Occupation

The Occupation of Jersey by German Forces during the Second World War commenced on the 1 July 1940. The Occupation was to last for nearly five years and eventually ended on the 9 May 1945 – Liberation Day.

Following the defeat of France, Winston Churchill reluctantly made the decision that British troops be withdrawn from the Channel Islands and redeployed. This left the five islands completely demilitarised. Around 25,000 occupants were evacuated to Britain. Almost all of Alderney’s residents were evacuated, along with around half the population of Guernsey and a fifth of the people from Jersey. The United Kingdom government provided ships to evacuate women, children and men who wished to join the forces when it seemed that Occupation was inevitable.

Britain suppressed the news that the islands had been demilitarised, so when Germany attacked it did so with bombings, killing 44 islanders on Jersey and Guernsey. The Nazis occupied four islands – Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. It was the only British territory to be occupied. They would remain there until the end of the War in Europe in May 1945.

Hitler believed the Channel Islands might be a ‘stepping stone’ from which to invade Britain. They were also a useful propaganda tool – to show that the Nazis occupied British land.

German Military

The military consisted of varying numbers of troops, around 25,000 in October 1944, with an additional 15,000 Organisation Todt (OT) workers once fortification of the islands began in October 1941.

Gun Emplacements

To counter any attempted Allied assault, beaches were mined in vulnerable landing spots, anti-tank
walls of steel and concrete were built, large clifftop guns put in place, camouflaged gun emplacements installed, the walls of Elizabeth and Gorey castles reinforced, steel spikes planted in
fields where aircraft might land and a radar station established at Les Landes. In order to ferry the
vast amounts of concrete needed, a railway network was created to link with the Ronez quarries on
the north coast.

Evaluation

I am happy with the way my zine has come out and I like the fact that the layout is thoughtful. I think the text certainly adds something to the presentation and I think my selection of typography and imagery was successful. If I could do something differently perhaps I would not include the colour page and keep it all black and white, as it may have been a bit more cohesive.

I did this the lasso tool on photoshop and then using the bar below and writing in the description what image that I wanted to appear.

For this image I generated someone skateboarding, a cat and a dog. This helped make the bridge look busier to help highlight my perception of St Malo.

With this image I did the same thing where I edited some children playing and a whale in the sea. Due to the abnormality of the whale being there this picture looks less realistic in comparison to the other one and is clear that it is generatied by AI.

Overview

Overall I didn’t really enjoy this experimentation as I struggled to make the images that I generated look realistic, in contrast I am glad the we did it as it is another way that I can incorporate technology into my final exams but yet I probably wont be reliant on this technique as I did struggle with and and I Prefer the way that my final images look without the fake aspects to it.

A Zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. There are different types of zine such as art and photography zines, literary zines, social and political zines, music zines, travel zines and food zines.

For my zine I used 16 of my best and strongest images from St Malo, I used a mix of black and white images and images in colour which I felt gives my zine a variety of tones and emotions. Below are the Images that I used.

NARRATIVE

A narrative refers to the structure and presentation of a story, typically involving characters, settings and event. It serves as a means of conveying information, emotions of ideas in a sequential and engaging manner. Narratives can be found in various forms of literature, film and other artistic mediums, allowing for the exploration of complex themes and the expression of diverse perspectives. They often follow a specific structure, such as the exposition of diverse perspectives. They often follow a specific structure, such as the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution to create a coherent and impactful storytelling experience.

EDITING & SEQUENCING

For my zine I had previously edited my pictures on Lightroom and photoshop. I named it “descender à St Malo” which means descend into St Malo. For my inspiration I looked at old zines online and the ones in class to come up with the idea of mine.

Importance of a zine

A zine is an important platform for photographers to showcase their work outside traditional channels. It democratizes art, allowing emerging talents to reach a wider audience. They serve as a tangible and accessible platform to enhance the connection between the artist and the viewer. In an era dominated by digital content, zines preserve the tactile experience of photography, offering a unique, intimate journey through the creator’s vision. Ultimately, photography zines empower artists to share diverse narratives, contributing to a richer, more inclusive cultural dialogue.

Elizabeth castle is located in St Helier, Jersey. The castle was built in 1601, making it 422 years old and for 400 years this contained a priory, and for the last 350 years a castle. It is accessible only on low tide by foot, if the tide is high, you have to get a boat over. Construction of the castle began in 1594, and continued in the first years of the 17th century under the then governor of Jersey, Sir Walter Raleigh, who named it “Fort Isabella Bellissima” (the most beautiful Elizabeth) after Elizabeth 1st.

Today, the castle is administered by the Jersey Heritage Trust as a museum site: among the historical displays are the Jersey Royal Militia Museum holding several centuries of military memorabilia. Every Sunday through the season when the castle is open, a team of historical interpreters recreate the garrison of 1781, at the time of the battle of Jersey. Displays are given of musket firing, cannon firing and civilian life.

Photo archive

Occupation

The Occupation of Jersey by German Forces during the Second World War commenced on the 1 July 1940. The Occupation was to last for nearly five years and eventually ended on the 9 May 1945 – Liberation Day.

Following the defeat of France, Winston Churchill reluctantly made the decision that British troops be withdrawn from the Channel Islands and redeployed. This left the five islands completely demilitarised. Around 25,000 occupants were evacuated to Britain. Almost all of Alderney’s residents were evacuated, along with around half the population of Guernsey and a fifth of the people from Jersey. The United Kingdom government provided ships to evacuate women, children and men who wished to join the forces when it seemed that Occupation was inevitable.

