For my project, I would like to explore my family, specifically my grandparents. My grandma sadly passed away on the 29th of August 1992, which left my grandad a widower and my mum without a mother at just 16 years old. Despite never meeting her, it has always felt as through something is missing from my mum’s side of the family. Her loss has been a very significant event in both of their lives, and I would want to create my project about. This project will explore life when my grandmother was alive, compared to how it is now, over 30 years later.  

My grandad, Zbigniew, was born in Bierna, Poland on the 9th of September, 1948. My grandma was born on the 31st of January, 1949. They got married on the 31st of August in 1974 and they had my mum, Małgorzata, on the 28th of March 1976. My grandma sadly passed away on the 29th of August 1992.

 This project will help me understand how my family dealt with my grandma’s death and the impact it had on me, although indirect. I remember many moments during my childhood when my mum spoke about my grandma with tears in her eyes, and I hope to further learn truly how much her death affected her life. I want my project to be meaningful, and although I am basing it on quite a commonly used topic, I wish it will be original and unique, with features that make it very specific to my family. 

I will begin my project by thinking about what I want to ask my mum and grandad and then filming an interview with each of them, hoping to find out more about their experience and feelings, especially my grandad’s. I will make sure to ask questions that can result in quotes that I can include my photobook as well as other aspects that can make it more personal. I will also look at different archives, helping me think of ideas for the photoshoots. I will also want to recreate some archival photos, to make my photobook richer in content. Moreover, I think it would be interesting to add a form of physical manipulation to some photos, for example sewing, adding embroidery in my grandma’s favourite colour. Furthermore, I would want to present my study in the form of a photobook, since I believe this will be the most effective method to showcase my work. Moreover, I want to keep the vintage feel of the archives, and I think a photobook would achieve this the best.

I will begin my study when my grandad comes over from Poland for the Christmas holidays, and since he will stay for 3 weeks it will give me enough time to collect the content I need. I wish I could go over to Poland as I could also include my grandad’s environment in my work, however I can always use some pictures I took during my summer task for this. I will take pictures both inside and outside and I want the pictures to be a mix of observational and staged. 

For me, nostalgia is the feeling of longing, and it perfectly describes what my mum and grandad feel when thinking on their life with my grandmother. I want to portray nostalgia in my work by showing old and new photographs that present life with and without my grandmother.  

Mood board

This is a mood board of somethings that made up my childhood. Looking back onto them, they bring me a sense of nostalgia in a positive way as it connects me to memories that I had forgotten about over time.

about

The term nostalgia is one that derives from the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain). The literal meaning of nostalgia, then, is the suffering evoked by the desire to return to one’s place of origin. However, feeling nostalgic doesn’t always have to be a negative thing, in fact, feeling nostalgic can be viewed as a positive experience since you could be reminded of a happy memory or situation.

mind map

GIRLHOOD

MIND MAP:

