The plan for this photoshoot is on this blogpost.

This my second attempt at a night photoshoot, this time I took images of a different location and made sure that my camera was in focus before I took the images (after moving the camera).

Part One for this photoshoot is here.

Editing

Contact Sheet

Process

To start with my selection process I used the ‘Pick’ and ‘Reject’ tool to narrow down my image selection to the strongest images, or the images that I can manipulate. As this was a night photoshoot, some of the images were too dark, too blurry or out of focus, so I removed those in favour of the highest quality images.

Next I put a star rating on each image to select which images I think are the absolute best (and will be using in my final print/photobook) and those which I may use in some way at some point.

I next gave each image a colour to show which images I will, might and won’t use in my photobook.

This is my selection of final images I will 100% use in my photobook:

Final Edited Images:

I have made four versions of this image, each with a different colour, I think this will be interesting as a montage on a double page spread:

I have made three black and white images to experiment with how these would look, they turned out better than the black and white images from the first night photoshoot as they have more contrast:

Comparison to Lawrence’s work:

As this was my second attempt at responding to Lawrence’s work, I was still using this (and the image from the last comparison) as inspiration, because of this, I focussed on natural subject matter such as trees and grass. My use of light (specifically the brightness of it) resembles that of Lawrence’s work (however this particular image was rather dark compared to others in the shoot), giving both images a sense of artificiality due to the harsh coloured lighting. The moon during my photoshoot was particularly bright, making the background (the sky) in my images brighter than a normal night shoot, a similar thing can be seen in Lawrence’s image, as the sky has a yellowish light coming from the distance. My images are once again overall darker than Lawrence’s, giving mine a bigger contrast between the light and dark parts of the image compared to Lawrence’s.

Evaluation

I am very happy with the way this photoshoot turned out, it was a direct improvement from my previous attempt at a night photoshoot. My images are not slightly out of focus like the last one as I learned from my mistakes and made sure the images were focussed, so the images look a higher quality. I also think compositionally, the images are stronger and my use of artificial light and colour is far better implemented here. I decided to move to a different location from the last shoot to give my images more variety when it comes to the photobook.

What went well:

As said above, the mistakes I had made in my previous attempt at this shoot were considered during this one, so I did not make those mistakes this time around. As a result, my images are more in-focus, making them more appropriate for use in a photobook, as well as just giving them an overall better quality. My use of light was better in this shoot as well, in the previous photoshoot my exposure times were up to four minutes, this was due to my camera settings not being 100% correct, however this time they were better, which cut the time down to a max of 30 seconds.

How I can improve:

I possibly could have photographed more things to give the shoot a better sense of variety, perhaps next time I could photograph things other than trees and grass. I also could have used more colours when taking the images, as I gravitated towards mainly red, blue, pink and purple.

How does Laura Pannack and Phil Knott explore a sense of realism in youth culture?

Many teenagers around Jersey seem to complain about having little to do on the island. My project is to portray the youth culture of Jersey through capturing day-to-day life. Photographers explore the topic of youth by capturing ordinary lives of young adults like myself through the eye of a lens. Laura Pannack draws an audience to her work by displaying true similarities of teenagers and her photographs which help older generations understand how a teenager lives their life. She aims to photograph young adults who are less fortunate to show their true meaning in life, whereas Phil Knott photographs youths with a slightly similar culture to my own by capturing ‘typical teenager’ activities such as, skateboarding and racing mopeds. Both of my chosen artists relate to the photographic topic of realism through the way their images depict things as they are, without idealising or making abstract. I have chosen to explore these artists specifically because of their non-conventional approaches, taking a closer perspective of the individuals personal life. By being able to capture these perspectives of individuals in a similar way to these chosen artists will allow me to develop a further understanding of how fellow teenagers live a similar life, yet different in many aspects compared to mine.

Looking at both of my chosen artists, the realism movement seems to have an influence towards their photographic styles. Realism in photography emerged in the early 20th century with the work of Paul Strand who photographed streets in New York that he referred to as ‘straight photography’. Straight photography was a reaction against Pictorialism where photographers aimed to make pictures that were ‘photographic’ rather than ‘painterly’. Photographers tried to visualise the image before taking the photo and included, sharp focus, rich detail and high contrast to produce images of reality. This movement further lead to the idea of Realism in photography where artists desired to portray lower and middle class as the way they were in reality, creating the belief of importance to view the world more realistically. The Realism movement began during the early 1920s due to photographers being rather concerned with how images can be manipulated to portray different ideas to the viewers. During the movement, photographers created artworks that were as realistic as possible which lead to many artists making a name for themselves such as Walker Evans. Evans was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and has a ‘realistic’ approach to the photos he is documenting. He took up photography during the year of 1928, stating that he was influenced by Eugène Atget and August Sander. Walker Evans’ early photographs reveal the influence of European modernism, specifically its formalism and emphasis on dynamic graphic structures. However, he gradually moved away from this aesthetic style to develop his own and more reticent notion of realism. Between 1938 and 1941, Evans produced a remarkable series of portraits in the New York City subway documenting everyday life for citizens of New York, which led on to be one of his most influential series. Walker Evans made fellow Americans see The United States through the eyes of poverty by introducing a new style of photography to document individuals of middle and lower class.

