Statement of intent –

• What you want to explore?

The reflections/shadows of different kitchenware/glassware still life images, this is because I have found different photographers such as Andre Kertesz, Jarolsav Rossler and Paul Outerbridge who have xplored this theme heavily throughout their careers. Another way in which I want to develop my work is through the use of using more feminine objects as well, such as perfume/accessories, and creating different juxtapositions of the images of kitchenware/glassware/etc with these objetcs. This is because I want to represent how people still share these traditional stereotypes where women are seen to belong towards their household roles of being within the kitchen, and in my work I want to show how we should move away from this idea entirely.

• Why it matters to you?

This theme matters to me because as a woman myself, these ideas/jokes of women belonging towards the kitchen still get made and it is unfair and degrading towards the position of women in a society that should be moving away from this type of stereotype.

• How you wish to develop your project?

I hope to develop my project through using different photographic techniques of being in light/dark photography, then moving in to Lightroom where I will begin initially experimenting with different types of diptychs/triptychs, then moving towards photoshop where I will experiment with juxtapositions/double or multi-exposures. In the end I would like to create a photobook regarding the theme of still life with elements of how it relates to women but with a large focus on still life objects.

• When and where you intend to begin your study?

I intend to create 3/4 photoshoots and begin my study over study leave and then if I need further pictures, I will also use Easter break. In these photoshoots I will focus on a range of different photographical techniques which can be seen below.

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Photoshoot 1 –

• Focus on different kitchenware/glassware and the reflections/shadows that they create, do it during the night and use a flashlight to create a spotlight on the objects.

Photoshoot 2 –

• Focus on the same and different objects such as hair accessories/lip gloss/ perfumes/etc, begin to merge objects of previous photoshoot together, do it during the day so I can experiment with the natural lighting.

Photoshoot 3 –

• Return to photographing at night using a flashlight to create a spotlight, use a few more different objects for different shadows/reflections but also use previous ones.

Bernd and Hilla Becher

Hilla Becher was a German artist born in 1931 in Siegen, Germany. She was one half of a photography duo with her husband Bernd Becher. For forty years, they photographed disappearing industrial architecture around Europe and North America.

Their first photobook Anonymous Sculptures was published in 1970 and is their most well-known body of work.

In this photobook, they photographed blast furnaces, winding towers, grain silos, cooling towers, and gas tanks. Then they arranged the photos in grids called typologies, as seen above.

Mr. Galassi states, “Each yields photographs full of informative and reliable detail—pictures that might be mistaken for
objective documents, uninflected by sensibility. When they are presented together, however, each strategy betrays the artifice of the other, proving that in photography fact is the agent, not
the enemy, of art.”

In addition to assembling material for their typologies, the Bechers made overall views of
each site. These views generally adopt a high and distant vantage point that permits the viewer to
study the layout of the plant and its relationship to its surroundings.

The couple met in 1957 as they went to the same art school, began working together in 1959 and married in 1961. They would travel the world photographing different industrial plants that intrigued them.

I decided to use Photoshop to experimentally edit my images from these shoots, I decided to overlay images using the blending modes within the program as well as using the same kaleidoscopic editing technique I have developed earlier in the course, duplicating a part of the image and reflecting it, creating a repeating pattern.

I edited these images using a variety of blending modes, giving me a lot of variation in their final look and how combined the two images I overlaid became. My first image uses the Saturation blending mode, creating some very unique colours for the image underneath it. My second experiment used the Colour blending mode, which ended up giving it a softer and less vibrant appearance. My final overlay experiment used the Hard Light blending mode, saturating the colours but in a less extreme way than the first image, it also shows the image being overlaid the most clearly.

These are my second set of experiments, this time created by duplicating a part of the image and reflecting it to create these repeating patterns. The become quite abstract the more they are repeated and as they become smaller, and I find these compositions quite unique. These images remind me of some Surrealist paintings which utilise strange dreamlike imagery in their works, distorting the usual appearance of subjects, using biomorphic shapes and spontaneity.

Using photoshop, I used chromatic aberration to distort the colours of my images and make them look really unique. It is a simple process that creates very striking images.

In photography, chromatic aberration is an often unwanted effect caused by issues with lenses inside digital cameras, often created lines of unwanted colour along the edge of objects. This is an interesting phenomenon and I wanted to experiment with creating this effect manually.

What do you want to explore?

In my simple and Complex project, I want to explore the concept of memory and childhood identity through a sense of place, photographing important locations around the island to me. I’m exploring this through landscapes, both traditional landscapes and more abstract images. Through both these methods, I plan to capture the way that memories can change or become less clear as we get older, changing our perception of something. With my more abstract images, I plan to capture strong lines and shapes, providing a more detailed, but equally hidden view of the landscape I’m capturing. I covered the subject of identity both the Identity project and in my Islandness project this year, and this topic is something I really enjoy covering, as it means I can convey my own opinions about a very personal subject without being in front of the camera, through photographs. However, I have always stuck to portraiture, and decided in my final project that taking myself out of my comfort zone was important. – I feel much less confident taking landscapes, and in this project I wanted to explore a subject I’ve covered but in a completely different way – more subtly, with less obvious links and with more abstract images as I mentioned above.

https://www.ideelart.com/magazine/abstract-photography-tate – an article on the history of Abstract Photograhy – my chosen genre for this project.

