This is a second photoshoot I did in Madeira. This was loosely planned as I just intended on capturing photographs of whatever caught my eye/I thought was significant, opposed to having a set idea of what to photograph. I took pictures of the area around my grandparents’ house on walks, the town nearby, also some touristy spots like the pools of Porto Moniz.

SELECTION PROCESS

RATING CODE:

RED – Bad quality images

YELLOW – Average images

GREEN – Good images

BLUE – Best outcomes which I can use for the photobook

PHOTOSHOOT OUTCOMES

This is my first photoshoot for the ‘Nostalgia’ project. My plan for this photoshoot was to document my grandparents’ home in Madeira. This was mostly pictures of objects around the house, landscapes inside the house and views from the balcony, as well as a couple portraits of my nana.

SELECTION PROCESS

RATING CODE:

RED – Bad quality images

YELLOW – Average images

GREEN – Good images

BLUE – Best outcomes which I can use for the photobook

EDITING PROCESS

These are some screen grabs of my editing process in Lightroom. It shows the before vs. after of some images from the photoshoot.

PHOTOSHOOT OUTCOMES

https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo17ase/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/01/S.-Sontag.-On-Photography-Ch1.pdf

Essay Question

How do Latoya Ruby Frazier and Alessandra Sanguinetti express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?

In what way have Latoya Ruby Frazier and Alessandra Sanguinetti explored childhood memories through their work as a method of understanding identity and self-expression?

In what way have Latoya Ruby Frazier and Alessandra Sanguinetti explored the notion of family history and childhood memories as a method of understanding identity and self-expression?

Essay draft

Essay question:

Opening quote: “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.”
Sontag, S (1977), On Photography. London: Penguin Books

Introduction (250-500 words):

Photographs are a way of documenting and capturing moments in time to preserve them. This quote by Susan Sontag highlights, how although this definition is true, photographs cannot always capture the whole truth. Capturing special moments with photography to look back on allows us to gift ourselves a nostalgic feeling. So, in my project, when revisiting elements of my childhood and family, I will thus be creating a nostalgic feeling for myself. Although I cannot recreate these special memories, I can show aspects of what my childhood was like as well as expressing certain emotions through my work.

My project is focussing on my childhood and upbringing, while also acknowledging my heritage. I want to do this as I believe this will communicate a sense of self and allow me to explore and piece together aspects of my ancestry unfamiliar to me. By taking inspiration from previous projects (home, identity, etc) I will be taking portraits of family and photographs of significant objects, as well as occasional landscapes. My personal study will explore my dual nationality, portraying both my English and Madeiran heritage from each of my parents.

I will be comparing the works of artists Latoya Ruby Frazier and Alessandra Sanguinetti. During my research, I found that I liked their styles of photography. They both capture inspiring photographs of their family, creating a combination of both classic and environmental portraits. Latoya Ruby Frazier’s work is typically in black and white which I arguably find more incising and meaningful. By stripping a photograph of its colour, it allows the viewer to gaze more deeply into it and its potential meanings and story being presented. She also captures occasional objects and landscapes in her work which are significant to her and her story. Whereas Alessandra Sanguinetti’s work is predominantly in colour, expressing life and emotion through her photographs. Both artists create a mixture of both documentary and staged images. I wish to compare these artists throughout this essay while addressing themes of identity and self-expression. By studying these artists, I can explore how childhood memories influence these themes and allow myself to explore this throughout my personal study project.

Pg 1 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses. 

Latoya Ruby Frazier – link to childhood memories through her work as a method of understanding identity and self-expression.

• elements of pictorialism or realism in the work?
• what are their influences?
• what photographic traditions and conventions are being applied in their work?

Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses. 

Alessandra Sanguinetti – link to childhood memories through her work as a method of understanding identity and self-expression.

Pg 3 (500 words):

Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced

I created a collection of photographs while in Madeira over the Christmas holidays, capturing familiar landscapes from trips when I was younger, like family homes for example. I also captured few pictures of family, street photography, environmental portraits, etc in a documentary-type style. I conduct some more photoshoots upon returning to Jersey; trying to capture the family I have on island.

