I have chosen to research a photobook named “The Epilogue”. The story of the book is about the Robinson family and the aftermath of losing their 26 year-old daughter named Mary Cameron Robinson, also known as Cammy. They lost Cammy due to the eating disorder, bulimia. This subject is quite heartbreaking as it showcases Cammy’s life before she passed away and highlights the effect that it has had on her family. It showcases how they come to terms with the death of their daughter due to this awful disease and how they deal with the grieving process. Cammy would make statements such as “I know I’m too skinny. I know and don’t want to be this way, but I don’t know how to get better.” These kind of statements were used within the photobook to get a raw adaptation of what her struggle was really like. The photobook is laid out in an order that shows her life in order before she passed away. It showcases a wide range of images referring to both her and objects that played an important role in her life, and also including shots of her family dealing with grief.

Who is the photographer?

The photographer is Laia Abril and she has received a wide range of reviews which all have positive outcomes. The book was mainly directed for the Robinson family and was used to showcase Cammy’s story. Abril stated that the family “understood right away my intention with the project, probably because their own healing process involved creating a small foundation in her daughter’s name.” In The Guardian newspaper, critic Sean O’Hagan goes on to write an article on this photobook and highlights that Abril stated “the uncomfortable aspects (of eating disorders) which nobody wanted to talk about” to “the collateral victims” of the illness.” She wanted to analyse the area regarding eating disorders to bring forth the real trouble and problem of the disorder. O’Hagan stated “It is a dense and rewarding evocation of grief, survival and the still-raw trauma of a family coming to terms with the loss of their most troubled loved one. The Epilogue is a book about absence, but it is also informed by Cammy’s abiding presence: her energy, her willfulness, her often clandestine struggle with a disorder that derailed her life and capsized the lives of those around her.” He also stated that “From time to time, I had to put it down, take a breather. But I kept going back.” (reference O’Hagan using Harvard)

Deconstructing the narrative, concept and design 

The book feels quite heavy as it is a hardback book and also feels as if it contains a leather-like material as the front and back cover. It has quite a rough texture to it and contains an image of Cammy on the front and back cover with a navy blue rectangle in front of her face. The front cover contains the title inside the rectangle saying “The Epilogue”, and the back rectangle contains a blurb of the content that’s inside the book. Epilogue means “a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened” This is relevant to the content in the book as it’s highlighting an end to Cammy’s life by showcasing the images of her before her life was taken and come to an end. The book has been stitched together with the technique of swiss binding which makes it look very neat and well put together. The book contains a variety of landscape and portrait photos, followed by the insertion of text when necessary to present interviews of the family members. The interviews are mainly placed next to images of the family members to present who said it and what they looked like.

The images are all assembled in a variety of sizes, some take up the whole page, some only take up a small section of the page, some expand to almost the same size as the page but contain a white border around the entire image. There are some pages that you can pull out to witness more content inside it, showcasing links to both images inserted.

There are different materials inside the book such as glossy white paper for each page but there are also small inclusions of paper letters inserted in certain pages. There is a mix of colours within the images, including some black and white images and also some coloured images from disposable photos. They have quite a vintage colour scheme to them and are also quite grainy looking.

With these images, I ended up taking them with a disposable black and white film camera as to allow for a more vintage look to be produced as the final outcome. I wanted to continue on the theme of old footage and thought that taking it from a physically old film camera would produce my desired effect.

Flagged and rejected images:

Colour coded and star rated images:

Best images:

Reiner Riedler was born in Gmunden, Austria and went to Vienna with the intention of studying ethnology. He then attended a College for photography (Graphische) in Vienna and decided to dedicate himself solely to photography. Master Studies of Image Sciences at the Danube University of Krems.

He is a documentary photographer and deals with important topics of the present day. His view always centers on human beings and their environment. The main focus of his documentary work is to challenge our value systems. As a traveller he visits the periphery of our habitats, always searching for the fragile beauty of human existence with its desires and abysses. His recent conceptual works question the nature of photography and the way, how we look at the world surrounding us.