Why it matters to you?

This project matters to me as I care a lot about where I grew up and my childhood places, and they are a big part of how I developed into the person I am now. I had quite a unique upbringing, constantly on the beach and around the sea, but also living in a lot of different places in my life. I’ve lived in many different houses in Jersey and also have links to quite a few different places on the island. Finding it difficult moving from place to place was difficult as a child, and this is something I wanted to document through my images of these important places.

How do you wish to develop your project?

I’m planning to create traditional landscape images, of places related to my childhood, such as my old houses and surrounding areas, and areas of the beach that are key places to me. Furthermore, I plan to diversify my work by creating abstract images of these areas, capturing more complex landscapes with strong shapes and textures. I am including these as I haven’t really explored abstraction in my coursework or personal study, and exploring this in my final project will allow me to explore a completely new area of study. As my final outcome, I plan to produce a photobook, after producing one for my personal study at the end of my coursework. This was something I really enjoyed, and creating another photobook for my exam project with a completely different type of my photobook, with completely different material and layout.

Final Photobook, Prints and Evaluation

In my photobook for my personal study, I found the layout to be a little too chaotic for my liking and therefore this time when creating one I will keep it very simple, with fewer pages – I felt also in my personal study photobook that I had too many pages, with too many images included. This made it difficult for me to work with, and I found that I had trouble creating a narrative. It was difficult to make sure so many pages flowed succinctly together, and I think that creating a smaller, simpler book for this project will produce an outcome that has a strong story to it, that flows from beginning to end. I plan to create a different kind of photobook from what I made in my personal study. In my personal study, I used a hardback image wrap cover, and found that inside portraits were slightly tarnished by the folding of the book in the middle of the page – this is not something I want to have the problem with within my final photobook, hence my decision to use a different type of book.

Making my Final Zine and Evaluation

I have also thought about creating a zine instead of a photobook, with fewer images than a traditional photobook printed on paper. I have experience in creating zines in my ‘Islandness’ project, where I created two zines that I found to be very successful – I actually found the process of creating a zine to be much more enjoyable than making a photo book, as the number of images was much more manageable, and it meant I was able to streamline my layout and selection of images a lot more. For these reasons, I have considered making a zine instead of a photobook for my final exam project. If I make a photobook for my final exam, I plan to keep it simple by using a set amount of images, but also by using a simple layout: I will use a few presets of image layouts, favourite these, and stick to these throughout the book. This will ensure a clear flow of images in the book, with a clear and simple design.

As seen above in Kyler Zeleny’s work, I have thought about also using archival material of the places I photograph and juxtapose these with my new images. I used archival material and collage in two previous projects, but this project would use them in a different way, with landscapes and different types of material – for example old maps, landscape images, or articles. I plan to gain access to these by asking groups on Facebook, asking my family if they had anything of interest, and possibly contacting the Societe Jersaise Photographic Archive.

When and where do you intend to begin your study?

For my final exam project, I plan to execute at least 3 or 4 photoshoots. After researching key artists that will influence my decisions and photographs, I have a more clear idea of my starting points. Firstly, I thought it was a good idea to think about places across the west of the island that are important to me, and related to my childhood. The first of these locations is near my old house, at La Pulente, in St Brelade. I plan to drive to La Pulente and walk from my old house, down around the headland and down to the beach. This was a place I walked through every day when I lived there, and photographing this location is a good starting point to capture important landscapes. Following on from this, I plan to photograph down in the bay. I plan to photograph the sand dunes at la Braye, and also at Barge a Ground, further along. Particularly Barge is very important to me as I grew up on the beach at this spot, and my family has generational connections to the spot, through Jersey’s surfing and beach culture. Here, I want to capture important parts of the location: the wall, and its texture, the sunlight and reflections, and also the sand, which obviously is a key part.

I plan to take classic landscape images, but also capture more abstract images. I want to take these more abstract photographs in order to show the intricacies of a landscape that may be overlooked but to also develop the idea of childhood memory. As we get older, memories develop in our heads and change, and things from the past become ‘foggy’ or unclear. I want to highlight the idea of fragmented or distorted childhood memories, and I plan to do this by creating close-up, highly abstract images. that do not reveal too much of a location, but show its more detailed, conceptual components such as depth and light.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190516-why-you-cannot-trust-your-earliest-childhood-memories – a BBC article about the validity of childhood memories and how they change over time. “Memories are malleable and tend to change slightly each time we revisit them, in the same way, that spoken stories do,” says Loveday. They are influenced by our perceptions, state of mind, knowledge and even the company we are in when recalling events, which can lend us a new perspective on a familiar life event.” – From the article above.