THE APP USED TO EDIT OUR ELIZABETH CASTLE PICTURES; LIGHTROOM CLASSIC.
In this film we decided to create it black and white. This is so that the film could look more nostalgic and vintage. By creating this vintage look in the images we took at Elizabeth Castle they were able to fit with the aesthetic from the Jersey Archive images we received from Jersey Heritage. Our film was supposed to aim for Tourism attractions which therefore linked to the history of the grounds.
In the images we decided to created a dark atmosphere and vibe to the images, we achieved this decreasing the exposure and decreasing the blacks so we could have a darker mood. However we decided to give the image some dramatic look by contrasting the black and white tones, we further did this by increasing the white and decreasing the darks. Due to this there is a sharper contrast between the tones. To add a more dramatic effect to the images I added a slightly dark vignette around the image, however in order to create a natural aura to the image it was very minimal just enough to create some dimension to the image.
By developing this image in black and white it created a completely different visual look and emotion to the image. Black usually connotes darkness, death, and evil deeds this fits with the image as you are able to see soldiers about to fire from a canon. Which during that era was a deadly weapon that caused many soldiers from the oppositional group a painful death. Furthermore to darken the mood in the image I turned down the exposure to create a more depressed and deepen the mood already in the image. Furthermore I increase the white in order to increased the contrast in the soldiers outfits from the darkened background.
Continuing with the black and white filter I used a similar editing technique and in the image above in order to create a dark serious mood. This is to further support the sincere topic of gun firing, and some of the audience may be affected by this sort action eg post war, or family members in the army. In order to do this I decreased the saturation in order to create a dark mood and a sense of sad and ominous emotion for the viewers.
In this image you can see an establishing shot of the landscape in a hidden bit of the castle. This image was important to keep similar to the remaining images in order to keep the same mood through the film. The only different images that would stand out In the film would be the archival material provided by Jersey Heritage. This shot is one of the most important shots in the film as its shows the landscape and the area in which the movie is taking place, this shot therefore set the scene for the audience and creates an understanding of the environment.
A Photographic Archive consists of several valuable and specialized collections of photographs on archaeology, architecture, and art, as well as landscape architecture and gardens. It also includes special collections important to history. All archives have a artefactual value for the history of photography, as well as documentary value for the study and research of their specific subject. Some of the collections have a particular historical and archaeological significance because the photographs record excavations and monuments from the early years of modern archaeology. Archives can be described as image banks, indexes, catalogues of creative endeavour, reference libraries, treasure chests, and more. The Photographic Archive contains photographs of works of art and architecture printed on paper, which have been glued to brown card mounts. Many of these mounts contain information, both handwritten and typed, about the images in the photographs. Photographic archives are living documents, records of the trends and habits of the cultural sector, notations of the changing hands of objects, and the shifting identities of the people and organisations who create and manage them. Although many research institutions have collected and housed such image repositories, and there are essential characteristics that many of them share, each photographic archive is particular to the place in which it was created.
How are archives a repository of knowledge?
Archives serve as a vital repositories of knowledge, housing a diverse range of valuable historical, cultural and scientific materials. These repositories meticulously preserve and organise documents, records and artefacts, ensuring their accessibility for research and public engagement. Archives facilitate the advancement of knowledge by providing researchers with a wealth of primary sources to analyse, interpret and contribute to various fields of study. Additionally, archives serve as a wellspring of inspiration or artists, writers and filmmakers, enabling them to draw upon the rich narratives and imagery contained within archive materials. In essence, archives are indispensable custodians of our collective memory, fostering a deeper understanding of the past and guiding us towards a more enlightened future.
Societe Jersiaise
The Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive was founded in January 1873 which helps to supply knowledge and an insight to community’s about Jersey heritage. In Jersey they founded a museum to store all of these archives which is now owned by Jersey heritage. Some of these consist of the wildlife in the island, The evolution of jersey, The battle of Jersey and the geography of Jersey These archives are held in various forms such as documents, drawings, paintings and photos and are kept well preserved and looked after. These archives can also be accessed online and are free to use by the public which is an easy way for them to find the information that is relevant to them. The Société’s mission is to ‘produce and facilitate research on the Island’s history, culture, language and environment; and to share that knowledge with the widest possible audience for the benefit of our island and what the past looked like. They interact extensively with the local community; they take part in community outreach schemes, research collections, and their numerous relationships with local partners, Which allows islanders to look more deeply into their own family heritage and the history of their home which strengthens our understanding of Jersey as a place .
Henry Mullins
Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, setting up a studio known as the Royal Salon. Initially he was in partnership with a Mr Millward, who is not a very known Photographer. By the following year he was working alone and he continued to work out of the same studio for another 26 years. 1860s he also worked in London for a bit, but judging by the collection of his photographs which is now held by La Société Jersians’, he found plenty of willing sitters in the island prepared to pay lots of money have their portrait taken by him. Mullins became most famous for his cartes de visite and the photographic archive of La Société, that contains a large collection of 9600 images, the online archive holds photos mainly in sets of 16 photographs taken at a single sitting. As photographs were expensive at the time, Henry mainly photographed Jersey’s affluent and influential people, including their families of the more important officers. Long hair, whiskers and beards were shown to be in fashion in the mid-1800s from Mullins’ photos. Due to this and the styling of the portraits, it is difficult to tell the difference between some of the officers in the portraits
In conclusion, the value of photographic archives hold immense significance as they serve as essential repositories of our history, culture and collective memory. By preserving visual records of significant events and places they provide invaluable resources for researchers, historians and better knowledge for future generations. These archives offer a unique window into our past, enabling a deeper understanding of societal developments and cultural shifts. As visual narratives, they contribute to the preservation of knowledge fostering a sense of connection to our shared heritage. Having studied the photographic work of Henry Mullins it helped give me a better insight on The history of jersey by studying his work to evoke emotion and tell stories by highlighting his images to see the world from a different perspective reminding his viewers to appreciate the simple things. His achievements had a big impact on jersey and the photography world due to his unique style and influencing multiple other photographers. And showing how jersey once was.
