Below I have illustrated all of my final images, these are from all of my Personal Study project. These photographs are from my La Collette, Greenhouses, La Marais and St Clement’s photoshoots, this is because I believe that I have successful images throughout all of my attempts to explore the theme of Anthropocene in a variety of locations.

I have selected this as on of my final images as I believe that it is one of my most successful reflections of my personal study. This is because of the overall quality of the image, with the clarity being high and there being lots of natural saturation present. In my opinion, this is my strongest piece, and will be printed out in order to be displayed as an A3 piece, probably being laid out and stuck onto form board, as I believe this thick white background will match nicely with the colours in the image, and the white will enhance the saturation in the photograph. One feature of this photograph which really stands out is all of the parallel lines, both vertical and horizontal, that are being shown. These adds dimension to the image as all of the vertical lines in the foreground and all of the horizontal in the background means that there is also some level of juxtaposition.

These two photographs have been placed next to each other in my photobook, and I have additionally decided that they would look good displayed together as well. This is because of the high amount of similarities within both of these images, they have some of the same brickwork as they were taken very close to each other, they have also been edited in the same way so that both of them have the same levels of texture and contrast throughout them, this is important as it helps with the flow between these two images, meaning that they link together well and can be presented next to each other. Furthermore, these are some of my most successful reflection of Lewis Baltz’s work as they are somewhat plain but do very much focus on the theme of Anthropocene, especially as the first image has both natural and manmade formations.

This photograph was taken at La Marais, from the ground looking upwards. I really like how this image has a unique and different perspective which is one that is different from the majority of my other work. Additionally, I think that this could be linked to the work of Lewis Baltz, this is because of the monochromatic editing but this image doesn’t have high levels of contrast, I think this is a good aspect as all of the details in the windows are still there, and there is some lighter shadows and darker tones. Despite all of this, it could be said that this image is very repetitive, and doesn’t contain a lot of interesting features to analyse and doesn’t necessarily convey the concept of Anthropocene,

This image is one of my most successful from my Greenhouse photoshoot, and was featured as a double page spread in my photobook. I really like the colours and tones in this image, as there is mostly greens, blues and greys present and I think that these colours all match together well. Additionally, the perspective of the image means that the image is made more interesting, along with the soft textures of the sky contrasting with the harsh lines in the structure itself and the dark tones, The aim of this image was to respond to the the work of Richard Misrach, with the aspect of nature being present. His work is normally related to wide shot work with plain background, however I think the greenhouse structure itself means that I can relate to his work and makes clear differences and similarities.

These two final photographs, they have a lot of similarities as they were taken in close proximately to each other, I really like how they fit together, with the first image being a wider shot and the second image being very zoomed in and attempting to focus on the base of the building, and trying to highlight to parallel lines and detail within the building. I decided that these images would be more successful displayed in my final photobook, with them being displayed exactly in this composition. These image complement each other very well as I have attempted to edit them in the same way. I really like that these image have a lot of potential, as they could have been edited in any other way, in colour, as they appear above in black and white, and also using the ‘invert’ tool which can be found in photoshop, or the ‘colour’ tool in photoshop. As this editing means that all the brickwork turns different colours.

I have selected this as my final image, as overall I think that the aesthetic of this photograph means that this is one of my most successful images. In my opinion, this photograph looks good in my photobook because of the colours and tones throughout it, the warm tones along with the still blue background means that the image look more inviting. However, the composition of the image could be seen as challenged, as all three of these oil tanks are not all present in the image, with the first one being barely visible. My intention behind this image was to recreate some aspects of Misrach’s work, and I did not consider how the lack of the other tanks may still out. That being said I still like that the middle oil tank has the ladders on it, and because of this extra structural aspect, and the rust that comes along with this attaches attention because of the orange contrasting the blue.

Final Photobook

Below is my final photo book complete with my essay, created in Lightroom Classic.

This is my back cover (left) and the front cover of my photobook. I decided to call my book “Pink Slippers”. This title was inspired by images in my book of my mother’s slippers – they are a special item to me, as putting my mother’s and grandmothers slipper’s is a fond childhood memory of mine, symbolising my relationship with them. I named the book specifically pink slippers due to the pink pages included in the book, but also because of the female subjects – the inclusion of a typical female colour on the cover, in the image, title and spine foreshadows the content.

