Geology and Archaeology Sections of La Société Jersiaise and later helped to establish the Jèrriais Section, and also GCSE and A-Level Geology and Archaeology courses for night classes at Highlands College of Further Education. This enabled him to learn so much about this incredible island which has a greater variety of things natural and historical than he has ever found in such a small area.

David Hockney

David Hockney is an English painter, photographer and printmaker who is famously regarded as one of the most prominent English artists of the 20th century. Hockney is well known for his colourful portraits, such as Pool with two Fingers, as well as his cubism paintings, such as A Bigger Interior with Blue Terrace and Garden. In the early 1980’s, Hockney experimented with photography, specifically collages using photographs, where he coined the term ‘Joiners’ which refers to cubist-like photomontages.

Joiners

A ‘Joiner’ is a large image created from multiple photographs taken from different viewpoints and, as highlighted by Hockney, different times. These different images give the image an unorthodox, yet iconic, look by photography standards, that, because of the different viewpoints, gives the images a cubist look.

Hockney came across the ‘Joiners’ concept in accident, by taking multiple polaroid images of his living room while working on a painting and glueing them together, which he found created a narrative different to a regular photograph, which allows the viewer to ‘move’ around the image. In response to this, he says that “Photography seems to be rather good at portraiture, or can be. But, it can’t tell you about space” and returned to painting, only to revisit the concept later.

An interview with Hockney describing his Joiner process and how he came across it, as well as how he noticed how the joiners use Space, Time and Viewpoints:

https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/photography/david-hockney-s-joiners/#:~:text=In%20the%20early%201980’s%2C%20English,made%20up%20of%20polaroid%20photographs.

Examples of his Joiners

Image Analysis

Space in the image is shown by many images, therefore it could be considered ‘distorted’ by regular standards. This distortion is similar to the ‘cubism’ movement in art in which Hockney has worked in. The flow of time is shown in this image through the implied movement of the two models in the image, with different positions representing the natural progression of time, this helps tell the story about what this image is about. This image was very clearly made by many images, thus many viewpoints also. This allows more of the surroundings to be shown in a way that implies that Hockney was also moving while he was taking the images, furthering the idea of movement captured by this image. In terms of colour, the image seems to be dominated by a mix of dull greys and blues giving the image an overall cold look, however the models in the image are significantly warmer than the rest of the image, juxtaposing those two parts of the image. To me, the lighting in the image appears to be normal room lighting, which perhaps aids the colder tones, which could have been done by Hockney to make the difference between normal (the subject matter) and abnormal (the concept of ‘Joiners’). However, it is worth noting that the tone and lighting changes slightly between each image, which helps differentiate each separate image. Shapes and line appears to contrast greatly in this image, the more natural lines formed from the models and plants clearly juxtaposes with the rigid/straight lines from the individual images that make up the joiner.

What is a Geopark?

A geopark is a UNESCO designated area that contains sites of geological importance or interest with the intention of conserving that area and its heritage. These areas may be selected as a geopark due to their scientific/historic importance, rarity or beauty, which will promote their conservation due to their use as a potential tourist attraction.

Due to the increased interest in preserving Jersey’s (and the rest of the world’s) climate and landscapes, using geoparks as a way to conserve and promote conservation of these areas will prove beneficial to the natural landscape of these places.

Jersey’s Geopark Map

For our L’etacq geopark photoshoot trip, we visited the Jersey Museum where there was a geopark visitor centre that focuses on Jersey’s geoparks, what they are and why. We also spoke to Dr. Ralph Nicols about Jersey’s geology, as this is considered to be a large part of Jersey’s heritage.

Their website:

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/explore/geopark/visitor-centre/

Sites of Special Interest

Sites of Special interest are areas that are given a designation (similar to a geopark) to preserve their unique/rare biological or geological features, such as being home to a rare species.

These sites may be protected for different reasons:

• They are considered to be wildlife havens, meaning the animals that live there are undisturbed and protected
• They can be used as natural laboratories, which provides a site for experiments and research on nature
• They can be used for educational resources, allowing students from many subjects (history, geography, science(s), photography, etc…)

Some of Jersey’s SSIs/Geoparks

https://blog.gov.je/2018/02/06/jerseys-sites-special-interest/