First known as a painter and lithographer, Oscar Gustave Rejlander pioneered the practice of combination printing, a photographic technique in which two or more negatives are used to create a single print. After studying art and antiquity in Rome, Rejlander settled in England, exhibiting his paintings at the Royal Academy in 1848. He learned photography from Nicholas Henneman in 1853. In 1857 and 58 he exhibited his Two Ways of Life, a large allegorical study, at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition and at the Photographic Society of London. He met Henry pEach Robinson in 1858 and introduced him to his techniques. Rejlander established a studio in London in 1862 and subsequently concentrated on portrait work; his sitters included Lewis Carroll and Gustave Dore. In 1871-72 he produced the illustrations for Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.

‘Two Ways of Life’

The image above seems like a simple composition showing a tableaux image but The Two Ways of Life was one of the most ambitious and controversial photographs of the nineteenth century. The picture is an elaborate allegory of the choice between vice and virtue, represented by a bearded sage leading two young men from the countryside onto the stage of life. The rebellious youth at left rushes eagerly toward the dissolute pleasures of lust, gambling, and idleness; his wiser counterpart chooses the righteous path of religion, marriage, and good works. Because it would have been impossible to capture a scene of such extravagant complexity in a single exposure, Rejlander photographed each model and background section separately, yielding about thirty-two negatives, which he meticulously combined into a single large print.

The photograph made me think about a possible effect that I could try when editing my images. As it was made through combination printing, I thought that perhaps one image could be pieced together from a series of photographs that join together in many different ways. Perhaps a portrait or still life that I want top photograph to create this combined print. This pioneering photograph was such an achievement that I should produce some kind of outcome in relation to it. It is key piece from the history of photography and with the project being about my own theatrical life, it seems fitting to include such a big part of Rejlander’s work in my own history.

‘The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals’

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1227/1227-h/1227-h.htm

Charles Darwin produced this book as a scientific exploration of how humans and animals express emotions and why, a topic that coincides with his theory of evolution and natural selection.

“I must have the pleasure of expressing my obligations to Mr. Rejlander for the trouble which he has taken in photographing for me various expressions and gestures.”

Working with Charles Darwin in the latter years of his, Rejlander produced these images above. These very stylised emotions and positions that Rejlander himself posed as appeals to my study greatly. It is a very clear aspect of acting and although used by Darwin for scientific purposes, coincides perfectly with my project.

The plate of images above are used in Chapter X of Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals titled ‘Hatred and Anger’. These heliotype images clearly describe the heightened expressions of human emotions, something every actor learns as their first lesson. Expressing strong emotions are essential to my life and therefore, by producing images similar to these, I believe that portraits created would be perfect for my project.

“The mouth is commonly compressed, and there is almost always a frown on the brow. Instead of the frantic gestures of extreme rage, an indignant man unconsciously throws himself into an attitude ready for attacking or striking his enemy, whom he will perhaps scan from head to foot in defiance. He carries his head erect, with his chest well expanded, and the feet planted firmly on the ground. He holds his arms in various positions, with one or both elbows squared, or with the arms rigidly suspended by his sides. With Europeans the fists are commonly clenched.” – Darwin’s description of Indignation, clearly shown in Rejlander’s image.

With my personal study, I want to explore the relationship between theatre and photography. Understanding how creating scenes onstage is similar to creating an image. As a theatrical student, this theme connects to my life and through shows and performances over the past few years, I am starting to notice similarities between these two disciplines. When creating a piece of theatre, one must think about the relation between what the audience sees on stage and how the actors perform it. Theatrical aspects like set, lighting, sound and projections must also coincide with the overall performance and be completely in sync with the overall storyline. When producing images, the photographer must also think about the relation of light and framing within an image, but it is restricted into how the images are presented. A photographer can only present through mounting images on a wall or producing a film or photo book for example. Whereas, theatre has a sense of freedom. The actors and scenery are not restricted to a stage or theatre. Productions have the ability to immerse an audience and actors are free to roam the aisles and auditorium, or bring an audience into a performance environment. It is this difference between the two that i want to show in my project.

The theme of ‘Nostalgia’ made me think of using my own experiences in theatre to influence my final outcomes. It would be represented through my use of images from past productions that i have been involved in. When creating new images, I want to take the point of view of a theatre director rather than a photographer. Meaning that I want to show my story by creating a staged production through a series of still images rather than a moving piece of theatre or film.