The first image in this book is that of myself as a child – I have an inquisitive look on my face, which creates a simple start to the book, causing the viewer to perhaps feel the same. The pink tones of my t-shirt match the pink page of the title page previous, linking the pages together. This page was also placed at the start of my book to introduce the first subject and the different time frames used.

These 4 pages further introduce the subjects of my book and the inclusion of an archival image of my mother on the left spread leads well into the right, showing a passage of time in her life, including myself also.

These are two of my favourite spreads from my photobook, in sequence. The first spread is of an image from my identity project, featuring archival and new material of my mum. The collage has a reflective feel, as on the right she seems to glance at her past self – this nostalgic mood is helped by the background image of her old bedroom, and B and W colouring. The following double-page spread leads on nicely – the right image has a second reflective and sentimental feel to it, with the inclusion of the mirror picturing the subject looking wistfully at herself – I liked using a mirror for this project, as it enabled me to get lots of different perspectives from one shot, creating a multi-dimensional image.

These two sequenced spreads create a display of generational identity and age when placed next to each other. The spread on the left features images of my grandmother, which creates a contrasting collage (the process of making these in my previous post) of her life and story. The double page spread to the right is of my mother, shot in the same location as the image of my nana in the collage. Both these pages feature similar tones: red, orange, and beige. On the left, the sand of the bottom image link with the colour of the wall in the right spread, and the read of an image on the left match with the red and orange of the curtains to the right.

These two spreads are of my mother – the first on the left is a double-page spread taken from my identity project, possibly my favourite from the whole project. The warm tones in this spread are contrasted with the stark black and white of the next image. The right image is another of my favourites from this project. In my opinion, it gives a strong presentation of not just female identity, but identity in the home and through multiple generations. The image features objects on the table to the left that are important in my mum’s personal identity – the book and bookcase in the background to the left highlight her interest in them, as reading is and has been very important in her life. Her pose and facial expressions show her personality further, as she sits in her own house, looking unwaveringly at the camera. To me, this also represents her role in my life, as my sole caregiver and the source of knowledge and strength in my life This image paints a portrait of strong female heritage, including a photo of my great-grandmother. She was a very important role model in my mum’s life, and including her portrait felt crucial to me when documenting my home and also

These are the final spreads of my book – they are understated, quiet images which I spoke about in my previous post, to create a natural end to my book. The left spread features an image to the right which can be seen as a symbol of age, with a faceless image of my grandma, with only parts of her skin and white hair visible – this image is much different to others in the book, more secretive and understated. This image and spread can be seen to symbolise identity due to the feature of my nana’s simple pink hair clip, which symbolises one of the most important parts of her physical identity, both to herself and others. The spread on the right has one of the few object images in my book – it is that of a broken mirror from a memory box I used photos from. This mirror links to the images above taken in the mirror of my mother and grandmother but is broken. The broken mirror could connote a sense of altered or mixed-up time or identity, or just the changing of one’s personality. This links to the jumbled look of my photobook, which mixes up time scales and eras.

Above is the inclusion of my final essay in my photobook – I used pink pages again here to continue the theme through to the very end of my book, using the same font and text as the front cover and spine.

Final Prints

Below is a selection of my final prints – I have quite a lot for this project, due to my high volume of images. I have analysed most of them above, but there are a few images not seen in my photobook I decided to print also. I have decided to print most of them in A3, but the series of 3 self-portraits are going to be in A4, presented in a trio.

Evaluation

(Photobook evaluated throughout final presentation above)

Photoshoots

The first shoots I completed were my self-portrait shoots. I found these to be overall successful shoots, with at least 5 successful images from each set but found it quite difficult to create quality compositions. I found it difficult to envision what I was capturing as I was in front of the camera, and coming forward to press my shutter for the timer for each set of 10 images became annoying. in future, if I was to create more self-portraits I would use a more effective setup, with a lead to press a shutter from my position in front of the camera, and perhaps a camera with a flippable viewfinder. Aesthetically these images improved in quality as I moved into my second shoot, shooting in a better light after evaluating my first shoot. Overall these first shoots were a useful starting point – directing myself in front of the camera made it easier to work with my two other subjects in my later photoshoots and also helped me to cope with difficult lighting at times.

