What is a zine?

Zines are miniature magazines filled with images and text, usually trying to spread some kind of message. They’re a small-circulation of self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation.

The difference between magazines and zines is that magazines are often produced by publishing companies and zines are self published. Magazines also focus on selling advertising space and making a profit, whilst zines are mainly created for spreading bold, strong, revolutionary ideas.

History of zines:

Zines were first created in the science fiction fandoms in the 1930s and they were names “fanzines” which means fan magazines. Before the internet, zines allowed fans to create networks, share ideas and analyses, and collaborate on writing and artwork. The very first zine dates back to May of 1930 in the USA. A little publication called The Comet was first created by the Science Correspondence Club. The letter section of the zine was a prominent feature, where fans discussed science as well as science fiction.

For my project I will be creating a photo zine with little to no text because I want the main focus of the zine to be the images inside of it. I will be using mostly black and white images because I feel like he colour will take the meaning away and because it looks neater that way. I will juxta position my images with photographs from the Societe Jersiaise because I want to show contrast of how things were back then and now.

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How do archives function as repositories of knowledge? 

Archives preserve information from around the globe, like records of an individual’s personal life, and keep it safe for generations. They come in all sorts of forms from government documents to letters and paintings. Archives are very important because they usually hold a lot of important information about a certain culture which helps historians and helps us remember where we came from. In this essay I will be mostly talking about photo-archives, which are records of time in the form of photographs, as well as the Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive. I’ll also talk about to what extent archives function as repositories of knowledge, which refers to the way the data is kept and organised in order to be used by more people. 

Believe it or not, we all have our own private photo-archives because of our mobile phones and family albums, birth certificates etc. The camera roll in our phones can keep safe thousands of images taken all around the world and in different years. Everyday people take hundreds of images without realising they’re creating an archive of moments frozen in time. When we decide to post those images on social media platform, we also create another archive as those pictures are now displayed elsewhere and preserved. 

Societe Jersiaise, also known as the ‘Jersey Society’, was formed in 1873 by a small group of islanders that were interested in the island, the number then grew as more people became aware of this group. Their aim was to create a museum and a library, but at their second Annual Repost their attention was drawn to the importance of ‘Recording in permanent photography local prehistoric monuments, buildings and ruins’, this was because at the time photography had become quite a popular medium. The practice and collecting of photography became one of their priorities and that’s when they started putting photographs in the museum and library, which led to the photographic archive we have today. The photographic archive has now of over 125,000 images dating back to mid-1840s to the present day; 30,000 of these archives are available online on their website for people to see and purchase. The Island of Jersey has rich history of photographic practice as a territory geographically and culturally positioned between Britain and France, two nations that were prominent in the development the medium of photography. The society also has a library which gives access to the people living on the island to learn more about Jersey history, identity and geography. This library is a good tool for islander and visitors from across the world to learn more about Jersey culture and even their own heritage as these archives tend to have Jersey family trees as well. 

Henry Mullins (1818-1880) is a very important Jersey photographer from the mid-nineteenth century. He is most known for producing thousands of portrait photographs of the Jersey islanders between 1848 and 1873 at his highly successful studio that was located in the Royal Square, St. Helier. Before arriving to the Channel Islands, Mullins was part of the circle of pioneers at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in London where the first photographic studio in Europe was opened in 1841. In the summer of 1847 Mullins arrived in Guernsey and a year later he settled in Jersey where he stayed until the end of his life. Many photographic studios had opened in the 50s and 60s, but Mullins continued to be the photographer of choice for members of the Jersey Society and local and immigrant families. This shows that his work was really good at his job and that he is a very important individual when it comes to Jersey history and the archives of the island. Today there are 9,861 images Henry Mullins has taken in jersey that are available to view online on the Societe Jersiaise website.  

A technique he used to use is called the “multi-portrait” and it’s where he would use 4 different portraits and arrange them almost in the shape of a diamond. This image shows the same woman being photographed from 4 different angles. The top image is her looking straight at the camera, on the left you see her facing left just like how on the right she seen to be looking to the right, then the bottom image is her looking left again but her head is not as tilted as in the other images, and you can see both sides of her face. 