The majority of my photoshoots will take place on location (ie. at the Jersey Arts Centre and at venues that I, myself have performed/worked in) but I still want to use the studio to create portfolio headshots that are a key component for anyone working in the theatrical industry. I am going to create a series of environmental portraits within the theatrical world, using areas like technical boxes or rehearsal studios. From this I would combine images of different settings by manually tearing apart images and physically changing how they look. With regards to headshots, I want to use some of my own as well as new images that I take, and physically change the images by hand and through AI software like Adobe Photoshop (Beta). I also want to explore ways of showing movement in my images through blurring techniques both during and after photoshoots, for example taking a series of images at fast shutter speeds to capture the series of movements and combine them in photoshop or capture a movements on slow shutter speeds to create more of a blurred image.

When presenting my final outcomes, I aim to create a linear display of images within a photobook, but use a background of carefully chosen sheet music – adding a musical element to the story. This would add to the achievement of my aim to create a full theatrical experience presented on paper as opposed to the stage. I want to show as many aspects of the theatrical world as possible within my story, creating a full autobiography of my own personal experiences in the industry.

I want to start my photoshoots at Mont Orgeuil Castle during the Jersey Youth Performing Arts production of ‘Ghost Stories by Candlelight’, an immersive piece of theatre that I have directed from scratch working closely with the playwright in order to create something that hasn’t been seen before.

When thinking on what topic I could have for my personal study, I initially thought of the island’s relationship with Guernsey and take more of a historical approach. But the theme of Nostalgia and the idea of the project being personal to me, all I could think of my experiences in the theatre world. How similar are theatre and photographic art?

Environmental Portraiture

This topic in my studies so far allowed me to create aspects of drama within my photographic images. Commenting on the lives of people in their everyday environments.

Environmental images allow an insight into the lives of those pictured. For example, an image taken by Arnold Newman shows two men posing on a stage in a theatre – you can tell that they have some kind of connection to theatre, without knowing that those depicted, are famous playwrights, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. The ways in which environmental portraits are put together outline the subjects story in ways that don’t necessarily show it so obviously.

Typologies

Typologies allow a photographer to tell stories in images where the settings on the camera don’t change, the subject in the images are similar, the framing could is the same. This topic was a useful way to understand the simplicity of just having multiple images of similar subjects (ie bunkers or water towers) being presented in a way that is actually quite impressive and explores its own message as a whole.

Henry Mullins

Mullins was a Jersey based photographer in the 19th Century that took thousands of portraits of the islanders during his time in the island. Presenting his images in the traditional format of a diamond cameo. This simple style of portraiture reminds me of the simplicity of actors’ headshots – a simple image is a necessity in the theatrical world.

Romanticism

Romanticism itself could be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony and rationality that typified Classicism in general and late 18th-century Neoclassicism in particular.

Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.

These ideas greatly influenced how actors and directors approach aspects of theatre, differing from the traditional operatic productions to modern day musicals and non-naturalistic plays stemming from the works of Steven Berkoff and Bertolt Brecht.

The latest exhibition by Art House Jersey shows the work of multiple artists, and as the put it is an “ambitious exhibition that explores the idea of ‘home’ in the 21st Century”

The exhibition shows the works of multiple artists working in a range of mediums from sculpture to tapestry, painting to film. They believe that it will challenge people’s perceptions of what an art exhibition can be and has been designed to appeal to a broad variety of ages and not just for those with a firmly established interest in art.

“Rosalind and I wanted to create an exhibition where everyone can feel at home. A key aim of ArtHouse Jersey is to make the arts accessible to the wider community, which was why we were drawn to a subject matter that will mean something to everyone. Home is of course a loaded term, and its connotations will be different for all of us. For many it will be a sanctuary, but for some it may have less positive associations. No Place Like Home builds a rich narrative and delves into personal stories, global issues, childhood memories, and speculative worlds as well as the bleak realities of the current housing market. The artists do not shy away from difficult issues, but rather tackle them with inventiveness, pathos, humour and a generosity of spirit. Alongside the gallery works, three installations will be announced in the coming weeks which will take their place in surprising settings around the Island.”

Laura Hudson and Rosalind Davis – Curators of ‘No Place Like Home’

The Société Jersiaise was first established in 1873 and is a registered Jersey charity with the a mission “to produce and facilitate research, and to share that knowledge with the widest possible audience for the benefit of our island community.”