Photoshoots 1 and 2 – Self Portraits

The rest of my shoots improved as I went along. I do feel that I took too many images – or that I did too many shoots, as I found it difficult working with such a large amount of images in my exam and fitting them into my book without having too many pages. When photographing my archival material, I’m glad that I used an array of types of images – this made it easier for me when experimenting with collages and layouts in my book and gave me more choice and room to experiment. I struggled a little with the compositional elements of my portraits but found I became more at ease with directing my family as the photoshoots progressed and I became more familiar with how the environments photographed. In this way, I’m glad I produced the volume of shoots I did, as it meant I had more room to improve and change my photography to match my ideas and create better outcomes.

Editing

I like to edit in black and white and also in colour, but found in this project I preferred a lot more colour images. A lot of my images had vibrant colours which matched well with the colours of my archival material. However, I still found B and W editing useful as it created nice contrasts with my other spreads.

Experimentation and Layout

I found making my photobook (analysed above and in the last post) initially difficult, but I think that as I got used to the layout and process and began to really enjoy it. I think this was also due to my previous experience of creating zines from my trip to America in September – this helped me to understand the layouts of my book more easily.

Making my Final Zine and Evaluation

Contact sheet

The photographs have been taken in 4 separate shoots

These photographs are the ones I considered usable based on sharpness and exposure.

I 5 starred my favourite photographs after comparing angle, shadows and sharpness more in depth.

Experimentation

I increased the contrast, saturation and vibrance as well as the shadows and blacks as I wanted to make the photograph look extreme and surreal. I decreased the highlights and the whites as i though it was a bit too much for the eyes considering the amount of colour. I decreased the texture and clarity in order to make the photograph feel more soft and liquid.

I converted the photograph to black and white as I felt colour to be unnecessary for communicating the message but rather a distraction. I used a radial filter in order to preserve the sharpness of the central image as I distort the surroundings by increasing texture and using dehaze. I wanted the photograph to look dark and gritty, a bit hard on the eyes, a total opposite of the pervious photograph as I created them to be displayed together.

For both photographs I used a glass to create the ring around the main object. I wanted to create a distortion, a ripple in reality to represent the polar extremes of delusion.

Final outcomes

I decided to include the essay in the final book as I though it would help me convey the point as well give some background and context to the photographs. The front cover was supposed to be inviting, a declaration of transparency as eyes are the window to the soul. The photographs on pages 12 and 13 portray the idea of the anima and the animus, or the femininity and masculinity, within the shadow. Page 16 touches on the theory of the tabula rasa, we are born without the filter we call the ego, however, on page 17 we can see the transition into the persona, formed by the preconceived notions, the filter of what is acceptable or desirable by its standards. The prism on page 23 is explained by the quote, it represent the idea that the fragmentation of the psyche happens due to the egos filters. The strands of DNA are meant to represent the collective subconscious and the universal elements originated in the inherited structure of the brain, all the parts of you encoded in you DNA, passed on for generation. The last photograph I thought would be a good closing as everything that begins must also end.

I feel that the photobook was able to convey the message successfully in combination with the essay. However, a lot of the meaning derives from the way the viewer interprets the photos for themselves. The message could potentially be delivered better if the photographs contained titles to narrow down the field for interpretation. On the other hand, the purpose of the photobook was to explore the subconscious and photographs open to interpretation offer the viewer the opportunity to take a dive into their own subconscious. It is similar to the work of the reference artist Roger Ballen, who inspired this project, in the way it explores the darker parts of the subconscious such as hallucination and delusion and the psychological shadow. The main difference between mine and Ballens work is that I portray the positive side of duality through colour as well as symbolism. Another difference is that I used editing tools quite heavily in order to portray the concepts in an abstract form. Evaluating the technical side of the project, I feel that I could have played more with lighting in order to communicate the nature of duality. Some photographs could have also been taken with more pressure on the technical aspects most specifically shutter speed and aperture as well as focus. Some pictures came out not focused enough or a bit blurred due to low shutter speed and movement while shooting handheld. Exposure could have also been improved by adjusting the shutter speed and the ISO depending on the conditions. For the future I will definitely use a camera stand as offers stability and gives me the opportunity to properly adjust my camera settings to a certain environment. Overall I am happy with my outcome, a few adjustments could have been made to improve the quality of my work however I feel the imperfections in the project help serve the overall purpose in that it relates to our own flaws.

Digital Gallery

Throughout my project, i took roughly around 500-600 images. I didn’t stick to a schedule of doing planned photoshoots, instead I took my camera around whenever i was with my friends and took images when something interesting caught my eye. Lighting and setting was a key element whilst using this method as i feel those are the main components for creating an eye-catching photograph.