By creating a photobook for my project, it allows me to establish a storyline throughout the series of images and show the progression of my life between these to places significant to me. This will create the story of my identity, showing my family, to capture the essence of having my dual heritage.

Bibliography

Döblin, A (2003), August Sander: Face of Our Time. Munich: Schirmer Art Books.

Sontag, S (1977), On Photography. London: Penguin Books

In-text reference example:

…this is the point that Döblin makes when he writes, ‘death has carried out a massive retouching operation’. (Döblin 2003: 9)

MON: Academic Sources

• 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 points 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

Bibliography

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.

https://latoyarubyfrazier.com/

https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo21al/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2021/01/Tableaux-Photography.pdf

https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo17ase/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2017/07/Documentary-Photography.pdf

https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/latoya-ruby-fraziers-notion-of-family/

https://alessandrasanguinetti.info/about/bio

https://www.photopedagogy.com/uploads/5/0/0/9/50097419/week_5_abigail_solomon-godeau_inside_out.pdf

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/off-the-shelf-the-adventures-of-guille-and-belinda

Who

My dad’s side of the family who live in Madeira, as well as my immediate family.

What

I want to take photographs of familiar landscapes from trips when I was younger, like family homes for example. I’ll also capture pictures of family, street photography, environmental portraits, etc in a documentary-type style.

Where

I’ll be staying at my grandparents’ house in Câmara de Lobos, Madeira as well as exploring other areas of Madeira.

When

Over the Christmas holidays.

How

I will be borrowing a camera from school, so that I can successfully capture some good-quality photographs during my trip.

Why

I want to gather a collection of meaningful photographs while in Madeira for my personal study. My focus is around my childhood and upbringing, while also acknowledging my heritage. I want to do this as I believe this will communicate a sense of self and allow me to explore and piece together aspects of my ancestry unfamiliar to me.

This is a mood board compiled of Alessandra Sanguinetti’s works.

Alessandra Sanguinetti is an American photographer born in New York City in 1968. Moving to Argentina at two years old. This connects to her main work ‘The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their dreams’ where she documented two cousins Guillermina and Belinda across five years in Buenos Aires. Across the span of these five years, Sanguinetti documents these cousins throughout their childhood.

Her project ‘The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their dreams’ was created through an organic process, meeting Guillermina and Belinda’s grandmother through her family’s farm and in their surrounding area. Sanguinetti knew the pair of cousins since they were around 4 years old. Her initial intention was to focus the subject matter upon animals on the farm, however this shifted in 1988 when she decided to include the girls in her image making upon discovery of a story within them. Though they are not family, this relationship of knowing someone for many years creates a sense of comfort. This allows Sanguinetti to capture these portraits naturally among the farm, which is their natural born home. She did not predict the nature of the project, not expecting it to develop into a series through time, emphasising the natural and organic nature of her work. Through reflection of her project, Sanguinetti realised the importance of having a larger perspective and being able to view the whole story.

This is a mood board compiled of Latoya Ruby Frazier’s works.

Latoya Ruby Frazier is an American artist and now professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Born in Braddock (Pennsylvania), she started her photography journey at sixteen by documenting her hometown. This stemmed into the production of her first photobook. In this book ‘The notion of family’ she explores racism and economic decline in America’s small towns, as shown in her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. She portrays the hardships of Frazier’s family, who grew up there, through her images. She has included a selection of photographs; landscapes, portraits, and objects. She particularly focuses on capturing black and white photographs of herself and her family.

Latoya Ruby Frazier draws upon very personal and intimate aspects of her life to create meaningful photographs. She combines this with facing issues of racism and economic injustices. These result in the creation of her raw images of friends and family. Frazier says “the collaboration between my family and myself blurs the line between self-portraiture and social documentary”. This shows how she puts herself in front of the camera, in a vulnerable light, allowing viewers to see very personal details about herself and her life. This adds to her impactful images and allows her to address serious world issues through her work. Because her own family was part of her project ‘The Notion Of Family’, and it was a reflection of herself, it allowed her to give her photographs a deeper meaning and understanding. The process of image making is also a lot more effortless as the subjects become comfortable in front of the lens when having a close, trusted family member creating the images. 

