During the Hamptonne visit, I took several portrait photographs of different actors portraying people from the 17th Century.

I chose this image because I liked how the model was in motion as the picture was taken, I think it gives the image an interesting look. I chose to put this image in black and white because I thought that her apron would stand out in the image more, as well as making the shadows more defined. The model has been put into the middle-ground, which allows both her and the equipment to be of importance in the image. I like how this image’s background is darker and more complex than the model, it gives it a good contrast.

I chose this image because I liked how the model is well-lit, it allows the apple and her clothing to stand out even more. I definitely wanted this image in colour because the colour of the apple greatly contrasted with the rest of the image and provided a focal point. I think that this image looks like a painting, which to me, gives it a more calm feeling to it. The background of the image is very simple and dark compared to the model, which gives the image a good contrast.

I chose this image for similar reasons to the last one. This time the image seems even more calm, yet mysterious as the model is looking out of frame to the left. This image has very little colour which makes it look even more like a classic painting to me, the lack of colour also makes the image look more old-fashioned. I like the way the bottom of the image is filled with shadows, while the white of the models top stands out greatly, creating a contrast between the top and bottom halves of the images.

On Thursday 30th of September we visited the Jersey Museum and Art Gallery in St. Helier to observe and take pictures of their most recent “People Power Protest” exhibit, as well as their other general history exhibits, which details history of Protest on Jersey. We thought this would be appropriate for our topic of ‘Heritage’

A Link to their Page on the Jersey Heritage website:

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/explore/find-a-place-to-visit/jersey-museum-art-gallery/

Some of my Images:

I chose to edit this image because I liked the way the straw figures were organised, their positions made them look human-like, while their faces are simply straw. I took the image at eye-level so it may appear that the viewer is a part of those figures’ organisation. I think that the way I edited it was effective as the harsh lighting, line and dark shadows makes the image look serious.

I chose to edit this image because I thought the colours and use of line was interesting to look at. Similar to the last image, I took an image of the straw figures, only this time I decided to use a low-angle shot to make the figures look more intimidating. I edited the image to have a darker, more contrasting look to help make the figures look more sinister.

I chose to edit this image because I like how shape and line is very vivid, as well as the colder colours and clear shadows. When editing I wanted to keep all of the things that the original image did well and make them even more effective by increasing the contrast and making the image ever-so-slightly colder, which to me, makes the image look more formal.

I like this image because of the way the sheets of paper are layered, it creates an angular shape which takes up the whole frame. Also, because of the layering, I get a sense of time from these pieces of paper and how it looks almost like a timeline of sorts. When editing I wanted only the pieces of paper to be visible, so I increased the contrast and lowered the exposure slightly, this also allowed the paper to look more clear.

This image’s layout is similar to the last image, with an angular, staircase-like shape to it. Because of the harsher lighting and lack of colour, I think like this image is more formal and office-like, which works nicely with its ordered appearance. When editing I wanted to preserve its formal and angular look by simply increasing the contrast and exposure slightly, as well as making it black-and-white to keep the image’s formal appearance.

I chose this image because I like the way the object in the foreground works with the straw-like pattern in the background. I also think that the harsh lighting creates an interesting shadow that is a similar shape to the object. When editing I wanted to create a contrast that would bring out the shadows of the image, as well as keep the beige colour which, to me, makes it look more farm-like.

First I uploaded my images from the Hamptonne photoshoot from the Media Drive onto Lightroom.

In the First Round of Editing I divided my images into Picked and Rejected using Shift + P (for Pick) or Shift + X (for Reject). I did this a few times until I landed with the images I have chosen to edit.

Next, I Filtered out the chosen images and rated them with stars, this is so I can determine which ones are my absolute favourites quicker.

Next, I sorted the images into Green, which are the ones I want to edit, Yellow, the ones I might reconsider editing and Red, the ones I do not want to edit.

Finally, I edited my chosen images, I did this by adjusting things like exposure, contrast, colour as well as cropping it.

Local Farming Practises

At the time of the Jersey Corn Riots, around the 28th of September 1769, Jersey mainly grew crops such as wheat and corn, which has been revealed to be an ancient custom, with cereals being rarely grown. Wheat in particular was grown to make bread and was also used as a currency. Due to Jersey’s rich, fertile soil, good climate temperature and rainfall, people sometimes found that more than enough of these crops had been harvested when they had fully grown, which allowed the extra crops to be exported and sold, providing the workers with an income.

The Power of Protest

Starting around 1767, the harvest of wheat and corn had fluctuating, sometimes leading to exports of crops being banned in the years of poor harvest. However, in 1769, there had been a poor harvest of corn, which lead to the price of wheat increasing. This made it far easier for the rich, or people who had loaned money, to eat, while making it harder for the poorer to afford food. This lead to a large riot, with parishioners from Trinity marching to the Royal Court demanding change, in particular the price of wheat being lowered, it was only until 1771 did these changes take place.