We began the day with a talk from the Chief Archivist Patrick Cahill and Assistant Archivist Rochelle Merhet about the importance of the archive and how it works. They told us that the Photographic Archive works to allow the island to see and understand its past with images that either depict exactly what happened at a certain point in history (photographs from the Nazi Occupation of the Island) as well as what is believed to have been there in the past (paintings of St Helier Harbour or drawings of l’Hermitage on the Elizabeth Castle breakwater as it looked in 555 AD).

With our film project revolving round Elizabeth Castle, they showed us geological and geographical maps of the area, diary pages from the English Civil War, letters from King Charles II to Sir George de Carteret and photos from the NAzi occupation and the handover of the fort from the British military to the island. It was an interesting array of material that was impossible to delve into in the 15 minutes we had, but it has definitely intrigued me to look closer into what they have to offer, perhaps even consider working closely with them when researching at forming my personal study project.

Link to Film: https: THE THREE CANNONS

We simply wanted our script for the film to be a series of voice overs that come from the perspective of a master gunner of the castle. He would talk about his everyday life, and express little anecdotes of things that happened while he was at the castle. It makes our film more of a documentary but using stories of the past that are filmed/recorded to add a bit more ‘life’ to the final outcome.

Script

I am Master Gunner Jonathan Shipley, and I am garrisoned out at his majesty’s fortress, Elizabeth Castle. 

Not much really happened out at the castle really, well not when I was out there. I moved to the garrison in 1785, so the French invasion four years earlier didn’t really affect me. I didn’t know anyone. I was training in England as a redcoat and then they saw that I could read and write, so they decided to give me a blue coat, double my pay and name me a gunner. But my favourite part is that everyone had to call me sergeant even though the only difference was that I had a new coat and hat. 

I guess the typical day for me was wake up and get dressed, report to the parade ground for drill and then they send me to the Grand Battery, and I joined the crew for number 1 gun. I started off as just a vents man, holding my finger over the vent when it was being swabbed, then as the week progressed my role changed so that I knew every job that needed doing before we fired the gun. Doing the worming, the swabbing, the ramming, the priming and only once I had done all that, I was given a linstock. 

Oh, what you saw there was me having to use my bayonet ‘cause I lost the linstock. I got 30 lashings for that, spent three days in bad with bandages on my back. I remember the sergeant got the cat ‘o’ nine tails out the bag and after about 10 lashings, the surgeon would come along with his bucket of sea water and throw it on my back, try and stop infection. I think I would’ve preferred the infection to be honest. 

I know what you’re thinking, why has he got a musket. Yes, I mainly use the cannons but every man in the British Army got a musket for guard duty. I’d only carry nine rounds because that’s all that it was used for. If I see a sail on the horizon and I can’t tell if its English or otherwise, I would fire the musket into the air and the sound would warn everyone on the castle that there’s a ship – then everyone would get to their cannons, load and wait for orders. There was this one time, I had been moved to gun number 5 cause they had no one to aim the gun, and three or four ships sailed into the bay, and on the second or third volley, number 1 gun blew up killing 4 men and injuring about 8 others, I was a good 20 feet away and I still can’t hear anything out my left ear. I was on leave and just walked around the castle at low tide and the end of the barrel was just sticking out the sand.  

I left the castle in 1805 and shipped off to Europe to fight against Napoleon. Returned in 1812 after I was blinded in one eye, I couldn’t easily move around at the speed I needed to on campaign, but the army kept me on and sent me back to the castle as an invalid to train the new recruits. I’m now the Master Gunner of the garrison – making sure everyone is safe, there’s enough food, the powders dry – all of that. I love my job. I’m one of the lucky ones that made it passed 25 and I will be here till the day I die. 

Eras of the Castle’s History

• AD555, the death of St Helier
• 1550, the initial construction of the Castle and why it was built.
• The English Civil War 1600s
• Charles II and his contributions to the Island
• 1781, The Battle of Jersey
• Nazi Occupation 1940-1945

Ideas

As a group, we believe that the majority of the Castle’s history revolves around the Georgian era and the Battle of Jersey in 1781. From this, we came up with two ideas that we could use for our film.

• The Life of a Gunner in the Castle
• The Story of the Battle of Jersey

From here we decided on the pros and cons of each idea when it would come to writing a script and planning a film shoot.

From these we decided that we want to create a documentary film following the day of the Battle of Jersey.

Basic Description of the sections that we want to include in the film:

1- La Rocque, the place that the French landed in the early morning of 6th January 1781. The rocks that surrounded their ships and the channel that they took to reach the beach. Voice over of why the French decided to attack on January 6th in the first place.

