These are the pictures we took at Elizabeth castle. Majority of them were successful outcomes, as the quality of the images are quite high. The weather was very overcast on the day we went which was an advantage for us for the soft, even lighting and no harsh shadows. It also helped set the the mood of our images, the dimmer lighting representing the dark times the soldiers went through during the wars.
I imported all the images from the shoot onto light room classic, then looked through them and selected the best outcomes, worthy of editing.
For our film, we plan on only using still images. This is because although we did get the chance to film some of the castle, none of the clips came out the way we expected. They were all bad quality, so we made the right decision of making our film from still images.
– B.J.R Blench The Jersey Cholera Epidemic of 1832 Annual Bulletin – Vol. 19 pg. 4 – 5
Archives are an accumulation of historical documents, records, or materials of any medium that are stored for the purposes of providing evidence of the past and of people that have lived and experienced things before us, and for the purpose of knowledge. Archives are repositories (placed where things are or can be stored) of knowledge in this sense, as they hold all kinds of information than can be useful to us in the modern day. In Jersey, there is a large and diverse archive managed by the Société Jersiaise, which is used to store and maintain old information that people today can use to learn from the island’s history, whether it’s for personal use or a larger project. The preservation of this knowledge is essential to keeping track of events that have occurred in the past, and can often be useful for the future, such as for predicting changes in land erosion through old maps and charts, or seeing how past generations dealt with large issues such as epidemics or bad weather that cuts off supplies from the mainland. Even today, most people have their own personal archives, such as photographs documenting events like weddings and parties, or even photos on their mobile phones, which can usually be stored and organised to whatever way the person desires, which can be useful for keeping track of their own life and what they do.
The Société Jersiaise, founded in 1873 by a small group of Jersey’s prominent islanders, has their own large archive, with over 125,000 publicly available photographs in their photographic archives alone, dating back to as early as the mid-1840s, just years after the invention of the daguerreotype; one of the first methods of modern photography. This information is all organised, so much so that they have dedicated sections to the photography of various local photographers, such as Henry Mullins, Claude Cahun, Edwin Dale, Clarence Philip Ouless and several more. The organisation of an archive is imperative to its function, as without it, especially at the size of Société Jersiaise’s archive, it becomes incredibly difficult to find something even slightly relevant to what someone might want to look for. As this archive in particular is digitised, the organisation of it is so much simpler as compared to physical archives, like the National Archives for a specific country, such as the UK. These archives are organised by vague topics in a system that whatever agency thinks suits it best, for example, an archival agency might log blueprints for a building under ‘infrastructure,’ ‘architecture’ or whatever they feel is a relevant title. After this point, some archives might index and catalogue these documents for the purpose of making them easier to access, or put them in there loosely and leave it at that.
– Walker Evans Beauties of the Common Tool – 1955
This can also help provide context to media stored in archives, as especially with photography, without any topic or place associated with it, an image can become meaningless. Take photographer Walker Evans’ portfolio Beauties of the Common Tool, for example, looking at it from a regular perspective, the portfolio literally features photographs of tools. Without the given context, it can easily be mistaken for something that isn’t a form of contemporary art. With the context provided however, people in hundreds of years’ time can look at it from the perspective of it being art. Additionally, with context we have a better idea of when the material was created, even if there’s only a rough date, it can provide more insight into life for the author at the time of creation, or a statement on the world as a whole.
– Henry Mullins – Portrait of the artist Mr Poingdestre
Photographers such as Henry Mullins had their own photography studios in Jersey in the late 1840s, where he took portraits of important members of Jersey society and others who could afford it for family and group portraits using the medium of cartes de visite – a small photograph that was often kept in wallets, purses and lockets – which is important to look back on now in the modern day, as it gives us an exact rendition of what people wore, how they looked, and even the diversity of people that were present on the island at the time, or wealthy enough to afford the portraits, along with the technology available to the public. This knowledge can be important for a variety of reasons, which is exactly why the information needs to be stored properly and in an organised, easy-to-find manner. Although Mullins’ work does all this, it can also be considered an inaccurate portrayal of Jersey’s history, as the working classes typically were unable to afford to have their photographs taken, which means what we often see from his work weren’t providing an idea of society as a whole at the time.
– Henry Mullins – Portrait of Victor Hugo, 1860
Take this portrait of Victor Hugo, for example. Also taken by Henry Mullins, it shows the French Senator making a serious and direct mode of address with the viewer, wearing a smart yet tousled suit, which could imply that he works in an esteemed profession, such as a writer, politician, etc. The photograph bears a relatively low contrast, the main focal point being Hugo’s clothing as it holds the darkest tones, contrasting the colour of the card. I find this portrait to be interesting because of the soft blend of the dark tones together, despite the crispness and intense detail on such a small medium. The image is placed on a cartes de visite, and features Mullins’ signature along with the year it was taken. The yellowed background of the cartes de visite creates a warm, nostalgic tone that could bring back memories of older family members or people that have records of their lives taken on similar mediums of photography. The piece itself doesn’t display too much history of the island, but it provides a record of people who were on the island at the time; like Hugo. It also shows that suits and formal attire were more prominently worn in day-to-day life, as most of Mullins’ subjects wore similar clothing in their cartes de visites. The picture doesn’t fit the whole frame however, and feathers off around the edges and in the lightest areas of the composition, which I feel reflects the technology of the time quite well. I find that the use of the cartes de visite as a photographic medium creates a more lifelike feel to the image that modern cameras can’t recreate, which I believe is the most compelling part of this photo.
In conclusion, archives are imperative for remembering and learning about the past, and can inform us on specific social practices that aren’t around, or that are done differently today. Additionally, each element of the archive is useful in its own way, and when put together can help someone build a greater and more accurate perspective of the world, and the island, at the time, and each new piece of information only benefits this. I think that the aesthetic look of older photography would be useful for the nostalgia project, as the tones are quite warm and could remind a viewer of a time they look back on fondly. I could also respond by editing these features into my imagery, as a film camera and the film for it like this would be far too costly for it to be justified.