This image from Walker Evans’, subway series, gives the viewer a sense of realism, due to these people having no knowledge of the camera in front of them . With a 35mm Contax strapped to his chest, with the lens peaking out between two buttons of his winter coat, Evans was able to capture his fellow passengers surreptitiously and at close range. Although the setting was public, he found that his subjects, un-posed and lost in their thoughts with a constant change of moods and expressions-by turns bored, amused, curious, dreamy, cloudy or even upset. Documentary photography can be argued as a reliable source of information, as an individual can learn many things just by looking at an image. These images from Walker Evans’ subway series document and inform viewers about how different the 1900s were especially for individuals of a lower class.

Laura Pannack is a London based photographic artist who is renowned for her portraiture and social documentary work and seeks to explore the complex relationship between the photographer and the subject. Pannack was the first artist I chose due to her distinctive methods of portraying these teens by framing them against their social and cultural background often using narrow depth of field in her portraits. Her artwork has received much acclaim and has been awarded with multiple awards for her work. Pannack seeks to fully understand the lives of those she captures on her camera in order to portray them as truthfully and possible. She says that the culture of these teens often inspire her to take photos, “the strength of naivety and sense of invincibility and wonder inspires me. I like the honesty of young people, the lack of pretence, and most of all they are just great fun.” (Pannack 2020). Pannack says that she is careful when she chooses to approach her subjects, keeping in mind what their reaction to her might be. For her, “The ultimate mistake is when I overthink an approach. I select people on instinct. I try to think what I need to say to make sure they are interested, can trust me, and feel comfortable.” (Pannack 2020). I will be exploring Pannack’s project of Island Symmetries focusing on her overall development of youth culture. Her photo series ‘Island Symmetries’ (2020) captures nostalgic imagery that focuses on the friendships formed in a small community on wasteland called ‘The Cracker’ that stands between two estates – ‘Tibby’ and ‘The lost city’. Keeping her focus tight Pannack positions herself at the key meeting place where young people would flock to socialize. The Cracker in Tipton and Topside in Gagebrook. ‘Tibby’; is a cul-de-sac of residential houses that curls around a small playground with ‘The Cracker’ being an open space of rolling grass lined with blackberries and stinging nettles. Pannack states that, ‘Motorbikes, peds and quads bark loudly every day and at all times.’ She captures these troubled teens in a unique way by trying to include an aesthetic landscape throughout most of her teenage portraitures.

This image from Laura Pannacks ‘Island Symmetries’ project displays a lot of meaning to the viewer as you wouldn’t expect a child of his age to be displayed as such. The subject is holding a cigarette which is usually classed as an item aimed at adults, with a lollypop which is a typical element of a young persons childhood. These two items portray a completely different meaning that the subject is still a child but expresses himself in a much more mature way compared to his age. He is shown with a black and blood-red eye, expecting he has been involved in a fight, further proving the kid is more mature than typical kids his age. Pannack aims to involve some sort of aesthetic background in each of her portraits which keeps a ‘photographic’ sense to her images. An image of such varies compared to one of Phil Knotts portraits in the way that Pannack organises her portraits to make the subject pose for the shot instead of taking the image without anyone’s knowledge. This image can be compared to one of Sally Mann’s most iconic images, ‘Candy Cigarette’, where a young girl seems to be holding what looks like a cigarette when in reality it is candy. Sally Manns image is taken in a much similar way to Pannacks in the way the subject is positioned and how the background is out of focus. Both subjects are looking directly into the lens whilst striking a similar pose, holding the supposed cigarette in the same position.

Phil Knott, who is a multinational artist who photographs kids from London to LA, all in a similar portraiture style to present the teens in full detail. Knott grew up around scooter culture and has always been drawn to this specific topic. He became most well known for his portrait photography and his ability to give us a completely unobstructed insight into an individual. Phil Knott grew up with a similar culture to his subjects stating that, “I drove a scooter and they were all around me and where I used to live was like a f****** racetrack.” (Knott 2022). This made him able to understand the culture of the subjects much deeper, which makes him taking these photos a lot more meaningful. He captures youths through a range of photographical approaches by either staging the subject or taking photos of them without their knowledge, which creates a true sense of realism towards the viewers. Knott believe the actions of these teens are ‘harmless’ and ‘rebellious’ and stated that it is ‘quite lovely’ to see these teens being ‘silly’, he states.

Here is one of Phil Knotts most famous portraits of multiple children performing typical teenager acts. Knott has set up the camera in an anonymous position to the teens capturing what seems to be a moped meet-up of at least 4 different teens. The teens involved all seems to show something a typical teenager may carry. As you can see, two of the subjects are holding a cigarette or a rollie which is heavily linked to underage children like themselves. This creates a great sense of realism towards the photograph due to the subjects having no knowledge of the sudden image Knott has taken. However, the ‘unprofessional ‘ qualities add much needed character to the shot, making the image seen as if one of the subjects has quickly pulled out their phone and snapped a quick photo. This images shows what boys of this culture usually get up to also whilst keeping some sort of personal feel to the shot.

Laura Pannack and Phil Knott’s work is similar in many ways, however their art differs when it comes to their photographic approaches. Knott captures his subjects using a method of snapshot aesthetic. Snapshot aesthetic is an approach used by influential photographers such as, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. The photographic style typically features everyday subject matter and off-centred framing which heavily relates to Phil Knotts set of images. As you can see in the image above, no staged positioning has been utilised making the image seem as if Knott has pulled out his phone and snapped a quick photo.