2- The French entering the town from the East. Moving shot travelling down the roads that the French could have possibly taken, talk about the men that they murdered to ensure that they would keep the element of surprise.

3- French capture the Lieutenant Governor, Moyse Corbet. Shot of Capital House, perhaps use AI to create the look of the French force surrounding the building.

2- Elizabeth Castle, the view towards the island, how the castle defended itself from the French troops. Captain Mulcaster receiving and pocketing the surrender orders for the garrison then firing a single warning shot at the French contingent on the other side of the causeway.

3- South Hill (Fort Regent), the view from the flanking forces on top of mount Bingham. With the French in the market square, Peirson ordered some of the militia to position themselves on top of South Hill and fire down on the enemy.

4- Gallows Hill (West Mount), Major Peirson’s entry point into the Royal Square. The place that Peirson gathered his forces before marching onto the French (perhaps a shot of what can be seen from the top.

5- Market Square, the arena for the main battle (Royal Square). Audio of cannon and musket fire, video talking to the camera with details of what happened.

6- ‘The Death of Major Person’, the painting by Copley and the story by behind its characters. Voice over about Peirson’s death and where he was taken to die. The death of the Baron de Ruellecourt and how he was shot eight times. The story of Pompey, a black servant taken under the employ of Peirson while his master Captain Christie was on leave in Bath.

7- The legacy of the Battle, Musket Ball marks in the walls; the graves of Major Peirson and Baron de Ruellecourt; Mulcaster street. Voice over of how the island pays their respects today and how they commemorate the battle every year on the anniversary.

Link to more information about specific characters involved in the Battle.

Mood board of Possible Shots

Gunners at Elizabeth Castle were known as invalids – men that were injured or too old to fight on campaign in the colonies. But as a gunner they have an extensive skill set that “Red Coat” infantry don’t have. Their knowledge and skill when firing cannon means that they can be put into a garrison and teach new recruits that could then join the colonial wars of the British Empire.

When you become a gunner, your wage doubles, you get a pension and three meals a day for the rest of your life. But your life expectancy drops significantly. It is the role of the Master Gunner (modern day Artillery Staff Sergeant) to train the new recruits to fight for their country and if needs be defend the castle from any potential invasion force.

Their uniform is royal blue, which is a more expensive dye and shows them as the elite in the British Army. A blue coat with red turn backs and gold lace clearly shows them as artillery men on the battlefield. Their buttons are unique and bear the insignia of the Royal Armouries – to the normal person it just shows them as gunners, but it serves as a reminder to the armouries of an embarrassing event that they have been forced to be reminded of always.

The insignia shows three cannons with three oversized cannon balls. This is not simply a nice design, it reminds the Armouries of the battle where they supplied cannon balls that were too big to fit down the barrels of the guns.

Although they are cannon men, they would deploy the musket when on guard duty. They would never carry more than nine rounds of ammunition and they only reason the musket will go off is if they see sails on the horizon. Instead of attempting to shout across the castle, they would fire the musket into the air to alert the entire garrison and call them to their duties. It was an early warning system.

In the event of an invasion force attacking the island, the gunners would man their cannons and employ the help of the infantry, at least one gunner per gun to aim and fire. The infantry would run the movements of worming, swabbing, loading and priming the cannon.

HOW TO FIRE A CANNON

STEP 1: WORM THE CANNON

The first man holding the worm, a long pole with a double-cork-screw attached, approaches the cannon and puts the worm in. There is a black mark on the worm that should align with the end of the barrel if it is empty. If the line protrudes from the end of the cannon, stop the process and flood the gun. If it does not stick out, proceed to twist the worm clockwise and grip any paper left from the previous charge. Withdraw the worm while scraping the bottom of the barrel. Continue this process until no remnants get pulled out.

STEP 2: SWAB THE CANNON

The next man holding the swab, a wooden pole wrapped with dampened sheets fleece. The push and pull the swab in and out of the cannon repeatedly – this motion cools the cannon and extinguishes any burning embers left from the previous charge. However, the vent is unable to be swabbed as it is too small, and the swabbing action draws in air from outside the cannon. If there were any burning embers they would be continually resupplied with oxygen.

Therefore, we have another man as the vents man. His role is to place his finger over the vent to create a seal so that the swabbing action creates a vacuum within the barrel of the gun.

The swab is removed and the vents man removes his finger, the vent is then covered by a leather sleeve.

