1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating  with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.

The book I am looking at is Raised by wolves by Jim Goldberg which explores the subject of kids living on the streets of California and the lives they live. He shot images in a documentary style as he followed them through their struggles with addiction, mental health issues and the difficult choices they have to make to survive in this environment. The images are grungy and dark to accurately portray their lifestyles and capture their unique personalities through the lense.

2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)

Jim Goldberg made this photobook to highlight people that are neglected, ignored and invisible to the mainstream population. He believed these people deserved a voice so decided to not only take their photos but also include their writing and drawings in the book.

He stated that:

“Feeling like an outsider enabled me to evoke stories from the people I worked with because I could relate to them. I always aimed to get to a point where empathy and trust were created… Having people write directly on photos was a way to access their thoughts”

His work was so well received that he collected various awards such as a Guggenheim Fellowship (1985), two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1989, 1990), the Mother Jones Documentary Photography Award (1989), and many more.

3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:

Narrative – Jim Goldberg follows kids living on the streets of California and specifically focuses on two characters, Tweeky Dave and Echo. They are two charismatic but deeply troubled youths whose lives became intertwined as they lived as runaways.

Concept – His subjects are often people existing on the fringes, who are otherwise treated as invisible by mainstream society, or flattened into caricature.

Design – This book has a mixture of images that are mostly documentary style and drawings/writing from the subjects.

Who is Peter Bialobrzeski?

Peter Bialobrzeski is a German photographer, who’s work has dipped into street and urban photography. A topic I am intending on featuring in my mock exam and essay. His city photos are what mainly peak my interest.

Career

His city photos, in contrast to Luxemburg, are mostly captured during daylight hours instead of night time. His photos feature lots of run down, demolished and abandoned buildings.

Visual

Each of these photos have buildings which have been abandoned and left to decay over time, which looks to be a very long time given the lack of care seen on the buildings. Also due to the fact that newer buildings in the backgrounds of some can be seen, which implies that these abandoned ones have been neglected and ignored. The destruction and crumbling to the buildings walls, ceilings and floors creates many rigid and fluctuated lines, perhaps to show they are not perfect. Being in the day, the images are of course very bright, some of the abandoned buildings however appear to be in slightly darker areas, possibly being overshadowed by the newer and taller buildings. The buildings due to lack of care are all cracked and chipped all over, creating a sort of rough texture. I like how in a handful of photos there is machinery but blurry, obviously because the low shutter speed that was likely used captured the constant movement of the machines, which contrasts with the stillness of the buildings, being inanimate. There is a certain amount of spacing between the newer buildings and the ruined ones, almost to imply that the newer buildings are better and higher up so shouldn’t be anywhere near the old ones.

Conceptual

The idea and meaning behind these images doesn’t seem very clear, if there even is one. The first thing I’d think of is to show the difference between the old and the past and the new and the future, and that the past will always be overrun and sometimes forgotten. The images could have something to do with “Topographical” imagery given the almost deadpan look and the fact the main subjects are dissociated and abandoned things.

Response

Jersey is home to many abandoned buildings, which are often very close to still occupied buildings. I could take advantage of this by going out and positioning my camera to have the abandoned one and still used ones in the framing. In town, it can also provide good landscape backgrounds. I do want to try having the shutter speed set to low and have things within the frame moving while the buildings stay perectly still.

Using photoshop I have used the magnetic lasso tool to outlie what I wanted to cut out, then inverted the image so that the are that was outlines was removed, then using the eraser tool I have taken of the imperfect edges. I have open another photograph to form as a background for the eye. This was to create an impression that the eyeball of the eye acted as a window to the past. Because it was an image of my mums eye and her past, its like you can see that that past never left her.

Another form of digital alterations that I did was layering a filter/pre-set on top of a portrait. As I wanted to include this portrait however I wasn’t happy with the original, and I knew there had to be some sort of alteration done to it. As I have previously in another project used these pre-sets, I have re-used them.

When it comes to still life, I wanted to include the most meaningful objects, however I didn’t like the background for some, therefore I opened 3 of the images in photoshop and wanted to trace around them.

To do this I have once again used the same techniques as the first image alteration, using magic lasso tool and eraser.

These were the best images from photoshoot 5 before editing. I took these photos down at St Ouen’s Bay whilst my dad went surfing. The lens I used to take them is obviously not meant for this kind of long-distance photography which is why a lot of this shoot wasn’t usable and there were only 14 relatively successful pictures. There was also a lack of light at this time as the sun was setting and there was also a thick layer of cloud and this caused the resolution to suffer a bit. I want to go back out soon to take better pictures in the light.

For this shoot, I needed to use a combination of techniques to ensure that the blandness of the weather and light was either masked or amplified to create a more dramatic image. Therefore, I explored this technique of decreasing the temperature and exposure to make the bright blue graphic effect.