Reiner Riedler’s work has been shown in numerous countries at photo festivals, galleries and museums. He has been working for periodicals and magazines.

Riedler has produced a series of photographs followed by photobooks. An example of one of his books was one named ‘Sweat’. I really liked how his photographs turned out within this photobook as they produce an almost nightmarish looking series of photographs that were just produced from the formation of his sweat.

Within this photobook, Vreni Hockenjos stated that “Reiner Riedler has discovered sweat as an artistic form of expression. Fascinated by the image captured by the sweat on his T-shirt after jogging – like a spontaneous self-portrait – he has used the sweat produced by others to create a series of images. In order to achieve this, he approached the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Munich which provided him with a special sensory material that could be placed above or underneath his perspiring models. In doing so, Riedler used the sweaty body as a kind of rubber stamp to create life-size negatives. He then photographed these and transformed them into monochrome paper prints.“

Image analysis

Identity

I would consider my identity project to be my weakest photographic area of study. Even though the identity project was by far one of my favourite topics, I do also believe that this contained some of my weakest photoshoots compared to my most recent ones. This was the first topic that I ended up getting set on so I was quite unfamiliar with what I was looking to achieve when I took these images.

Within this area of study, I played around with a lot of editing skills such as photoshopping and drawing on top of my images. I experimented a lot with my photographs so that they could display the main area of study for my identity project which I chose to be ‘gender identity’.

Within this project, I really wanted to capture what it truly meant to struggle with the gender norms in society, and to capture a real personal take on the topic itself. This topic was incredibly personal to me as gender plays a massive role in my life and has brought me up to become who I am currently today. The gender norms of society categorise people as either ‘male’ or ‘female’, but there is a vast range of genders and identities that many people in our world explore and live by. I wanted this project to capture just my personal struggles with the area of gender identity and I do believe that my photography has displayed that.

By believing that this topic is one of my weakest projects, I would like to hopefully expand and improve on this topic by basing my personal study mainly on the area of identity again. I would like to follow the route of identity once more but possibly take a slightly different approach by choosing another area to base my study around.

Romanticism – Rural landscapes

I was very satisfied with how my rural photography turned out during this topic. I believe this project to be one of my strongest projects as I was able to produce a variety of photographs that I was very happy with.

During this project, I didn’t use an awful lot of editing methods to improve the overall outcome of my images but I didn’t think that they really needed them. I liked how they turned out by just purely being black and white and having a few basic editing methods put in place for them such as exposure adjustments, shadows and more. I didn’t want to over-complicate the images as they were suppose to just showcase rural aspects of Jersey.

From this project, I definitely learned a lot about Jersey’s rural landscapes by exploring the island and photographing areas of interest that I came across. I also wanted to display the many different textures that can be seen from Jersey’s rural aspects such as the trees that were present and the subtle inclusion of man-made items as well that might have become intertwined with the landscapes.

New Topographic – Urban landscapes

I would also consider my urban landscape photographs to be quite a strong area for me as well. I believe that I was able to capture a good contrast between the urban landscape photography and the rural photography with a complete difference in imagery. The rural photographs containing Jersey’s intriguing textures and scenery, whilst the urban photographs contain the exact opposite of that area, with its man-made buildings and structures that completely take over the more rural aspects of Jersey.

I was very proud of my photographs that I was able to produce from the urban landscape topic. I was incredibly happy with my final outcomes and I just enjoyed the overall effect they were able to give off, as to really showcase what the urban areas look like in Jersey and how much they contrast to the natural areas of the island.

Furthermore, I much prefer the overall aesthetic that the urban photographs give off compared to the rural photographs I captured. I much prefer the different shapes and senses of symmetry that are present within the images as these are man-made buildings. Nature is something that adapts and grows on it’s own so it can come out as being any shape and size, buildings and structures are made with a thought process put in place and a plan of how they’re going to look and be made.