STEP 3: LOAD THE CANNON

A paper charge of gunpowder is brought from the magazine to the battery and placed in the end of the gun. The amount of gun powder is proportional to the weight of shot from the cannon; eg. if the shot weighs 6lbs, we need 2lbs of gunpowder. The charge is placed at the end of the barrel and a fourth man approaches the gun with the rammer, a long wooden pole. He rams the charge to the breech of the gun a compacts the charge as compression is what makes gunpowder explode.

The cannon ball would then be rolled into the barrel and pushed on top of the charge with some cloth to hold hold it in place and seal any gaps.

STEP 4: SET AND PRIME THE CANNON

The cannon is then pulled to its firing position by a pulley system of ropes.

Once in position the gunner will pierce the charge with a brass pin and fill the vent with thinner gunpowder known as priming powder. The gun is now ready to fire.

STEP 5: FIRE THE CANNON

As the flintlock mechanism was not yet installed on cannons, the gunner would use a linstock. This was a wooden stick with brass and copper fittings and rope treated with potassium-nitrate (saltpetre). This rope will now burn at a rate of 1 inch every 20 minutes without a flame ensuring a safe way of firing the cannon. It is known as slow match. The gunner would run to a nearby hurricane lantern to light the slow match and return to his position, and, when given the order touch the priming powder with the slow match to fire the gun. In accordance with Newton’s first law of physics, the force of the cannon ball being pushed out of the barrel of the gun would send the cannon backwards about 6ft.

The cannons were also very poorly cast when made and often had air bubbles inside them, meaning that at any point during the firing process the cannon could explode killing its gun crew.

HOW TO FIRE A MUSKET

The musket used in the 18th Century was known as the ‘Brown Bess’. A flintlock musket so named as it is a steel tube with a piece of flint on a lock – hence flintlock-musket.

STEP 1: HANDLE CARTRIDGE

First pull the flint back to what is known as the ‘half cock’. The lock is on a double ratchet mechanism so that when the hammer is pulled to half cock, the trigger will not work.

When in the battle lines, men a squashed tightly together so in order to get a cartridge from the cartridge box, they must draw a large circle with their arm to get to the box at the back of their person.

They take out a cartridge and bring to their mouth. As they have the musket held in their left hand and the cartridge in their right, the safest way of opening it is to use their teeth.

STEP 2: PRIME YOUR MUSKET

The gunner will bite the tab off the paper cartridge, spit it out and pour about one gram of gunpowder into the priming pan. Immediately close the pan cover (frizzen) to prevent the priming to be blown away or lost for any reason.

STEP 3: LOAD YOUR MUSKET

Invert the musket so that the muzzle is at the top and the lock is facing outwards. Empty the cartridge into the musket and push the paper in as well. The musket ball would be tied in on the end of the cartridge and the paper provides wadding and adds compression. It also prevents the musket ball from rolling out of the barrel.

STEP 4: RAM YOUR MUSKET

You then deploy the ramrod from under the musket and throw it down the barrel. Use it to hit the cartridge at least three times which is more than enough compression to put the musket ball through a solid oak door that’s five inches thick from about 100 yards. Remove the ramrod and place back under the musket. You are now loaded and ready to fire.

STEP 5: FIRE

Hold up the musket to the poised position and pull the hammer to the fully cocked position.

Take aim.

FIRE – pull the trigger and hope it works

A musket will fail at rate of 30% and this could be for an range of reasons. The frizzen could be too shallow, or it might not spring out of the way fast enough. The hammer could be moving to slow. The powder could be wet or it could have been blown away.

HOW DID THEY LIVE?

The garrison worked on a hot bed system, three men to a bed. One will be resting while another is on guard duty and a third is training. They will rotate so that they have 8 hours doing something every 24 hours, there will always be men guarding the walls. In the main barracks, there would be 300 men living in that building whereas the officers’ barracks housed 12 officers minus the captain who stayed in the Captain’s House.

A GUNNER’S TYPICAL DAY

A gunner would wake up and do drill for six hours at least every day, clean his musket to ensure it is always functional in any weather condition, practice firing the cannon and aiming at rocks out in the sea. The British were the only European army that could train with live ammunition so when it comes fighting they would have the better accuracy on the field. The gunner would then spend eight hours on guard duty before returning to his bed which would still be warm from the previous man, hence the term ‘hot bed’. Soldiers would often sleep with their muskets so they would always be ready to defend the island, and also have the knowledge that no one will have tampered with it.