I also made some black and white, but made sure not to always do this because it can become boring if the images are all relatively repetitive. I then increased contrast and exposure.

I then began to explore a more natural lowering of the temperature, which created a nostalgic blue tinge that, when combined with a slight vignette and increased texture, appears film-like.

I edited the below portrait to be more natural and documentary style so that it would appear like an environmental portrait. I increased the exposure slightly as the original was very dark. I also increased contrast to show definition.

Here, I experimented with the opposite technique as before, where I increased temperature instead of decreasing it. I like the effect this has as it also seems quite nostalgic as it is reminiscent of sepia, but with a slightly more vivid tone.

Photoshoot 6, however, was a lot more successful as the light was better, the colours were brighter, and the visibility was clearer. This means that I have a lot more images from this shoot and I am generally very happy with these. Below are the photos I selected to edit.

I copied and pasted these edits on to this photo too.

with a few of the photos that i am choosing in my final project i have edited them to make them appealing to the audience and to make them clearer and more vibrant.

Many of my photos in this project is from my film collection which I started in 2021, I started taking photos of my friends when ever we went out, i focus on portraiture, and capturing moments of us in our youth which will allow me and my friends to look back on our past and reminisce the memories.

Photo collections

Photo shoot 1

This first shoot focuses on the things my friends like to do like skating and playing pool, i have captured action shots of the boys skating i liked photographing this as due to the nature of film i did not know what the outcome was going to be and i was only able to get one shot as a time which made it more challenging to capture them in the air.

Photo shoot 2

This second shoot was taken in summer it shows summer on jersey and the freedom that youth feel when its summer exploring the island that we live on.

shoot 3

MON: Academic Sources

• bibliography/ night vision the art of urban exploration by troy Paiva
  
  Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
• Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography

In-text referencing:

..this is the point that Manaugh makes, when he writes that, ‘Paiva shows us what historical dead ends actually look like’. (Manaugh 2008: 7)

‘We have inherited a semi-toxic world of old military equipment and abandoned shopping malls’ Manaugh in this quote is talking about the abandoned parts of Texas in the middle of nowhere. (Manaugh 2008: 7)

Bibliography

Manaugh, G. (2008).’Desert Iliad’ in Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration. San Franciso: Chronicle Books LLC

• Essay question: How does Troy Paiva use the themes of isolation and loneliness in his work.
• Opening quote “I love the surreal feeling of wandering through an abandoned subdivision, alone, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night”
• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question? (The area of study that I am doing is abandoned things and night photography the reason I choose abandoned things is because as a child I always uses to go and explore and abandoned building and bunkers is where I would find myself exploring I use to go with friends and sometimes alone, the artist I am studying is Troy Paiva a night photographer who paints with light in his photos)
  
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. (Night photography is a game of light – or, more accurately, the lack of light. Because of this, you’ll need to adjust your camera settings to capture as much light as possible. This means shooting in Manual mode and understanding the “Exposure Triangle” – the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.)
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

List all the sources that you have identified above as literary sources. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites/online sources, Youtube/ DVD/TV.

Quotation and Referencing:

Why should you reference?

• To add academic support for your work
• To support or disprove your argument
• To show evidence of reading
• To help readers locate your sources
• To show respect for other people’s work
• To avoid plagiarism
• To achieve higher marks

What should you reference?

• Anything that is based on a piece of information or idea that is not entirely your own.
• That includes, direct quotes, paraphrasing or summarising of an idea, theory or concept, definitions, images, tables, graphs, maps or anything else obtained from a source

How should you reference?

Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvard system of referencing for further details on how to use it.

https://vimeo.com/223710862

Here is an full guide on how to use Harvard System of Referencing including online sources, such as websites etc.

Troy Paiva

I carefully went through my photos and began to rate them between 1-5, 5 being the best, by doing this it allowed me to work with a smaller amount of images and therefore I could edit them accordingly.

I went through all 33 of these and edited mainly the exposure, contrast and vibrancy. Unfortunately, whilst taking these photos the lighting was quite dim and harsh which made some of the images very dull. However, with some of the images it suited it to be more dark but the ones that didnt are the ones i increased the vibrancy on. I continued to then narrow down my best images from this shoot to 16 images:

In total I took around 200 photos

I will be conducting an interview with Sarah Dodge, the director of the company and daughter of the owner. She has been in the company for a few years now and during Covid-19, she took over from her dad, David Dodge, as director. With a degree in Chemistry, she loves experimenting with new products for the customers. For example, since she started, the company have started selling two new types of sourdough, a type of bread the company had never sold before then, and it is now one of the most popular products that Vienna Bakery sells, especially in the Market Shop.

Interview questions:

What is the history of Vienna Bakery?

What made Bob Dodge decide to found Vienna?

Are all the same traditional techniques used within the process of making products?

How has the company kept going over all these years?

How did Covid-19 affect the company?

What is the difference, in your opinion, between Vienna and other bakeries in the island?