Anthropocene

Personally, I believe the anthropocene project to be my strongest area and it overall was my favourite project that I ended up doing. I chose to pursue the route of capturing Jersey’s deteriorating areas that included decay and deserted buildings or structures.

I wanted to explore Jersey’s deserted areas so that I could really present images of harder to notice aspects of the island. I broke down my anthropocene project into sections such as ‘Dystopia’, ‘Industrial’ and ‘Abstract’. The dystopia series included a variety of images which had to be my favourites as they really presented a good link between Jersey and the term anthropocene. They were able to show that nature was easily taking over the man-made structures that where sitting among the island.

I definitely liked how the ‘Industrial’ and ‘Abstract’ projects turned out as they were still able to present what the anthropocene project was really all about. The ‘Industrial’ project included a range of images of Jersey’s factories, incinerators and overall the industrial structures that the island has to offer. I wanted to include this section into the anthropocene project as I believed it would exhibit that the island is being damaged by these structures being on the island. The incredibly large size of the structures as well is something I wanted to capture, as to really highlight how intimidating and overbearing these can be on the islands condition.

For the ‘Abstract’ project, I wanted to showcase a similar aspect to that of the ‘Dystopia’ theme, but I wanted this one to be more close up as to really display the impact of decay and the overall deterioration of the buildings. The shapes and textures that were manipulated into the structures was something that I really enjoyed the look of and wanted to present them well within this theme.

My rock

This project was one that I thought to be a weak point within my photography topics. I liked quite a few of the images I was able to produce, but I still think this project contained a wide variety of photographs that I deem to be my weakest final outcomes.

During this project, we were given the task of creating ‘joiners‘ and an awful lot of them turned out to be unsuccessful and didn’t turn out the way that I imagined they would. This was one of my successful joiners, but the majority of the ones I produced, I wasn’t very satisfied with. I didn’t really like the process of making the joiners just because there were a lot of components that had to be taken into account in order to make them. I much preferred the outcome of a digital joiner than a physical joiner, just because it looked a lot cleaner and sharper.

Here I have a few examples of my best works from the ‘my rock’ project. I still think that I managed to produce a range of images that I was proud of, but overall the project fell under being one of my weakest.

I did enjoy capturing the raw aspects of Jersey and manipulating the images to make the island seem much more dramatic and textured, but I wasn’t overly interested in the topic overall. It wasn’t my favourite area of study but I still thought it was an interesting on as a way to showcase what the island has to offer with his geology and coastlines.

Editing techniques

During all of my projects, I visited a variety of different editing techniques as ways to enhance my photography and make the final outcomes stand out. I manipulated the photographs in a range of ways such as creating digital joiners, using editing techniques inspired by photographers, photoshopping and more.

— Joiners —

I already mentioned about the use of joiners being included in the ‘my rock’ project that I was tasked to do and that involved a lot of technical aspects to it. I had to automate a variety of images that would all combine together to produce one complete image. Although this technique was definitely interesting to experiment with, it wasn’t my favourite technique to use for final photographic outcomes.

Here I have some examples of more successful joiners that I was able to produce during the time of this topic. I was happy with how they turned out, but once again it is not an area that I would like to revisit for my personal study.

— Keld Helmer Peterson —

Here we have a range of my images that were inspired by the photographer Keld Helmer Peterson. We learnt how to adapt to this editing style by first changing the images to black and white and clicking on the ‘Threshold’ setting, we then had to adjust the image to our liking until we were able to capture the perfect effect that was similar to Helmer Peterson’s.

These were my versions inspired by the photographer and I enjoyed learning this technique. Although it is not something that I would like to adapt into my personal study, I do still believe it was a good technique to use and I liked how these images turned out.

— Multi-exposures —

These images I took, containing the use of multi-exposures, in my opinion aren’t photographs that I’m particularly proud of. Even though I don’t like the final outcome for these images, I was still glad that I tried out this editing technique as it can be a very useful tool to embed into photographs. I was able to control the opacity of one image that was layered overtop of another, so that both images came through. 