Conclusion:

Overall, these two artists I have explored showcase the idea of youth culture and teenage lifestyle throughout their respective work and projects. Laura Pannack and Phil Knott both capture the youths in detail, they accurately photograph what the children get up to on a day to day basis. The main similarities between both photographers, is that they both fully understand how to photograph the subjects to create meaning towards the viewer. Both of the photographers images make the viewer think and almost create a background story of the image. However, the main difference between both photographers is their photographic approach. For example, when taking a look at Laura Pannacks images it is clear to understand that she stages her photos by making the subject somewhat ‘pose’ to capture in full detail, with Phil Knotts images being taken without the knowledge of the people he photographs.

With Laura Pannack only photographing her subjects in a portraiture approach, it narrows down the sense of realism in her photos. It can remove visual distractions from the background by removing visible scenery to make the image more simplistic. Without including anything other than the subject in her images can make it easier to understand the camera techniques such as positioning, lighting and focus. Most of her youth culture images display an out of focus background which makes the viewer only focus on the subject, which I believe was the aim of Pannacks project of ‘Island Symmetries’.

However, Phil Knott takes a slightly different approach compared to Pannack. This photographic style Knott uses does create a much more visible effect of realism. This is because of how Phil Knott mainly aims to photograph the youths without them knowing he his taking a photograph, to try and capture them with full understanding. This approach is a much more practical way of photographing in an authentic way as it gives a lot more information about the subject, which Laura Pannacks method may not provide.

Bibliography:

https://independent-photo.com/news/laura-pannack/#:~:text=The%20strength%20of%20naievity%20and,they%20are%20just%20great%20fun.%E2%80%9D

https://www.philknott.com/

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Laura_Pannack

Photoshoot Plans: For these photoshoots I am planning to go to La Marais flats in St Clement, and them take some images of the surrounding estates. This is so that I can show how not all people that have impacted the planet live the same lives or have the same possessions, and that some individuals have had a lesser impact on our environment. Like the other photoshoots, I will be using the school camera and I hope that I can create the best outcomes possible from walking through these areas. These photoshoots will attempt to recreate the work of Lewis Baltz, as I have done of research in his life and work and now have become inspired by his work.

Contact Sheets

Photoshoot Overview: These photos are mostly successful, some of the images from walking around St Clement housing are fuzzy but I still think that if I wanted use them they could be altered in photoshop. Overall, I think that my images of La Marais are a lot better and can be related to my project more thoroughly.

Image Selection

In order to begin my image selection process, I went through all of my images and rated them with stars, this ensures that I can later filter out of my unsuccessful and only focus on the ones I have rated 5 stars. The next step to this process is using a colour coding scheme which helps me determine which images out of my strongest images have the most relevance to my project and are of the best quality. I have also used a star rating system followed by a colour coding system to show my better photographs.

• Purple- images with most potential
• Blue- images that could be used
• Pink- images with least potential

Best Images Before Editing

Below I have created a gallery to illustrate my images with the most potential, as I believe that these images do not need a lot of editing and are high quality without adapting the ‘clarity’ and ‘dehaze’ settings in Lightroom Classic. I would like to use these images in my photobook as they highly reflect the work of Lewis Baltz, as this infrastructure is some similar the buildings present in his work. I think that I have done well in taking accurate inspiration from his work and then being able to create photographs like his with Jersey’s structures.

Editing

I have created a gallery to demonstrate the different ways in which I have edited my images, this also shows that not every photo needs a lot of adjustments/ changes to them. I found that the case with so many of my images from this photoshoot as the images had good levels of clarity and exposure so not much needed to be adjusted, the next step is to make sure that this level of clarity is maintained when I now convert my images to black and white.

I have chosen to edit all of these images in black and white and in my opinion this makes my photographs more successful, this is because this editing seems to increase the clarity of the images, despite this not being true I think that my photographs occur to be more like Lewis Baltz’s work when they have been edited and this is vital when it comes to creating marks for this project.

Final Images and Evaluation/ Critique

This section will include all of my final images from this photoshoot, this demonstrates that exploring around La Marais was successful when in regards to creating new images for my photobook. The most important aspect of this photoshoot is the fact that I am responding to Lewis Baltz very accurately and now create strong comparisons to his work and how they have influenced my thinking throughout my photoshoots.

I have selected this as my last final image as I think this is the photograph that best reflects Lewis Baltz’s work, this is because the angle of the image is much like some of his work. Additionally, I think that the editing of this image is much like that of his images, and the clarity of this image demonstrates that I have really considered the outcome of this image before it was taken, I believe that this has great potential throughout my project, as it could be arranged in a group of photos only inspired by Baltz. The composition of this images is very important as it creates contrast within the image, there is lots of area for shadows, areas with large blank areas of white, and then the thin amount of concrete in the foreground means that there is a lot of areas of black. This contrast with the stark white above and means that the photograph becomes more successful as they more appealing to look at. I could be analysed that some areas of this piece are distracting, with the peak/ corner of the building not being in the centre of the image, meaning that it could be less aesthetic. Also with the singular window in the top right corner not really matching with the rest of the photograph.