Over year 12 and 13, we have studied many different topics those including, Anthropocene, environmental portraiture, new topographic, identity and experimenting with different lightings like chiaroscuro, rim lighting, Rembrandt diamond cameos and multi exposure.
Past projects:
Femininity vs masculinity
The Identity topic we studied was my favourite project. My final images from this project are definitely my strongest outcomes and I also really enjoyed producing these images.
For the identity project I specifically focused on Femininity and trying to capture what femininity means in some ways.
I studied artists such as Sian Davey and Deana Lawson. The main artist I was inspired by was Justine Kurland but more specifically her photos from the project ‘Girl Pictures’. Justine Kurland is known for her utopian images of American landscapes and their fringe communities, sought to reclaim this space with her now-iconic series, Girl Pictures.
Justine Kurland’s images
boy torture love 001daisy chain 001golden field 001
3 of my images:
Anthropocene
The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.
My final outcomes for the Anthropocene project were successful. I liked this project because we had a variety of options for things to photograph that came under the topic of Anthropocene. I chose to focus on the pollution in the ocean, more specifically, the stuff off the fields in Jersey that gets dumped into the ocean.
This could be a potential idea for my personal study as I like the landscape outcomes, also, growing up round those areas of the beaches could link to the nostalgia theme.
Street Photography
Street photography, a genre of photography that records everyday life in a public place. The very publicness of the setting enables the photographer to take candid pictures of strangers, often without their knowledge.
For this project we had the chance to go on a day trip to St Malo to study the town and take pictures relating to street photography.
I didn’t manage to take very many photos whilst I was there, however I think the outcomes from the photoshoot were really strong and successful.
I think street photography is very interesting as you can focus on people and their behaviour in public, as well as being able to capture images from every day situations.
In this project we explored taking images of people working in their place of work. I chose to take images of my dad, he works as a marine engineer. I took pictures of him working on an engine in his workshop, which creates an image of him working but also a portrait at the same time.
Masculinity Vs Femininity
Masculinity describes the degree to which society focus on assertiveness and achievement. When in contrary, femininity describes the focus of society to quality-of-life issues, such as caring for others, group solidarity and helping the less fortunate are valued. In other words, society still recognizes a gap between male and female values. This dimension is frequently viewed as taboo in highly masculine societies
Taking inspiration from Kurland we went out to the cliff paths on the north coast. We found an area of flowers and grass to try and recreate her girl pictures. We found an area of flowers on the cliff paths, similar to her work. We also found an old fort with a bridge which created some nice pictures.
I really enjoyed my project on femininity and masculinity. I liked that there were many different areas and perspectives that I could look into without the project getting repetitive or boring; there was always more I could add and develop. I chose to do portraits for this project but I could very easily add still life images in. Overall, I think the project was a success and I would love to explore it more.
In the project I looked into Claude Cahun, Clare Rae, Francesca Woodman, and Milica Marković which I think gave me a broad understanding of what I could produce and explore in this project. However, I still believe that there is a lot of areas that I can still look into and delve into further. Here are my responses to Milica Marković’s portraits:
Landscape
My landscape project was very successful and I loved how they turned out. I think my final pieces were very strong and they were good illustrations of the artists I had looked into. Once again, there would be so many areas I can expand on (either different places or different ways of editing). However, I do think I am less likely to explore this theme in my personal study as I think I would be able to be a lot more creative and express the theme of nostalgia a lot better.
1. Describe which themes (Nostalgia, Anthropocene, Home, Feminity/ Masculinity/ Identity etc,) medium (photography, film), approaches (documentary, tableaux, conceptual), artists (incl contextual references to art history, movements and isms) and photographic skills, processes, techniques and methods (incl learning new software) inspired you the most and why.
2. Include examples of both previous and current experiments and imagery to illustrate your thinking.
Anthropocene
The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. I enjoyed learning about this topic as you could interpret it differently, for example, doing photoshoots of trees that have fallen down, electric towers, erosion. It meant I could experiment and had a wide choice of subjects I could photograph. I was able to demonstrate my skills using photoshop where I edited an electric tower, compared to the simple landscapes that I produced from these photoshoots. Axel Braun ( artist reference) collects case studies on contentious infrastructure projects in order to trace humanity’s development as a geological force. His studies focus on human-altered landscapes as by-products of discourses and processes that describe the techno sphere as it brings forth the Anthropocene. My response:
Overall I liked this topic as I was able to experiment a lot and capture the same (theme/idea) but completely different pictures. However, I wouldn’t continue to develop this particular topic as its quite simple and not as challenging as I wanted.
Femininity/Masculinity/Identity
Out of everything I have studied and responded to throughout this photography course this topic is the one I’m very passionate about and will continue to develop/expand my knowledge around this theme which will then allow me to interpret it in a creative way which I can then reflect that creativity into a photobook which ill design as my final project. When studying this theme in year 12 the aim was to find an artist that presented femininity as ‘innocent, young, caring, healthy’, Justine Kurland had produced some really good images which demonstrated those ideologies. However, to now develop this I will be producing images which will portray the opposite of those stereotypes, it will show how as girls specifically change (being older, meeting new people, understanding themselves, temporary happiness over long term happiness) focusing on all the problems/phases most teenage girls face. My photobook will have a nostalgic yet deep emotional feeling to it as it will show femininity in the past and what girls used to do when they were younger (nostalgic) and then compare that to how lifestyles change and how femininity is now interpreted for me personally and how things have changed (good and bad).