In conclusion, I think archives, especially photo archives, are really helpful to make us understand more about the island’s culture and history. Photographs are very helpful because they allow us to clearly see what was happening at the time and compare different time periods with each other. The way they are stored, e.g. public libraries, makes them very accessible to everyone who wants to gain more knowledge an understanding of a specific time period and culture. I think the archives will help me with my own work as I will be able to visibly see more about the islands heritage and learn about how people used to live at the time. The Jersey archives are also really good at showing us the islands geology and geography which works well with our current project called “My Rock”. 

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Sources:

Societe Jersiaise

Intro to photographic archives

Henry Mullins

Jerripedia

STORY: What is your story?

Describe in:

3 words: island rocks different

A sentence: Different types of rocks across the island of Jersey.

A paragraph: In my zine I will be looking at 5 different locations around Jersey and explore the different types of rocks you can find. I will also be comparing my images to the ones from Societe Jersiaise and look at how much or how little the geography or geology of the island has change through out the years.

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

Images > new photographic responses, photo-shoots of objects…

Archives > images from SJ photo-archive, found imagery…

Texts > experiment with typography, key words, poems…

On the 4th of October 2022 we went on a school trip to Le Hocq and Green Island. We were split into two groups and told to photograph the landscapes, houses, rocks etc. My group went to Green Island (also known as ‘La Motte’) which is a very important site for Jersey history and archaeology.

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Some Best Shots:

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Lightroom Edits:

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We went to the photography studio and focused on taking still life images using two set ups (still lighting and flash lighting set ups). There we took images of objects that related to our project ‘My Rock’ like: shells, seaweed, rocks and plants. We used different coloured backgrounds to experiment with colours and we also move our objects around to experiment with different compositions.

Contact Sheet:

I only used the still lighting set up and this is my contact sheet. I used different coloured acrylic sheets to change the colour of my images to make them look more interesting. I experimented with the acrylic sheet by putting it in front of my lens and flashed light, as well as under the table where a smaller light was located. I turned the light off for some images to see what it would look like. My favourite acrylic sheet was the purple one because I liked how warm the images looked. I also combined the sheets together to experiment with new colours. I used various items that were collected by students and teachers on walks by the beach. Some of the items I used were rocks and shells because they are small and easy to move around, you can also make a lot of different things with them. I experimented with different combinations of items until I got something I liked and photographed it.

Some Best Shots:

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Experiment 1:

For this experiment I was inspired by Jody Powell and decided to make something similar to her. I like how she created a simple 3d sculpture using one image. For my sculpture I used the same picture I took on photoshoot at L’Etacq and used a black and white version of it and a colour version. I did this because I wanted my sculpture to stand out more by having colourful and colourless layers.

I printed both versions of the image twice because I wanted four layers in total and decided I wanted my layer to go colour, black, colour black (from top to bottom). I used a glue stick to stick them on to some card paper then cut uniform shapes into the images using a craft knife and a mat. I started with the black and white picture at the front by cutting it smaller than the other images and making it in the shape of a mountain and repeated this process with the other images. The more I cut, the bigger the image became from the last one.

Instead of making a proper stand I used some spare paper that I had cut into strips and stuck them on to the back of each image, making a 90 degree angle so that it could stand up on its own. Then I placed all the pieces in front of each other starting with the biggest image and photographed the sculpture.

I like how the black and white images make the colour pop in the other images and how it looks because it’s a very simple design. I enjoyed making this sculpture because it was quick and easy. I will most likely re use this technique later on in my project and I’d make print the images in A3 and use more layers. I would also probably stick the images on to foam board and make a better stand so that the whole sculpture is more stable.

Experiment 2:

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For my second experiment I was inspired by Letha Wilson who is a mixed media artist that works in photography and sculpture. I chose her because I liked the idea of having multiple layers and using them as a puzzle. For this edit I used 3 images (one from Plemont and 2 from L’Etacq).

I briefly edited my images in lightroom then printed them out. I stuck them on to some card paper using a glue stick and used a craft knife to cut them . I used card paper instead of foam board because I thought it would make it easier to cut and put together. I started by cutting a straight line through figure 1 using a craft knife because I knew I wanted to put another image through it. When I decided, I drew a curve on figure 3 and cut it off because Wilson’s sculptures usually have that curve and I wanted my work to be similar to hers in a way. To finish it off I made a slit into figure 2 on the left and attached it to figure 1.

It’s a bit tricky to put up at first because of the amount of pieces but once you get it to stand up it’s pretty stable. I like how it turned out because I think all the shapes of the rocks look interesting together. I enjoyed the process of making this and I would totally try it again by experimenting with multiple images and shapes.