My photoshoots consisted of three main settings; car drives, forests/parks, and in houses. Other images i took were photographed at random places, either around town or further out in Jersey.

CAR DRIVES

This is an example of one of my better outcomes of photographs taken on car drives. I like this photo because there is a viewpoint, the subject is making eye contact, and there is a distinctive square-shape around her head which catches the viewers eye. The background is devoid of any unwanted objects, and the colour of her hair and eyes is brought out by the blander colours surrounding her.

This image is part of a mini-photoshoot I took outside this shop. Although i liked how the silhouette looked in contrast to the bright lights of the shop, i felt there were too many focus points which made the photo look chaotic and messy.

FORESTS/PARKS

When out at night in forests with my friends, it was more difficult to get the outcome i wanted with my images due to lighting – therefore I had to adjust the ISO and shutter speed whilst taking my photos. This is an example of one of the better images i took whilst at this forest, a setting where i composed the most photographs. I like this photo because of the silhouette of the trees and singular star in the sky that catches the viewers eye if they look hard enough. I also think the red from the fire illuminating my friends faces looks good with the photo as the colours correspond well to each other.

This image is an example of wrong ISO and shutter speed and the outcome it will have when taken in dark lighting. I was disappointed with this image as i felt it could’ve turned out well and had good elements of colour and focus, but was too blurry to use in my photobook.

HOUSES

This image is an example of a better outcome because it represents my theme well. A persons bedroom and how they decorate it is a reflection of their identity, so by capturing photos of my friends in their rooms i can communicate my theme without directly showing it as portrayal of youth culture through small details. Lighting is also a key element in producing a good photo and i felt the lighting in this image was the right colour and brightness to get the image i wanted.

Since the main source of lighting in the room was only coming from a certain point, i had to take into consideration angles i photographed at whilst making my image. This photo is an example of how a poor angle can reflect badly on lighting – the image itself is too dark, and places the focus on the lamp, whereas instead i wanted myself to be the viewpoint of the image.

Selection Process

Collage Making and Experiments

I used photoshop to create my collages, as developed from my identity project in year 12. – In this project, I tried to make use of more creative layouts and to create a stronger narrative of generational identity in my collages.

Final Collages

These collages were a development from the collages I produced in my year 12 Identity project. I developed my pieces in this project by using different types of images, especially including myself and different archival images – creating new presentations of generational identity through solely female perspectives. I created much more simple collages in this project, in order to keep these outcomes in line with the whole layout of my book. Using similar images to those used in the rest of my book in these collages helped the cohesion of all parts of my book, making sure the book flowed well from start to finish. I like how my final collages are vibrant and colourful, which to me represents the characters of both my grandmother and mother – vibrant colours are a running theme in my photobook, which represent my childhood, and my upbringing in many different places and within nature as a child. Creating a photo book with personal meaning and with my own perspectives was important to me as women are often silenced and ignored when telling their own stories – presented in a way that is not truth and only for the benefit of the onlooker. Therefore, by producing these collages and this project altogether, I feel that I am producing my own stories, with female truth.

Creating the Layout

I started with 50 pages but as I began to add images, I realised I needed more pages. In the end, I had 70 pages – I feel that this is slightly too many but due to the volume of my images and the different layouts I wanted for my book, I am happy with this amount. Having this amount of pages has enabled me to create the narrative which I had envisioned for my book, creating a cohesive beginning, middle and end of my book.

In this first bit of experimentation, I was getting used to the layout of the book format in Lightroom, experimenting with different image layouts. I didn’t want to create a book that was too busy, with too many different layouts of images – I tried to use consistently similar layouts: single and double-page spreads, with some images smaller and larger.

I found it initially difficult to deal with a large volume of pages, and working on lots of pages at once was overwhelming at first. To combat this, I focused on certain parts at a time – for example, the start or end parts. This also helped me to continue the narrative and story in the book that I was trying to create. I included my strongest images in the middle, placing importance on the middle spreads. Towards the beginning and end of my book, I used understated, gentler images to vary the types of photographs used.