This photograph is one of my favourite shots from my La Marais shoot, this is why I have chosen it to be featured in my final images collection. In my opinion, this image is one which is very striking, with the composition of this image being its strongest feature. The fact that the windows are so close to the lens of the camera means that they can be in good focus, creating this high quality images. I really like the fact that a reflection can be seen on all the windows on the left hand side as you can see the clarity of the sky in this reflection. All of the parallel lines in the windows, as the high contrast was created by increasing the ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ settings that are found when editing in Lightroom, means that the photograph has been made more successful. However, I could be interpreted that not a lot of consideration was put into the composition of this image, as the overall concept of this shoot was simple and the layout of this image was last minute and the influence of Lewis Baltz wasn’t really put into consideration when taking this image, and I think this is obvious as it can’t closely be related to his work.

This photograph was taken at the base of one of La Marais’ flats, with all of these objects being carelessly dumbed at the bottom of this block of flats. The composition of this image is mostly minimal, with their being lots of blank space of white wall in the background and the tipped objects in the foreground. This image best demonstrates Anthropocene as it shows the carelessness that people have when it comes to discarding rubbish in an unsustainable way, as the furniture could of been resold and therefore could of been used again instead of adding to Jersey’s waste. I think that the lack of objects to look at throughout this image means that people have to pay attention to parts of our environments that are not so beautiful, and makes humans realise that not everything we are surrounded by is as good as it may seem.

I have selected this as my last final image, as I think despite it not being my most successful out of my whole photoshoot, it best reflects the more accurate in between of recreating Baltz’s work, and my photoshoots reacting to the theme of Anthropocene. So in that respect this could be said to be my most successful image. However, overall I think that this photograph is not that interesting, as the components and composition isn’t very eyecathing at all. There aren’t aesthetic aspects to analyse in this piece, or any that would catch people’s attention. If I were to go back and retake this image I would get a high or low angle in an attempt to create a piece that is more visually interesting and could be used to other parts of my project such as my vital gallery. I think that the plants in the pot get lost as the black fence is behind the, as everything is the same tones it means its hard for a background and foreground to be determined throughout the middle section of the photograph.

Plan for this photoshoot here.

Contact Sheet

Editing Process

To start editing my images, I started by narrowing my image selection down using the ‘Pick’ and ‘Reject’ tools on Lightroom, which will help me decide which images I think are usable and which are not. Due to a technical mishap during this photoshoot, a lot of images have been rejected due to them being out of focus.

Next I gave each of these images a star rating out of 5, to further narrow my selection down and label which images I will 100% make use of (the strongest images), and others which I may use at some point.

I then used the colour filter tool on Lightroom to further narrow down my selection, making the green images the usable ones.

These are the images I thought were the strongest from this photoshoot. I have 3 images that could be used to create images inspired by Helmer-Petersen. I like the pigeon images as the movement shown by the slow shutter represents life in the otherwise still urban environment.

Final Edited Images

These are the coloured versions of each image, I made these images slightly colder and more green to give them a more industrial and unwelcoming feel. I like the inclusion of pigeons and trees in some of the images as it provides a nice contrast between the organic and urban.

Here I have made some black and white versions of each image, which I think is effective as it mirrors the greys and blacks of a stereotypical urban setting. I think these images will give my photobook a nice contrast as the other images are far more colourful.

These are my Helmer-Petersen inspired versions of the images which include scaffolding, I these turned out to be successful interpretations of his images.

Evaluation

I am happy with the way my final images turned out, I think they are strong images that will be useful and effective in my photobook. However in terms of actually taking the images, this was not a massively successful shoot; a lot of my images were dark/fuzzy as I had a slowed shutter speed, some of the images weren’t too aesthetically pleasing either. If I were to do this photoshoot again, I would take both of these into consideration and hopefully take higher quality images. I think the places I found to take these images are interesting (like the place with the tree and light) and I think it would be interesting to re-visit those at a later date.

What went well:

Some of the images I captured were interesting and unlike other images I have taken during my A-Levels, such as the pigeon images. The black and white images are especially effective within an urban setting, with the Helmer-Petersen images providing a nice contrast with the other images from the shoot.

How I can improve:

As stated earlier, I think my camera handling skills can be greatly improved from this photoshoot. I am now more knowledgeable on how a camera works and I aim to implement that into future shoots. I think a more dynamic time of day could give my images more depth and ‘pop’ such as during sunrise/sunset, unlike this shoot where it was later in the day (dark) with overcast clouds.

The story for my photobook explores youth culture within a small community such as an island, documenting what myself and my friends do in our free time and creating a narrative of life through the eyes of teenagers, aiming to capture the freedom and liberation of youth through a variety of photos taken in both chaotic and quiet atmospheres.

DESIGN & LAYOUT

To provide a better narrative, I have chosen to incorporate writing in my photobook, taken from a sheet of paper i asked my friends to write on, and give their opinion of life in Jersey as a teenager. Taking inspiration from Jim Goldberg and his messy style of photography, overlaying the writing onto my photos i feel will provide the unfiltered atmosphere that i attempt to convey in my images.

The layout for my photobook will feature both single-page portrait images and double page landscape spreads. I want a variety of different orientation in my book to catch the viewers eye and make a more interesting read. Certain sections of my both will contain a double-page feature on my friends, on one page will be an image of them, likely a headshot, and the opposing page will contain images of their possessions. This will allude to the concept of youth culture on an island and give readers a better understanding. I also want to include a variety of media in my book, with photos taken from polaroids, phone and different cameras to show range within my work.