Inspirations:

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Artists:

Robert Heinecken

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Letha Wilson

Letha Wilson is a mixed media artist who works in photography and sculpture. She was born in 1976, in Honolulu, Hawaii, raised in Colorado, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.  She received her BFA from Syracuse University and her MFA from Hunter College, she also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2009.

I chose Letha Wilson because I like how she uses layers in her work and makes the final product look almost like an abstract puzzle. I like the contrast between her images and I want to achieve something like that by piecing my images in a similar way as her.

What is a photo-sculpture?

A photo-sculpture is the reproduction of 3D humans, animals and things the process o taking a series of images and using the to create a sculpture. There’s multiple ways, simple and complex, in which a person can create a photo sculpture. One simple way would be printing an image and scrunching it up, that was the image becomes 3D making it a sculpture.

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History:

The 3D sculpture photographique (photographing sculpture) process was invented and patented by French artist (painter, sculptor and photographer) François Willème in 1860 using synchronized photo projections.

He took a series of photographs from around a subject and used them to carve a likeness of the figure. To create a photo sculpture Willème would arrange the subject on a circular platform in his rotunda laboratory, surrounded by 24 cameras (one every 15 degrees). He would then photograph his silhouette simultaneously with each camera. This set of photographic profiles contained the data for a complete representation of his subject in 3 dimensions.

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To create a 3D image of the subject he needed to make the information in each layer accessible by projecting each image onto a screen. Next, he translated each image into the movements required to fabricate each layer. This he accomplished using a pantograph (seen at the right side of the upper image) attached to a cutter. Willème traced each profile with one end of the pantograph while the other end cut a sheet of wood with the exact same movement. The pantograph allowed the cuts to be smaller, larger, or the same size as the original projection. The layers of wood were then assembled to create the photosculpture rough armature which he would fill in with clay (or other suitable material) and then perhaps cast or paint it, to make it look like a traditional sculpture.

Photoshoot 1 – La Cotte

For my first photoshoot, I went to La Cotte which is located in St. Brelades. I started at Le Quaisne beach and made my way into Portelet, then ended my photoshoot at Portelet beach. I chose this area as it is an archaeological site with a lot of rocky areas that allowed me to take a mixture of photographs. Portelet is also known to be a site of special interest meaning that it is protected because it is important to the island’s history, which links to my project. I started my photoshoot in the afternoon around 4/5 pm because I wanted to avoid the harsh lighting that could’ve appeared previously in the day. I also liked the idea of the sun setting and taking my pictures in different lighting instead of just the sun.

Contact Sheet

On this photoshoot, I took 300+ images and these are some of the contact sheets. I focused on taking close up of the rocks in order to capture the small details and textures of the different rocks. I also tried taking the images from different angles, heights and distances.

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Photoshoot 2 – Plemont

For my second photoshoot, I went to Plemont Bay, also known as ‘La Greve au Lancon’, which is on the west-north coast of the island. I took my photographs in the afternoon on a foggy and rainy day, compared to my previous photoshoot which was taken in sunny weather. I feel like this will make a nice contrast between my images later when editing and putting them together. I stopped at Portinfer Junction which is slightly further down the map and walked for around 15 minutes to the coast, before going down the clifftop and reaching the bay. I started at the Plemont Rock Pools and then made my way along the coastline to La cotter a la Chevre. Before leaving completely I stopped at the Fort Ruins and took more images over there.

Contact Sheet

This photoshoot consists of around 250 images I took on my walk at Plemont. On this photoshoot I focused on taking my images from a distance and occasionally zooming in for some texture, this is because I was on top of a cliff and at the rock pools which meant that I couldn’t exactly go closer and capture the details that way.

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Photoshoot 3 – Gorey

For my third photoshoot I went to Gorey which is located on the east side of the island, in the afternoon. When I got there, I went behind the Mont Orgueil castle and took my images at the beach, where most of the area was made out of rocks. It was quite cloudy outside but still bright which I think made the rocks stand out more.

Contact Sheet

These are my photoshoot from Gorey in which I took only around 220 images. This time I focused more on close up images because I really liked the texture of the rocks and all the shells/algae that had eventually fused with the rocks. I also took some pictures of the ocean as I liked the way the waves hit the shore.

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