The theme for the personal study is ‘Nostalgia’. Nostalgia is about a sentimentality for the past. It’s a sentimental yearning for return to a past period. The feeling of nostalgia is often triggered by a familiar smell, sound, or keepsake. So, I want to centre my focus around my childhood and upbringing, while also acknowledging my heritage. I want to do this as I believe this will communicate a sense of self and allow me to explore and piece together aspects of my ancestry unfamiliar to me.

By taking inspiration from previous projects (home, identity, etc) I will be taking portraits of family and photographs of significant objects, as well as occasional landscapes. These will be accompanied by some images from my family archives, to show my early childhood as well as my heritage which are relevant. I’ll include photographs of my family and pictures of me in Madeira when I was little. My personal study will explore my dual nationality, portraying both my English and Madeiran heritage from each of my parents. I want to gather a collection of meaningful photographs while in Madeira over the Christmas holidays, capturing familiar landscapes from trips when I was younger, like family homes for example. I’ll also capture pictures of family, street photography, environmental portraits, etc in a documentary-type style.

I will be presenting my project in the form of a photobook. This allows me to establish a storyline throughout the series of images, and show the progression of my life. This will create the story of my identity, showing both sides of my family, to capture the essence of having my dual heritage. While leaning into my dad’s side of the family, to explore and attempt to portray what Madeiran identity/culture looks and feels like. This is important to me as, living in Jersey, I am far away from my family and do not visit them often.

By looking back at previous themes, I think ‘Home‘ would fit the best conceptually as my inspiration for the ‘Nostalgia’ project. This is because the project was centred around collecting objects from home which are significant and important to you. I plan on doing the same thing in my Nostalgia project, taking photos of objects which were important to me at different stages of my life.

Portraiture was my favourite area that has been covered during the photography course, I also believe it is my strongest work. The ‘Femininity vs. Masculinity‘ and ‘Identity‘ projects allowed me to take lots of portraits of my friends and family.

I believe these environmental portraits are some of my strongest images I’ve created. I really enjoyed this project and I think the results were successful. I took these while inspired for the identity and femininity/masculinity project. These express how I want most of the portraits and landscapes to look, almost like a documentary style.

These are some more portraits I took during the ‘Identity’ project in the studio.

Nostalgia is about a sentimentality for the past. It’s a sentimental yearning for return to a past period. The feeling of nostalgia is often triggered by a familiar smell, sound, or keepsake. For example; music, movies, places, or people.

Nostalgia is something that is both cosy and comforting but also deceptive and an illusion – explain how?

Nostalgia is something that is both cosy and comforting because when you experience it, you want to return to a past period of time where you experience something enjoyable which makes you happy. The act of remembering something gives you a moment of re-experiencing that moment which makes you happy, therefore creating a sense of comfort. However, it can also be deceptive and perhaps even an illusion because your memory is not always reliable. When recalling a memory, you may be forgetting some details or only remembering memories which bring you comfort or joy. We sometimes subconsciously supress memories which may be traumatic or unhappy. Therefore there is an element of illusion as you are only remembering aspects of the memory.

Mood-board

I have created a mood board below of inspiration for directions I could take in my photography for this nostalgia project. I’ve included images of objects, which may carry memories and be considered quite nostalgic. I’ve included places like swimming pools, cinemas, etc.

Mind Map

Our film is called ‘Occupied’.

https://jerseyedu-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/r/personal/a_jakubowska13_hautlieu_sch_je/Documents/Occupied.mp4?csf=1&web=1&e=sl76ZJ&nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJTdHJlYW1XZWJBcHAiLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJTaGFyZURpYWxvZy1MaW5rIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXcifX0%3D