COVER

I want my photobook to be in hardback, with one landscape photo covering both the front cover and blurb. Below are some possible ideas for my cover, taken from my images;

I chose landscape-based images from my cover as they are quite desolate with no background noise and only one main viewpoint, which will help make the title the focus of the cover, which will also be in handwriting to match the aesthetic of my photobook. I am unsure of my title at the moment but i want it to fit the theme of youth culture but be quite simplistic as to not let on too much.

MOODBOARD

Question: In what ways can photography capture being Portuguese in Jersey and the sense of belonging?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jersey to me acts like a tutorial level in a video game; a safe, closed off area that allows me to learn and develop skills before I move on to the real world when I am ready. I value this idea as it is quite comforting at times to know that I have a place to explore with all kinds of different people. However, I often find myself feeling quite insignificant due to the isolation that being on an island brings which is sometimes exaggerated due to the fact that I am Portuguese living on in the British Isles. The disconnection from both the Portuguese culture and Jersey’s culture leave me in an awkward position as I find that I am too Portuguese for the English people and too English for the Portuguese people. I would like to explore the Portuguese experience in Jersey as it is something I have first-hand experience of, including both the positive and negatives rather than sugar-coating it. I’d like to specifically explore being Portuguese in Jersey whilst touching on the topic of mental health due to how isolating it can be at times living here. 

I’d like to begin by exploring the word ‘belonging’ both what it means and its implications. Belonging is often described as a feeling of security and acceptance, comfortably being able to exist within a space without fearing social rejection or being outcasted.

From a historical perspective I will discussing photography’s relationship with social sciences through early experiments with ethnography and visual anthropology

which I believe links into postmodernist photography due to how the definition of ‘the sense of belonging’ is subjective. Various individuals can have different ideas and interpretations of the phrase which can include both positive and negative connotations, making it an interesting feeling to explore, especially photographically as it has no limits, allowing for a more experimental approach to taking images. Postmodernism came about in the 1960s and was considered controversial at the time for its pessimism, the style itself was created as a response to modernism, allowing room for references outside of the artwork itself [i.e: context from the political world at the time] and combining previous movements [such as surrealism and expressionism] together to create, moving away from traditional rules in favour of being eclectic, creating new concepts rather than making pieces to be taken at face value, rejecting previous movements like those that modernism gave birth to. Postmodernism embraces blurring the lines between high art and popular culture through the use of the mundane and familiar. 

For this project, I’ll be referencing within my work how photography embraced postmodern ideas and theories alongside the use of documentary photography. as I believe in order for me to successfully create a project that represents ‘the sense of belonging’ in regard to culture, I’ll need to explore the realistic aspect of my project, capturing images of how life is for Portuguese people – such as my family and I – before being able to delve deeper, adding more postmodern aspects to my work later on through context and referencing art movements, attempting to capture more complex/creative images after fully delving into my work.

I’ll be using a digital camera throughout my project along with a mix of older images from my parents in order to create a point of comparison whilst also experimenting with their images and how their lives in Jersey differ from how they were in Madeira.

It is common knowledge that there are many people of varying cultures living in Jersey, the highest number of non-English migrants being Portuguese/Madeiran, making up 8% of Jersey’s population in 2021, however, this statistic doesn’t include people like me, people who are Portuguese by blood yet English by birth. Us first generation kids often struggle to fit into our cultures as we’re usually separated from one or both, making it difficult to latch onto the feeling of belonging as we aren’t quite sure where ‘home’ is. In most cases, ‘home’ would be where we were born, and although Jersey does present a feeling of familiarity and comfort, I do not find that it feels like home, instead, I see it as something temporary.

With my family being in Madeira, the lack of connection to Jersey can be quite strong as I’ve got no British blood in me, giving me no need to stay in Jersey other than for convenience, however, despite this, the disconnection towards my biological culture is just as strong. The lack of knowledge towards what life is like in Madeira to only being able to speak my first language [Portuguese] due to years of lessons has left me struggling to connect to the rest of my family which is only exaggerated due to the fact that they see me as British. 

My parents, despite trying to keep me in touch with our culture, often struggled to communicate with me growing up, despite English being our second language, as I found it to be my preferred language, which eventually led to me forgetting Portuguese altogether at some point. This affected my relationship with both my parents, especially with my dad. His job didn’t require him to speak English as much as my mum’s did, leaving a wall between us as neither knew how to talk to one another, often needing my mum to be present in order to have a decent conversation. Despite the fact that we lived together, we felt like strangers which is similar to American & Russian photographer Diana Markosian’s series ‘Inventing my father’ where she depicts her relationship with her father after not seeing him for almost 20 years, as she left without a goodbye at age 7, and how they view each other as strangers despite being family. She focuses on the awkward tension between them, using text alongside her photos to help express how they tried to rebuild their relationship. Her other series ‘Mornings (With You)’ is a more confrontative series on their relationship as she sets up the camera directly in front of the table both she and her father are seated at and takes raw images of them both together as they both reconnect. I believe her work links into my own due to how she explores her identity in terms of both her family and culture as she actively photographs her life and how the disconnect due to her moving as a child left her confused in her sense of belonging, stating “there was just this real desire, a real passion to expand my own sense of place, where I belonged – I didn’t know where I belonged” in an interview with NOWNESS [2021] which is what I myself aim to capture. 