For my personal study I want to follow the theme of architecture through nostalgia with different buildings from old to modern. Through this I want to show the evolution of architecture and how is has changed from what I used to see when I was younger to what I see now becoming more and more modern. Within this I may photography different houses or buildings that have been damaged due to the storm to develop my study as well as the environmental side of building in Jersey and whether or not our heritage is keeping its legacy or if it is slowly disappearing being a main reason to keep my images untouched. ‘Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored, tricked out.‘ Susan Sontag (1971), On Photography. Previously I have studied Anthropocene which I feel may fit into my personal study slightly as I photographed some buildings during that topic as well as used it as a way of awareness about the environment and how the use of plastic has rapidly increased. Not only has plastic increased but also wasted materials which some have come from building sites. I have chosen this topic because not only do I enjoy exploring different architectures, but because I find that there are so many hidden buildings that aren’t seen very often around Jersey which should be shown, and I want to explore this further with some being edited etc but also some being left to showcase the architecture itself. To develop my project I am going to visit the different parts of the island to find building that have been here for a while to newer builds or ones that have been done up to show modern building that are becoming more and more common. Once I have collect all of my images I am going to present them in a photobook so that you can clearly see all of my images. To begin my study I am going to photograph older building all over the island to showcase what architecture Jersey has. Most of my image are going to be taken in landscape in order to include the whole building in the image, however, some may be in portraiture if I think that will look better. I think that my images will look best in day light so that I can capture the detail in the buildings exterior, and that all of my images will be outside as I am focusing on the exterior of buildings rather then the interior. My images won’t be staged as I will photograph the buildings how they are without adapting them at all to show the raw architecture in Jersey. Some of my images may be presented by accompany text to tell the viewer why I have photographed the building as well as having my essay at the end of my book, however, most of my images will be presented on their own so that the viewer can use their imagination and can explore their own thoughts on them. I will use a linear sequence approach to display my images to tell a story from old buildings to new ones which will allow the viewer to see the change that is happening over time. Once I have my images I may collage some of them with different materials to tell something about the building rather than using text as it allows the viewer to have there own interpretation on the building whilst having a hint to guide them. I will leave most of my images plain so that the building is the main focus and the viewer doesn’t get distracted from me editing it etc. I will use Lightroom classic to adjust the images slightly to make them clearer or to set the mood of the image, i.e., some of my images may be in black and white. I think that this will make my images stand out and tell a story which hopefully the viewer will understand whilst still being able to have their own thoughts about what I have captured. I aim for my personal study to represent the theme of nostalgia from how the building have developed from building that have been on the island for a very long time or even listed buildings to buildings that are more for the looks or being very modern which are becoming more popular these days. Whilst photography has been developing architecture has too, almost alongside it and that is what I aim to show.

This mood board consists of images by Justine Kurland and some photographers which I saw whilst at a photography exhibition on our Paris school trip, Rene Groebili, celestial Echoes and Paul Kookier.

These images relate back to the theme of nostalgia as it reflects back to ‘the best years’ of a female, your teenage years. Where we don’t have a lot to worry about.

Paul Kooiker (born 1964, Rotterdam) studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (1990-1992). Kooiker was awarded the Prix-de-Rome Photography in 1996 and the A. Roland Holst Award for his oeuvre in 2009. Foam previously hosted a solo exhibition of his autonomous work in 2006, under the title Paradise Twenty-One. Kooiker’s works have been displayed in countless solo and group exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad.

I want to explore the story of my dad’s long and continued relationship with the sea and surfing. I will focus on how it has impacted his life and relationships as a whole, as well as my own life as his daughter.

This subject is important to me because it is essentially the reason I am here, because my parents met when my mum learned to surf and my dad was her instructor. For this reason, my whole family has been involved with the sport ever since and it affects my life every day.

I plan to ask my dad questions about how he started surfing, what draws him to it everyday, and how he feels about the sport. I will also use archived images from family albums from my dad’s life in Newquay as a young surfer and then from my parent’s history together.

I would like to present this project as a photobook because I feel this is the most professional way for me to present my work.

I think I will begin my study by collating old images from my parent’s history to allow me to gauge the kind of material I have available and perhaps inspire my later images.

This will relate to nostalgia as it will explore my own childhood, which was spent mostly in the sea, as well as my parent’s nostalgia of when they met.

The portraits I intend to take of my dad as a surfer will be in the environmental portraiture style, although I think they will be a mixture of candid and posed images. I will also be taking images of our garage, which is full to the brim with an extensive collection of surfboards and wetsuits which my dad is constantly adding to. I could also combine this with studio images of items I found at the beach and collected as a child. I have a lot of these kind of items so this would be fairly easy to do.

I will not be able to use the studio to photograph my dad so I will either photograph him in the house, out at the beach, in the garage, or at his work as a meteorologist.

I plan to present the archive images alongside the newer images to show the differences in my dad’s lifestyle since he was younger, but also to highlight the considerable similarities. I think this is interesting as surfing can often be viewed as something done by young people, especially when done multiple times a day, however my dad does not follow this pattern. As a 49 year old father, he often finds the time to go surfing more than once a day which is quite uncommon I think. His choice of shift work over a 9-5 means that he has the ability to support this lifestyle and always find time for his hobbies.