Most successful photographs

Concept

For my personal study, I wanted to focus more on the area of the individual and making it more about my background within Jersey rather than the Island itself. I wanted this study to be very personal as I want the topic to be surrounding around me and to highlight mainly my identity.

I wanted to take on parts of the identity project for my inspiration as I believe that the discovery of myself and the struggles that are so personal to me, definitely make up the importance of what the island means to me and what the society has influenced. I was planning to direct my personal study down the route of being linked to my struggle with an eating disorder and depression. These topics have played a huge role in my life and still do challenge me to this day, so I believe this study to be incredibly personal to me with clear concepts of my experiences within Jersey regarding these areas.

Living in a small island community, being isolated from the mainland can have a psychological effect on islanders and their mental health. Being consumed by the routine of seeing the same people and living among the same formats of the island can really cause someone to spiral and fall into heavy depressive episode and many things can come off from that episode.

—- Mind map —-

—- Moodboard —-

—- Ideas —-

I wanted to adapt a similar approach to that of what Daniel Butt and Emma Price have done in previous Hautlieu Photobooks. They have both considered the idea of photographing singular objects in the centre of a flat coloured background. I thought I would follow this route similarly with capturing images of items that present my area of study.

I had the idea to photograph the medical wristbands that I had to wear during my stay in the hospital, medication that I was prescribed to help with my depression and appetite, bandages that I had to wear after blood tests and possibly some comfort items that I was allowed to have during my stay in hospital.

Reiner Riedler also followed this approach by photographing a variety of medical equipment and dropping a plain background behind the image. I would hopefully like to follow a similar route to this by trying my best to photograph medical equipment that I had to use on a daily basis.

Pictorialism

Time period: Late 1860s

Key characteristics/ conventions: Pictorialism is an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. It approached the camera as a tool that, like the paintbrush and chisel, could be used to make an artistic statement. Thus photographs could have aesthetic value and be linked to the world of art expression.

Artists associated: Henry Peach Robinson, Julia Margaret Cameron, George Davison, Alfred Stieglitz, Fred Holland Day, Clarence H. White, Gertrude Käsebier, Robert Demachy,  Edward Steichen, Émile Joachim Constant Puyo, Anne W. Brigman, William Mortensen,

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes: By manipulating the appearance of images through what some called “ennobling processes”, such as gum or bromoil printing, pictorialists were able to create unique photographs that were sometimes mistaken for drawings or lithographs.

Realism / Straight Photography

Time period: mid-20^th century

Key characteristics/ conventions: Straight photography for the first time, since the invention of photography, respects the medium’s own technical visual language. The camera’s distinctive vocabulary includes form, sharp focus, rich detail, high contrast, and rich tonalities. Straight photography is also synonymous with pure photography, since both terms describe the camera’s ability to faithfully reproduce an image of reality.

Straight photographers visualized the image before taking the photo. Straight photography, identified with a pure approach to the medium, was used across all fields of photography and different styles: from avant-garde photographs, documentary and street photography, to abstract photography. Each photographic style adapted the approach to emphasize its own treatment of form, sensory experience, or the changes in the social and cultural environment.

Artists associated: Diane Arbus, László Moholy-Nagy, Ansel Adams, Frederick Henry Evans, Paul Strand, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Robert Capa, Eliot Porter, Rineke Dijkstra, Alison Rossiter

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Straight photography includes a process- and time-based approach. It represents immediacy, the passing of time as in history, or the freezing of time as in a snapshot. In a photograph, time is described by the movements of the subject.

Modernism

Time period:  Early 1900s – 1940s.

Key characteristics/ conventions: Common characteristics of modernist images include clean lines, sharp focus and repetition of form.