Daniel W. Coburn is an American documentary photographer whom I believe also links into my project as his main focus is family. He uses his photography as a way to document his family which allows him to create a raw set of images rather than a stereotypical/sugar-coated family photo album that only includes the positive aspects of their lives. In his series ‘Next of Kin’, he includes rough, mostly posed, images of his family behind the scenes exploring his family history in “parable of love, reverie, respect and quiet tragedy” [Coburn, D. Next of Kin 2012] which directly links into my project in terms of theme as I would like to take some candid images of both myself and my parents at times where we would not normally pose for images, capturing us in our day to day lives without focusing on positives as most photos do. 

For my photoshoots, I began by taking some experimental self-portraits as I knew this project was personal to me and I wanted to start within my comfort zone – in my room. This way, I could explore my own identity without needing to expose my family to the camera before I was ready to. I used different types of lighting, poses, props to accentuate my facial expressions and emotions, trying to portray a sense of solitude. Throughout the shoot, I started to generate more ideas of where my project could go and was quickly ready to move out of my comfort zone and take more day-to-day photographs of my mother, focusing on her as I knew it would be more difficult to capture my dad due to his work hours. This led me to going to my mum’s part-time job and capturing the environment, trying to peak at what part of her life was in providing for our family which was quite interesting, especially as she exposed her distaste for some of the company’s actions. The next shoot involved taking images of my mother at home, contrasting the environment from before.

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Bibliography: 

Coburn, D. [2014] Next of Kin  

Gov.je [2021] Population characteristics 

Markosian, D. [2013] Inventing my father 

Markosian, D. [2016] Mornings (With You) 

Markosian, D. [2021] NOWNESS interview URL: Photographers in Focus: Diana Markosian on turning her family story into a soap opera accessed 29/01/23  

How have Vasantha Yogananthan and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored identity and heritage in their work? 

Opening Quote: …

Intro: In this essay I intend to investigate the differences and similarities of how photographers Vasantha Yogananthan and LaToya Ruby Frazier each explore the concepts of identity and heritage in their work. I have chosen these two because I feel that I can relate to aspects of their work, due to being a person of colour myself, and find that they have both approached the subject with their own unique style and technique. Yogananthan often make images of strangers, blurring the lines between fiction and reality, as well as implementing the technique of hand painting film images, something particularly important to photography’s history in India. His work stands between an outsider and an insider’s perspective, (try and find a quote from Solomon-Godeau text in inside/ outside) while being a stranger and photographing a world, he is not entirely familiar with while also reconnecting with his own culture and restabilising the portrayal of South Asia through photography. Frazier focusing on documenting her family, very much from the idea of an insider looking at the world that she herself as black woman inhabit growing up in a steel mill town, taking her images using a monochrome film camera, giving them a timeless feel.  (still unfinished)

Add illustration of Yogananthan and Frazier work

Pg 1: Yogananthan and Frazier use two incredibly contrasting styles to explore the subjects of heritage and identity in their work, Yogananthan relying on traditional techniques and creating images evocative of the Pictorialist photo movement of the late 19^th, early 20^th century, made up of key figures like Alfred Stieglitz, Heinrich Kuhn and Frank Eugene. Employing a local Indian painter Jaykumar Shankar to help hand colour his black and white images to give them a soft and dream-like appearance, through his use of colour and composition Yogananthan invites collaboration and shared authorship of the final image . His work is a way for him to reclaim his Sri Lankan heritage after being born and raised in France, by choosing to approach The Ramayana through a Pictorialist lens, a style crucial to European photography’s history, Yogananthan creates a series that draws inspiration from both sides of his heritage, while also depicting the mythology in a more fantastical way. Pictorialism is defined as “an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.” 

Add illustration of a Pictorialist work

^{George Davidson}

^{Vasantha Yogananthan}

In contrast, Frazier takes inspiration from a variety of artists who were part of a movement known as social realism, using straight photography, defined as “a photo shoot that represents a scene or subject in sharp focus and detail, in accordance with the qualities that distinguish photography from other visual media, particularly painting. Simple and clean with sharp detail.” (reference source using Harvard) to explore ideas of societal injustice. Some of these photographers include Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Kathe Kowalski- Frazier’s mentor until her death in 2006. Frazier’s exploration of societal injustice came from her experiencing environmental racism first hand, and how it affects not just her but the wider community of Braddock.

Add illustration of a Realist/ straight photography work

^{Dorothea Lange}

^{LaToya Ruby Frazier}

Yogananthan explores his heritage and identity as a biracial man through his project The Myth of Two souls, an exploration of The Ramayana through photography, allowing him to reconnect with his heritage as well as investigating his connection to South Asia. This project works in contrast to photography being used as a cold colonial force used to oppress the people living in America, Africa, and Asia, documenting them and comparing their physicality to that of their white oppressors. The Myth of Two Souls, explores Indian people and culture through a more empathetic lens, utilising The Ramayana, and its many interpretations, to explore the everyday lives of the people of India, while still maintaining the spiritual importance of the story, instead of depicting South Asians as sub-human creatures to be ruled by an empire. The image I have chosen to analyse is The Evening Before from Chapter 2 of Yogananthan’s Myth of Two Souls, titled The Promise. This chapter depicts the protagonists Rama, an incarnation of the god of preservation, Vishnu, and Sita, an incarnation of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and their emerging romantic relationship. The title implies that the image represents Rama on the night before his wedding to Sita and shows a young man sitting on some steps surrounded by an environment of traditional architecture and the city fading away into the background. The background colours are soft and light, contrasting Rama’s darker, more modern clothing, as well as his skin. Throughout Hindu mythology, Rama is often depicted having blue skin, alongside the god he incarnated from, this blue skin was likely used to represent the cosmos, as well as the idea that Rama’s ambiguous skin tone could mean that anyone could imagine him as themselves. Yogananthan uses this idea to cast a variety of Rama’s across the images taken for this project and depict The Ramayana, as something seen across all Southern Asia, not in specific ethnic groups or parts of the geography, deeply embedded even in modern culture. While the title implies the image is set at night, the sky is painted to be a light pink fading into cream, helping enhance the more mystical style of images, while also showing off the abilities of the artists Yogananthan collaborated with in order to make the piece, like Jaykumar Shankar, one of the few people remaining who paints on monochrome images in a traditonal way. By collaborating with Indian artists and writers, Yogananthan is able to reposition the portrayal of India, not from the view of outside invaders, but from the people who live there, demonstrating the importance of tradition and culture, while also showing modern day India. 