Changes to Local Laws

After the events taken place at the Royal Court in 1769, changes were made to laws and powers in Jersey. The ‘code of 1771’ was put in place, this meant that all existing legislation in Jersey was joined together, this allowed for laws to be more fair for everyone. This code made the Royal Court unable to create any more laws, as well as making the Lempriere family, one of the largest powers in Jersey at the time, lose power due to their unfair monopoly on Jersey.

CONTEXT – Black Lives Matter Movement

The fight for racial equality has been fought for centuries, last year showed a large increase in the amount of protests that took place for the Black Lives Matter movement due to the death of George Floyd. Some protests were peaceful, however some people took to raiding businesses and defacing statues, showing their eagerness to change the way society is.

Eventually these protests inspired Jersey citizens to also take part in these protests and on the 6th of June 2020, a large protest of 1000 people of multiple colours took place at People’s Park, proving that equality should be shown in Jersey as well.

As a Science

The process of creating cyanotypes was first discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1842, he did not consider it to be a way of creating art, but merely a way to reproduce notes.

Cyanotypes are made by mixing ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide to create a light-sensitive solution, which is then applied to a piece of paper. When you wish to produce an image, you would place an object onto, or above, the paper under a light source to create a shadow, the shadow projected onto the paper would shield the light-sensitive solution from light, allowing the shadow to mark the paper. After a few minutes, you would put the paper in either water or another desensitising chemical so it would stop the process, leaving an image. Cyanotypes can be reproduced, these are called blueprints.

As an Art-Form

Cyanotype images appear as different shades of blue with little detail within the shapes created, this allows, for example, plant life to appear familiar yet different. As cyanotypes use shadows as a way of marking the paper, the shapes created are usually clear and easily interpreted, the simplicity of these images, in both colour and shape, allows them to be easily appreciated and understood as an art form.

Anna Atkins

Atkins was a 19th century botanist who became known as one of the first people to publish a book with photographic illustrations, as well as the first female photographer. She published her book: Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in late 1843, which contained cyanotype images of algae or seaweed. Atkins also published a number of fiction novels in her later years.

Christiana Z. Anderson

Anderson is a photographer who uses several 19th century photographic processes such as Cyanotypes, Salted Paper, Gum Bichromate and Palladium. Her work has had several exhibitions in multiple countries and she has also published many books about how she creates images using these older methods.

My Attempt at a Cyanotype Image

Photography as a medium has changed drastically over the years, from printing on metal sheets, to storing images digitally.

Camera Obscura

A Camera Obscura, Latin for “Dark Chamber”, is, as the name suggests, a very dark room with its only light source being a small hole at one side. This beam of light projects an image of the outside of that room on the opposite of the room, however upside down. People consider this technique to be the inspiration for art and the development of photography as a medium, dating back to around 500BCE, around the first time a written record of the technique was recorded. It was used to study eclipses without damaging peoples eyes, as a drawing inspiration tool/guide and was also believed to be used at religious ceremonies.

Nicéphore Niépce

Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor of the late 18th century to early 19th century. He is credited as the ‘Inventor of Photography’ as he is the inventor of a technique called ‘Heliography’, Greek for “Sun writing”(or “Sun Drawing”), which produced the oldest permanent photograph. The process involves engraving an image on to a metal plate using asphalt to create a lasting image. Heliography was born through Niépce’s interest in lithography, which involves printing onto multiple surfaces such as paper, wood, metal, etc…, and it inspired other inventors, entrepreneurs and artists such as Louise Daguerre.

Louis Daguerre

Daguerre was a French 18-19th century artist who contributed greatly towards the development of photography as a medium, giving him a title as one of the fathers of photography. He created the Daguerreotype, which is a similar method to Heliography, except more refined due to the work he and Niépce had done to improve the process (with Daguerreotypes having far more detail). As well as his work in the field of photography, he also worked as a painter and developed Diorama theatre, partnered with Charles Marie Bouton.

Daguerreotype

A Daguerreotype is a photographic process (as well as the name given to the image created) which involved polishing a sheet of sliver-plated copper to the point where it would have a mirror finish, then using fumes to make the surface of the mirror light-sensitive. It would then be exposed to light in a small Camera Obscura, fumed once more with mercury vapour to make the image visible, then finally given liquid treatment to remove the mirror’s light sensitivity. It would then be dried and placed into a glass enclosure for protection. Daguerreotypes keep their mirror like surface and the image on it will appear positive or negative depending on the angle it is seen.