This was a collection of my final experiments with my book. When adding some images to my book, and previewing the outcome altogether, I realised some images were not edited quite to the quality I wanted. I was able to make editing adjustments right from the book into develop mode. (seen above) It was helpful to make quick adjustments to potential images in my book and also helped me to narrow down my selections of quality images. This allowed me to keep the highest quality work in my book. Also in this final set of experiments, I experimented with colour pages. I decided to include these colour pages throughout my book, roughly every few pages. I included these pages in a pinky-purple colour: it matched well with the amount of pink and purple tones in the book, but also can be seen as a symbol of femininity and childhood – this links well to my project as I wanted to touch on the idea of pre-conceived ideas of femininity and mother figures, and present these ideas through my own experiences and family, flipping the gaze into that of the female gaze, opposed to the traditional male gaze seen in the mainstream media.

(Full evaluation of my book and images in a separate blog post.)

I went back to my mum’s part-time job with my camera after a week or so and retook some of the images I took on my phone with my camera, spending time on the composition of each image and looking out for any small details that could make an interesting photo that I hadn’t thought of/taken at my previous shoot.

Contact Sheets

I tried to use the lights available to my advantage which ended up being a slight struggle due to how spaced out they were in certain areas, creating dark images unless I used my flash which would occasionally leave my images overexposed.

Best Shots: Post Editing

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How is a sense of hidden beauty explored in the work of Robin Friend?

Jersey is an exceedingly small island with a lot of beauty but there are so much more than all the tourist places. these extra special places just require a bit of exploration to find even greater views that I will try to capture with my camera to create impact full images about the hidden beauty in the mundane everyday parts of jersey.  

To do this I will go out with my camera to sites/places that have been forgotten/ less talked about. I will do this to try and find the less seen beauty of the island. this area of work interests me because I have a great passion for exploring and finding new and interesting places. all my life I have spent adventuring Jersey through all its valleys, castles, coves, cliffs, woodlands, and buildings in search of something interesting to make it worth the time. Every time there is a view, a moment, or an object that I see/find that makes it worth the effort of going out to try and find it. I come home from these little expeditions feeling accomplished at what I have seen, heard and experienced. It is like a hunt for the beauty in the mundane, boring environment that the rest of Jersey drives by daily never thinking to climb though a bush to see what is on the other side or climb up a wall to see the view from the top. 

Through this project I hope to prove beauty can be found and captured, everywhere and anywhere if you just look. I am looking at Robin Friend I am particularly interested in his book “bastard countryside” which feature images from 15 years of his own personal explorations. These images mainly focus on unkept areas of the countryside. Where humanity has affected the landscapes and left it to decay into the natural environment. this creates visually pleasing images that portray a very un-appealing truth that documents how time and nature effects the degradation of manufactured objects and structures into the land. 

Robin Friend aged 40 was born in the Uk but lived in Australia from an early age. He moved back to the Uk with his family when he was a teenager then went on to study photography at university of Plymouth.  

This projects link to my other projects because I have already explored many other less seen areas of Jersey for other projects throughout this course that have related to different themes/assignments at the time but are remarkably like this project. 

I went to three location that have been left to decay back into their landscapes. I spent along time photographing each area from many different angels and views I ended up with 569 images that I then sorted using light rooms star system. from these sets of image I used 43 of my best edited images to create a photo that shows the beauty in the decaying fabricated environment.

I made one book with my final set of edited images, then I made another with the same images to see if I could find a way to display them in a better way.

this is the first few pages of my first attempt at my photo book. at first I liked this design I tried to use images that would contrast against each other on each page and yet they still all have a link between them.

this is the first few pages in my second attempt at a photo book I like this on more because I feel there is more contrast between the images on each page. I used a triplet on one of the pages because I felt this was better than the 4 grid of images I used on the previous book because it feels less cramped when viewing the pages.

this is the last few pages of my first attempt at a photo book at first I did like how I juxtaposed a full bleed images against a smaller image on every page. however I believe it can sometimes be more impactive to give a more variety of image sizes against each other.

this is the last few pages in my second attempt at a photo book I like they way I have displayed these images better than my first attempt because of the 2 page spreads I have incorporated towards the end of the book. I still used full bleed images contrasting against smaller images. which I feel gives a interesting perspective to some of the images. the final image on this page I am very happy with as I took it at the end of my last shoot as the sun was setting, I feel it wraps up the book nicely.

for my final book I have chosen my second attempt because I feel I have better displayed my images through out the book. I also moved my double pages spreads top be in the middle and end of the book as a link through out the book.