The Evening Before– Vasantha Yogananthan

The portrayal of Rama and Sita in traditional artwork

Jaykumar Shankar

LaToya Ruby Frazier explores her heritage and identity as a black woman living in an industrial city through her project The Notion of Family, a photobook that depicts the relationships between her family as well as the town of Braddock and how integral the steel industry is to the community’s lives. Frazier documents her struggles with chronic illness due to her proximity to the steel mills, the closure of the local hospital which was seen as the heart of the town due to the lack of town development, the death of her grandmother, and the abandonment of the black community in Braddock due to closures at the steel mill, leaving many residents sick and impoverished. Frazier uses photography to explore these societal injustices, and throughout the book places small amounts of text to contextualise images and explain the dynamic of her family. The images are taken on a monochrome film camera, reminiscent to the black-and-white pictures taken of black people during the civil rights movement. Frazier uses these similarities to emphasise her fight against environmental racism and how the US government still does not see black communities as worth protecting, seen through the lack of support given to residents financially as well as the eventual closure of their hospital, eventually leading to the death of Frazier’s Grandmother due to healthcare workers not getting to her in time as they had to come from another town. The image I have chosen to analyse is titled “Me and my guardian angel”, which was taken by Frazier in 2005. It shows her and her grandmother sitting on the floor, surrounded by dolls, Frazier’s hair tied up in a childlike style, and smiling while her grandmother looks at it sternly. Frazier was raised by her grandmother and often dressed her in this way as a child. In an interview, Frazier explains her grandmother’s fascination with dolls, “She must have had hundreds, all in different sizes, different outfits, different nationalities… She began collecting them when my aunt – her daughter – was murdered. It was something to do with filling that loss”. This idea of loss is crucial to Frazier and her grandmother’s relationship, since this is one of the few images of the two of them together before her grandmother’s death, their final image together taken at her funeral, displaying her open casket and surrounded by dolls. In this image Frazier could be showing the complex nature of their relationship, raised by a woman who lost one of her own daughters and fills that hole with legions of dolls. Frazier’s decision to wear her hair in this way could represent her belief that her grandmother still views her as a child, despite her being 25 years old when the image was taken.

Me and my guardian angel– Latoya Ruby Frazier

The Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s

Conclusion: …

Bibliography: 

https://www.britannica.com/technology/Pictorialism — Pictorialism definition 

https://www.imaginated.com/blog/what-is-straight-photography/ — Straight Photography Definition 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/23/latoya-ruby-frazier-best-photograph-grandma-ruby — Latoya Ruby Frazier Quote 

HOW I WOULD LIKE IT TO LOOK AND FEEL

I want my book to look very personalised, almost like a diary. I have heavily considered handmaking my book yet I am still unsure about this- I do want the book to seem quite intimate instead of professionally printed.

PAPER AND INK

I would like the pages of the photobook (if possible) to only have rounded edges- I would also like the images to be printed in matte ink.

FORMAT, SIZE AND ORIENTATION

The book will be standard sized portrait, I would like to explore the possibility of the page and cover edged being curved- I would like to avoid almost straight lines anywhere in the books as there would be a heavy contrast between the style of the images and the style of the book itself- this design would also add to the personalised aspect of the book.

BINDING AND COVER

I would like the binding to seem somewhat handmade- I may handmake this book personally and sew the pages together myself. I am interested in singer sewn binding however if professionally printed I may just use PUR binding. I would like the cover of the book to be a thicker card, not a pure hard cover.

BOOK TITLE

I am heavily unsure of the title still, I would like it to be quite vague so you do not really know what to expect of the book.

STRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE

I would like the book to have an unpredictable flow, portrait and people based images broken up by nature images and text.

DESIGN AND LAYOUT

I would like the pages to look quite busy- I will be using a mixture of full page spreads and separate images, possibly have grids of images.

EDITING AND SEQUENCING

My editing for these images is going to be moderately basic- I may experiment with black and white images (such as the one seen below¹) or go further with editing and attempt a largely dream-like style² . What I do know for certain is that I would like my images to be predominantly warm-toned- with an emphasis of lighting and grain in the image done through editing. Sequencing will be done by image colour- I would like the book pages to be quite busy however images have to be complementary of each other otherwise it will look messy.

IMAGES AND TEXT

I would like there to be a mixture of images and text- including adding text to images by superimposing it on top and surrounding images with text- the text will be a mix of poetry, personal accounts, context to the images, day itineraries, notes such as recipes or postcards and letters.