Artists associated: Gino Barsotti, Max Dupain, Alfred Stieglitz, Gino Barsotti, Paul Strand, Irving Penn, Man Ray, George Platt Lynes and Edward Steichen

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Paul Strand took modern photography by screwing in a false lens to one side of his camera pointing ahead while concealing the real lens under his arm facing his subjects.

Post-modernism

Time period: Second half of the 20th century

Key characteristics/ conventions: Postmodern photographers are particularly interested in the selective, constructed nature of the photograph.

Postmodern painting was often characterized by an abstract, or non-representational, approach; works often appeared to be random colors or scribbles without an overriding design or meaning. Postmodern photography takes the same approach, but the medium offers special challenges for the postmodernist. The camera captures a perfect representation of whatever is in front of the lens.

Artists associated: Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Jacky Redgate, Robyn Stacey, Yasumasa Morimura, Tracey Moffatt, Anne Zahalka

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Cindy Sherman creates staged, mock film stills in which she photographs herself dressed and posed in the style of the femme fatale, the vindictive housewife or the lovelorn teenager, exposing the stereotypical representation of women in art and film and revealing how identity is actually fluid.

Tracey Moffatt creates complex series of pictures that are consciously artificial, borrowing from both high art and popular culture to tell epic stories.

What is a crown dependency?

Why is Jersey a Crown Dependency?

The Channel Islands is comprised of two Crown Dependencies the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The Bailiwick of Guernsey is comprised of the Islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm.  

In each Bailiwick, the Queen’s personal representative is the Lieutenant Governor, who since the mid-eighteenth century has acted as the channel of communication between the Sovereign and the Channel Islands’ government. The United Kingdom Government is responsible for the defence and international relations of the Islands and the Crown is ultimately responsible for good governance.

In fulfilling its responsibilities to the Islands, the Crown acts through the Privy Council. The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor is the Privy Counsellor and  the minister responsible for the affairs of the Channel Islands. In the Channel Islands The Queen is known as The Duke of Normandy. At official functions, islanders raise the loyal toast to ‘The Duke of Normandy, our Queen’. The Queen has visited the islands on various occasions, most recently in May 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of their liberation from German occupation.

History behind Jersey becoming self governing

Analysis of photobook:

Digital photobook images:

‘Help’ Essay:

Whilst analysing Daniel Butt’s photobook, I noticed that it was very detailed and showed a good representation of how mental health is represented within photography. He ended up referring to his title which was ‘How can something that doesn’t physically exist be represented through photography?’ throughout the essay, linking it back to his key photographers and answering this hypothesis effectively. He explains that he is going to explore the subjects and techniques that display things that don’t exist through camera changes and multiple exposures. The way he highlights these areas is he provides context behind other photographers such as Leif Sandberg. He provides an in-depth analysis of the photographer and how he effectively showcases things physically not existing within photography. After providing an analysis, he presents his own photography in response to the artist and links back to his question within his title. He also takes the approach of linking Sandberg’s work to that of the ‘Vanitas paintings’, indicating that they display “the transience of life”, similar to what Sandberg showcases.

Throughout the photobook, Daniel Butt has included images from Leif Sandberg to showcase how he is able to display a link towards his hypothesis and mentions that his images focus on emotions and one in particular was regarding the topic of a cancer scare. Sandberg’s images are very unsettling and look to be very blurry, messy and have possible images overlapping with one another. Butt showcases his images and suggests that he wanted to “show the duality that can sometimes be seen within people suffering from mental health issues, both in the literal aspects of not being able to physically see what is going on inside people’s heads, despite what they’re feeling, as well as how people try to hide their emotions in order to seem stronger.” At the very end of his photobook he compares his image to that of Sandberg’s and suggests that his images are a lot cleaner with his overlapping images compared to Sandberg’s messy, anxiety-filled imagery. Butt also includes a bibliography at the very end of his photobook to display areas he took inspiration from for his essay.

Grade boundaries: E=1 D=6 C=9 B=11 A=14 A*=16

My mark: 16/18

Grade: A*