I will accompany my images with the questions I ask my dad and then the answers that he gives.

I do not think I will choose to manipulate my images, however I will be editing them to create a more professional look but as this is an exploration of character, I think a more authentic look is important.

Task

Write a Statement of Intent of 250-500 words that clearly contextualise;

• What you want to explore?
• Why it matters to you?
• How you wish to develop your project?
• Which form you wish to present your study (photobook, film, prints etc)
• When and where you intend to begin your study?

Make sure you describe how you interpret the theme of ‘NOSTALGIA’ and any specific subject-matter, topic or issue that you wish to explore, including references to artists, art movement and any other inspiration. Revisit your mind-map and mood-board and hone in one or two ideas. For example, you may wish to consider:

• How you wish to photograph places, people, objects – carefully selecting your point of view (framing), composition and lighting.
• Will you be making images outside or inside, shooting on locations or use the studio.
• Will your images be documentary (observational), or tableaux (staged) in your approach, style and aesthetic look?
• What will you include?
• What will you leave out?
• How will you present these images to the viewer?
• In a book, a film, or prints on the wall?
• With or without accompanying text?
• In a grid, typology study or a linear sequence?
• Will you be manipulating images using montage/ collage techniques or apply AI technology?
• Will you be using any specific photographic technique, process of software (Photoshop, Premiere, Audition, Blurb online book making)
• What difference do these decisions make to the meaning of your images?

PLAN > RECORD > As a creative response to initial ideas set out in your Statement of Intent plan a relevant photoshoot this week that provide you with some visual material to develop your project. There are three photographic genres that you could consider when developing ideas and planning photoshoots, they are:

LANDSCAPE > PLACE > GEOGRAPHY > ENVIRONMENT > GEOLOGY
– familiar vs unfamiliar
– ordinary vs extra-ordinary
– vernacular vs spectacular
PORTRAIT > PEOPLE > IDENTITY > CULTURE > COMMUNITY
– individual vs collective
STILL-LIFE > OBJECT > HISTORY > MEMORY > FAMILY
– private vs public

Produce a blog post from each shoot with careful selection, adjustments and editing of images in Lightroom. Review and evaluate shoot for further development and experimentation. Your first photo-shoot MUST be published on the blog by Wed 13 Dec.

Statement.

I plan to focus my personal study on the theme of memory. I would do this by showcasing my life throughout the years using meaningful objects and places. In order to break up the project into segments I will use birthday cards which will signify my age at that particular point which shows when these objects or places were most relevant in my life. This idea of looking back on memories and nostalgia is important to me since looking back to the past helps us to remember how we have grown, what and who helped to form us into who we are today. Another reason I believe that this study is important as it is also something that will be interesting for me to discover and learn more about myself, especially things that I no longer remember but people, such as my parents, do.

Another option/ idea which would be quite interesting to include would be to missing gaps in the book due to photos from my childhood being lost when we moved house. I could focus for my location images on recreating old photos or places I remember while using toys or sentimental items as my objects to photograph. Also, it would be interesting to slowly introduce colour into my images to represent how my memories become clearer the more recent they are. 

In my opinion, the best way to display my idea would be a mix between prints and a photobook. I think the photobook would be best to display the storyline of my project however having mounted prints for specific photos would also be effective to showcase my best images from the project. When photographing my objects, I would like to have them be the only thing in focus. To do this I would have a blank background with the object in the centre, to make the images more eye catching I think that I would use colour lighting. When photographing my landscapes, I would like to have them fill the page and show how the place made me feel through the use of changing the saturation. The style of my images will also likely be changing to show my emotions growing up, for example, when I’m young it would be more colourful in contrast to current day where it would be darker as a reference to how we lose a lot of our innocence of the world when growing up, similarly to what I plan to do for my landscape photos.