Photoshoot plan: For my second photoshoot I would like to explore some areas of farmland in an attempt to recreate the work of Richard Misrach. To do so I will be taking some images of green houses in some fields, I would like to create high quality images with an eerie effect to them and some which can be drastically edited using the ‘invert’ tool in photoshoot. To do so I will be exploring this area during the early afternoon in order to get good sunset which creates clear images whilst still being not too bright. The only equipment I will be using will be the school camera, as I don’t think that it is necessary to use a tripod. This is because I think that more interesting images can be created without the tripod as more creative angles can be gained.

Contact Sheets

Below I have included some contact sheet which illustrate all of the different angles and compositions I have achieved during this photoshoot. I think this is important to demonstrate as it helps me look through all of images and start to understand how many successful ones I have taken.

Overview of photoshoot: In my opinion this photoshoot is filled with a lot of images of high quality and potential but there is some images which are too over or under-exposed to be able to edit or use throughout my book, however, I still think that these images will come in useful when it comes to creating creative edited pictures.

Image Selection

In order to begin my image selection process, I went through all of my images and rated them with stars, this ensures that I can later filter out of my unsuccessful and only focus on the ones I have rated 5 stars. The next step to this process is using a colour coding scheme which helps me determine which images out of my strongest images have the most relevance to my project and are of the best quality. I have also used a star rating system followed by a colour coding system to show my better photographs.

• Purple- images with most potential
• Blue- images that could be used
• Pink- images with least potential

Best Images Before Editing

Below I have created a gallery which contains some of my best photographs before I have cropped or edited them. This is in an attempt to show that some good unedited images have come from this photoshoot. I also like filtering out all of my images so I can see which have the highest natural clarity.

Editing

Editing these images came to be more difficult then expected, as some of them were so grey that it was hard for any other colours and tones to comes through in the images. However, I have demonstrated some editing I have done throughout these images and how this has impacted the photographers in a positive or negative way.

I think that overall my editing has been good, and only adds to the strength of my images that I have taken. This way of monochromatic editing is my favourite as it adds dimension and contrast. The lighter and darker tones are more evident and this means that the shadows are more clear as well. I think that my photoshoot has become even more successful after looking at these edited photos.

Final Images and Evaluation/ Critique

This section will include all of my final images from this photoshoot, this demonstrates that exploring the fields was successful when in regards to creating new images for my photobook. The most important aspect of this photoshoot is the fact that I am responding to Misrach more then Baltz, but this photoshoot could be compared to both.

I have selected this as my first final image as I think that this is my most influential image, it shows all of the greenhouses that are present in all of my other images. I like that there are different textures present in this image. This monochromatic editing means that the clouds create different shapes with soft texture in comparison to the parallel dark lines in the greenhouses with lack of texture with lots of dimension. I really like the composition of this images as it allows for half of it to be composed of sky, whilst half of the image is composed of the greenhouses themselves. Lots of this image is filled with dark tones and very harsh lines, whilst the sky is very subtle, this creates contrast within the image and makes it more appealing. Most importantly I think that this image relates more to Lewis Baltz in comparison to Richard Misrach, and this means that this photoshoot links to both of these artists and strengthens the concept of my project.

I would like for both of these images to put together when they are being displayed as I think they compliment each other well, with these images being two perspectives of the same structure. I have tried to edit them so they are the same and appear to have similar lighting. I have purposefully make the first image quite over exposed, so that the sky is brighter and the texture of the leaves is more prominent. I think that these are two of my strongest images as the second also contains a lot of detail and texture within the leaves. The purpose of these photographs relating to my project was the fact that they represent manmade structures being built on a natural landscape, and then the natural landscape taking back the scape that us humans has taken for our own benefit, this is important as it links to Misrach’s concept of educating people surrounding the climate crisis we are always facing.

I have selected this as another final image as it represents how strong manmade structures can be, as the structure has obviously lasted a significant amount of time, throughout all the natural events that could have occurred, and this is shown through all of the dirt and moss that can be found on the outside of these greenhouses, highlighting the longevity of their lives. This links to the fact that the damage that manmade life has caused is mostly one which is irreversible and cannot always be controlled. Additionally, this image remained more aesthetic without monochromatic editing, and I like how the colours in this image show how much natural life can still go through and survive regardless of the circumstances.

Compare and Contrast

Similarities: I have now included a compare and contrast of my work versus that of Richard Misrach, this shows where I have got my inspiration to photograph natural landscapes from. The clarity of this images reflects how I have considered my work being compared to his, as I wouldn’t want to take inspiration from his work and then begin to produce low quality outcomes to comparison. Lots of cool and green tones are evident in both of these pieces of work, with natural aspects such as leaves and foliage in both of these pieces.

Differences: I think that these two images have many differences and this is because of the composition and objects that are present in each other the photographs, they have completely different looks with just a few links to each other. Additionally, Misrach’s work is filled with a wider variety of wide shot images, whilst I have more examples of more zoomed in images, attempting to focus on one part of the greenhouse. Despite there being visual differences in my work, their are different conceptual approaches to our work, this means that Misrach has focused on a whole area (Cancer Alley in this photograph above) in an attempt to educate people and bring attention to out current climate crisis. On the other hand, throughout my work I am heavily trying to relate my project to very specific and somewhat overlooked areas of Jersey (like this photoshoot specifically). In my opinion this dramatically affects the outcomes that our work will create, the message of my work is more related to how the landscape itself has changed, and how the environment has continued to adapt.