Britain suppressed the news that the islands had been demilitarised, so when Germany attacked it did so with bombings, killing 44 islanders on Jersey and Guernsey. The Nazis occupied four islands – Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. It was the only British territory to be occupied. They would remain there until the end of the War in Europe in May 1945.

Hitler believed the Channel Islands might be a ‘stepping stone’ from which to invade Britain. They were also a useful propaganda tool – to show that the Nazis occupied British land.

German Military

The military consisted of varying numbers of troops, around 25,000 in October 1944, with an additional 15,000 Organisation Todt (OT) workers once fortification of the islands began in October 1941.

Gun Emplacements

To counter any attempted Allied assault, beaches were mined in vulnerable landing spots, anti-tank
walls of steel and concrete were built, large clifftop guns put in place, camouflaged gun emplacements installed, the walls of Elizabeth and Gorey castles reinforced, steel spikes planted in
fields where aircraft might land and a radar station established at Les Landes. In order to ferry the
vast amounts of concrete needed, a railway network was created to link with the Ronez quarries on
the north coast.

Synopsis

This short film will consist of images produced at various artillery sites around the island. A voiceover of an elderly man will accompany the still images, starting at Elizabeth Castle and expanding to multiple heritage sites. Images sourced from the Jersey Archive will be compared to newer images photographed by us. The new images will consist of differing angles of the heritage sites/artillery emplacements (aerial views).

Archive Images for Comparison

Corbiere

Noirmont/Portelet

St Ouens

Front Cover

I decided to create quite a simple cover, with one of my pictures featured in the middle. I added a white border around the picture (with a thicker bit at the bottom to create a polaroid effect) and a double border around the edge. I choose quite a simple yet blocky font, adding a title and my name in a smaller size beneath it. I think it is an effective cover as it gives the viewer a taste of what is featured in the zine without revealing too much.

Inside

My first double page includes a blank black page with an overview of the trip written in the middle. On the right, I included a landscape image that I took.

I decided to display my favourite landscape images over two pages.

I displayed the portrait images side by side, some filling up the whole page and some having a black border.

For my remaining portrait and landscape photos, I went for a different layout, including a quote from Henri Cartier- Bresson below the landscape image.

Back Cover

For the back cover, I used a similar layout as I did for my front cover, however this time I included another quote from Henri Cartier- Bresson.

I have chosen to use these images in my zine;

Textual elements

I have chosen to add some textual elements in the form of a few small blocks of text that describe my experiences in the moment which I took them. I also titled the zine with the French title ‘Souvenirs de Saint-Malo‘, translating to ‘memories of Saint-Malo’. I chose this because I think it reflects the main objective of the piece, which is to convey the concept of nostalgia through imagery and text. The typography settings I have chosen throughout (for everything except the cover) are shown below.

I chose these settings because I found they created the right kind of effect and that they fitted best with the nostalgic concept I wanted.

A photo zine is a self-made, printed issue built of photos and captions. The term comes from the word “magazine”, as zines follow the style of magazines with headings, text, and illustrations put on a grid. An important feature of a photo zine is visual storytelling.

Inspiration

The inspiration I incorporated for my zine was taken from the photo above. I liked how the images looked with the boarder around them and replicated this in my own zine. I was also keen on the way they arranged their images, having their strongest image as the biggest and their most eye catching image as a smaller one since this distributes the viewers gaze.

In my zine, I would like to include these elements as well as adding my own personal touches such as increasing and decreasing the image sizes while rearranging them to get the best outcome.

We plan to centre our film around the Nazi Occupation of Jersey in WWII, travelling to different historical sites around the island, including the War Tunnels, various important bunkers and larger fortifications such as Mont Orgueil Castle in Gorey.

I want to use this task as an opportunity to improve my skills in techniques such as hyperlapses, which is a form of timelapse shot used to capture motion. We also hope to use Charlie’s drone if we can get it to work, as it would work really well for establishing shots of the castle. As I already take film studies as an extra subject, I think I have leeway when it comes to experimenting with these harder techniques, another one I want to try is the slow-motion feature on my phone’s camera, which has so far given me some smooth, high quality shots when messing around with it.

When we actually go to Elizabeth Castle, we’ll need to bring a tripod, a camera (phone camera should be enough but we might be better off using a proper one), and the drone (if it works). Otherwise, when we do our extra shooting, we should be alright with the same or even maybe less equipment.

For the audio on our short film, we need to bring a sound recorder and maybe make use of the boom arm if we’re shooting at the same time. We need ambient sounds of seagulls, the shore, and we might need to record some footsteps on gravel and stone. If we can’t get these on the day, we can make some sound effects with foley sound.

I am going to be making a zine from my images I took in St Malo, including some of the AI images I have generated from that shoot.

Narrative: a spoken or written account of connected events, a story. A narrative can also be told through a series of images which can tell a story. When creating a narrative through images the way they are presented have to be carefully thought about, for example: what order are the images in?, do the images have a caption?

What is my story?

All my images contain a subject which each have their own individual story. I am going to let the viewers create there own story when they look at the images as I think that some of the images can be interpreted in many different ways

How will I tell my story?

I’m going to tell my story by presenting my images from St Malo in a certain order in the zine, with each page representing one piece of the story. I’m going to vary how I present the images. For example, I may chose to put a single image on one page and on the next have multiple images.

I may also to have a look at some archived images of St Malo and add them in to the zine, to create a sense of nostalgia.