Henry Fox Talbot

Talbot was an English 19th Century scientist and inventor who invented the ‘Salted Paper’ and ‘Calotype’ processes. He was also a photographer who’s work used the two processes to create images of places such as Oxford and Paris. The ‘Salted Paper’ process created permanent photographs by putting paper into a solution of salt, which would then be dried, then a strong solution of silver nitrate would be put on one side of the paper. This created a coating of light-sensitive silver chloride which would darken when exposed to light, this could be by placing objects over it under direct sunlight, or using the image created from a Camera Obscura. The ‘Calotype’ process is a direct improvement to his earlier ‘photogenic drawing’ process which used silver iodine as its salt and gallic acid and silver nitrate as a developing agent to bring out a translucent negative, which could be used to produce multiple prints.

Richard Maddox

Maddox was an English 19th century photographer who invented the Gelatin Dry Plate process. Before this, he studied photomicrography which involved photographing organisms from a light microscope.

Maddox developed the Collodion process, which, to him and others, was not appropriate for portrait photographs, Maddox also thought that his health was being effected by the process due to the vapours it was producing. The Gelatin Dry Plate process involved using gelatin on a glass plate with silver-bromide which would increase its sensitivity to light. This process allowed people to use commercial dry plates instead of specially prepared ones.

George Eastman

Eastman was an American 19-20th century entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company. Eastman created the first roll of film in 1884 and only until 1889, when the ‘Kodak’ was first developed and distributed, would they be used and became standardized. The Kodak was a camera created to use the film in order to take images, due to the Kodak’s small size and cheap price, it became very popular, allowing photography to become a popular and more common medium.

Kodak (Brownie)

First released in 1900, the Brownie was a cardboard camera (usually covered with leather) which used film to take pictures. This camera introduced the ‘snapshot’, as photography was now used as a way of capturing memories and not just formal portraits. The Kodak’s original price of $1, with film rolls being even cheaper, allowed the product to sell more than Eastman thought, as well as allowing children to take pictures and even soldiers from war would take them due to their portability.

Film/Print Photography

The use of Film continued to be developed. Film rolls went from being paper-based to cellulose acetate, this made the process slightly safer, as well as the use of colour gel which provided the film images with colour. Film also allowed for images to be projected in a quick sequence allowing for movies to be viewed in theatres with 35mm film and 16mm or 8mm film for home movies. Photographic Printing involves using chemically sensitized paper in order to produce an image from film or digital images onto a piece of paper. Kodak also invented ‘Panalure’ which is a black and white printing paper which required the room used to be in near-complete darkness, making it not fully suitable. In later years, colour prints from colour negatives which involve three emulsion layers which are sensitive to red, green and blue light and would change how much they degrade depending on the image being printed.

Digital Photography

Up until the early 21st century, film was the main form of photography until the Introduction of Digital Photography. Digital Cameras contain electric light detectors instead of exposing film to light. Digital photograph has become common with the addition of a ‘Camera’ tool on smartphones, this allows photography to be the most accessible it has ever been. The first ever digital image was made by Russel Kirsch in 1957. Digital Photographs proved to be significantly easier to organize due to the fact that it can all be done digitally on a storage device, which also allows them to be transported safer than with film rolls.

William Collie

Collie was a Jersey-based photographer who was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1810 and started his career as a portrait painter. Collie used the Calotype process and became not only one of the first Jersey Photographers, but also one of the first photographers to print a lasting image onto a piece of paper. However, despite his importance in early photography and as an artist on Jersey, very little is known about him.

Photography is capturing an image from a brief point in time, through light.

Photography’s Functions:

Because photography is quick, cameras are portable and images are easily distributed, photography has had many functions. There are instances where photography is used to document, this could be for things such as science, news and evidence to name a few. Another function could be capturing memories or events that a person experiences throughout their life, this is becoming even easier to do with the use of smartphones and social media. The use of cameras and social media has allowed for even greater communication methods, with people being able to send images of what they are experiencing to others.

Photography as an Art-Form

Whether or not photography is a true ‘art’ has been debated on for centuries. Personally, I think that photography is its own unique type of art that can be experienced by anyone at anytime. Photography captures a scene in a similar way painting or drawing a picture does, the only difference being the process which some argue is the reason for photography not being an art form. As photography has multiple layers of complexity, style and personality within them, I think that photography is a great way to create art. Another thing to mention could be that photography is almost always ‘honest’ – an unedited image cannot change the way reality looks, giving photography a more natural look than some other forms of art.

Photography as a Science

As photography is Greek for ‘Light Writing’, it would make sense that in order to be able to do photography, you would require some forms of physics and chemistry to make a camera work. One of the first scientific uses of the camera was by Eadweard Muybridge where he used around 20 cameras that were lined up and recorded a horse running past them, as the horse went past a camera, the camera would take a picture, giving Eadweard multiple images. Eadweard used these to prove the idea that horses lift all of their feet up when galloping. After this he would go on to document several animals on how they moved. Since then, photography has been used for other scientific uses such as documentation to learn even more about how the world works.

The Difference between the ‘Study’ and ‘Practice’ of Photography

Study:

The ‘Study’ of photography is the scientific and developmental aspects of photography. As mentioned before, the use of physics and chemistry is vital in photography, without them, it simply wouldn’t be possible. New developments of photography occur often and after each development, something new may be possible.

Practice:

The ‘Practice’ of photography is the artistic side. Photographers practice their artistic techniques, learn new ones and hone their ideas or create new ones as a way of creating something unique as a sort of journey or career. As photography is a rapidly growing interest, many new ideas and techniques are being shown to the public so that they can be developed more by other people.

History

Hamptonne was previously used by 15th century farmers and royals as a farm and housing complex with several buildings from different time periods. It’s name comes one of it’s previous owners “Laurens Hamptonne” who was given permission to rebuild the ‘Colombier’ – a Dovecote – by King Charles II. King Charles also gifted Hamptonne multiple grants for its aid to him during the English Civil War.

Information

Hamptonne today is a museum which provides an insight into the lives of 15th Century farmers and the culture of Jersey at the time, live performers/actors portray the lives and activities of those people, providing an immersive and informative experience. The ‘Hampton Cider Festival’ is an annual event which takes place at the old farm, where people can watch its cider press at work, enjoy traditional food and music, as well as Cider Testing from local and foreign sources. Hamptonne is a Jersey Heritage site, meaning is also used as a wedding venue, as well as tours and trails, giving the old farm life and meaning on the small island. There is also a Cider apple orchard to visit, a local bakery, a children’s playground and an animal farm so all ages can experience the site.

Below is a Link to the Jersey Heritage Website, on the page detailing Hamptonne:

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/explore/find-a-place-to-visit/hamptonne-country-life-museum/

The Characters

At Hamptonne, multiple performers often act as people who lived in the times of Hamptonne’s use as a farm/house. These include characters such as Spinning ladies, Goodwife, Blacksmith and other ancient depictions.

Methods of Recording History – Tom Kennedy

Tom Kennedy is a local Jersey photographer who has documented Jersey’s Heritage sites with his wife Annigna Kennedy. Their works capture what life would have been like in Jersey’s older times through their respective skills. When documenting Jersey’s Heritage sites, Kennedy prefers to use natural light from windows, candles, etc… to make the image as believable and immersive as possible.

This image is a portrait of Alfred Krupp, taken by Arnold Newman

Visual

In this image the colour palette is primarily made up of greens and browns, this, paired with the models facial expression, helps give the image an industrial and almost sinister look. I think the image uses light very effectively in the sense that, while you can see the main light source used, a lot of the image remains fairly dark. The texture of the surfaces look metallic, giving the image a rougher look. The shapes in this image are mainly angular, such as squares/rectangles, and are 3D, which gives the image a sense of depth. In addition, the use of line has given the image a similar effect, as well as a more industrial look. Leading lines have been used effectively in this image, the multiple windows, gradually getting smaller the greater the distance, point towards the focal point in the center. This image does not follow the rule of thirds as the focal point, the model’s face, is in the center of the image.

Technical

There is little to no blur in this image, this is likely a result of a fast shutter speed. This could have been done to give the factory a vastness that seems intimidating to the viewers. The lighting in this image seems fully natural, with its source being the windows on the ceiling. The lighting used is just enough to make the model, as well as the majority of the factory, fully visible. This image possibly uses a darker aperture of around f/11, I think this because the image has a fairly large depth of field and because the image is darker in some areas. I think the shutter speed would have been quick, maybe around 1/500 as the image is fairly sharp all around with little to no blurs.

Contextual

The model of this image is Alfred Krupp, a German steel manufacturer who was born in 1812. He was the largest arms manufacturer at the time. Krupp considered employment as being something like a patriarchy, expecting obedience from all his workers, this could also be a reason for the composition of the image. As Krupp was a post-industrial-revolution steel manufacturer, he was likely making a lot of money from the steel he distributed, likely giving him more power control over his workers.

Conceptual

I think the concept behind this image is to say something about how business owners at the time got the majority of the money earned, thus making it appropriate to give the well-dressed and seated boss a sinister gaze, whereas the workers would get a far smaller portion, even with the intense physical labor they would have endured. As Krupp was a arms manufacturer, it could also be saying that wars and the people who start them are malicious instead of just.

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