My photoshoot took place down at Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive and St Helier Harbour in order to show the history and development of Jersey’s maritime culture and how the fishing industry substantially benefits Jersey’s survival.

CONTACT SHEETS:

Due to the weather conditions being poor, I took multiple images of the same thing in order to ensure the wind and rain didn’t make the camera go out of focus or blur. This meant that I could go through each selection in sections and choose which images had the best composition.

MY EDITS:

I think these two images are really successful as I have been able to make the seagulls, birds which are very common to Jersey as we have hundreds surrounding the island (alongside them being native to the sea), the main focal point of my image by making my background of the harbour become blurred. I feel that this has worked very well because, although I am still taking images of the harbour, this makes the image more interesting and tell a better story as its a quiet nod to the type of environment these people are working in every day, with the gloomy weather contributing to that.

For this, I used a horizontal cropping technique after completely zooming out my camera lens in order to not only capture the vastness of ships loading and unloading, but also make this appear as a panoramic as this meant that the harbour was the sole focus of the image and not taken up by negative space – a large amount of the sky or sea.

I selected this image because not only did I think the vertical angle makes the focal point of the boat look extremely large in comparison to the men working on the boat, but I feel that this juxtaposes images of teams of fishermen in the past working on large ships with little equipment at all towards this image of two men on a modernised sailing boat using high level technology to manoeuvre it.

Similarly, I feel that this boat suggests the same idea.

I liked this image because of the way the diagonal angle makes this image look more dramatic and mysterious, as if someone is slyly moving through the harbour trying to remain unnoticed. As well as this, it means there are many ambiguous lines moving and pointing in all directions, creating a cross-hatched type of pattern scattering across the screen and making the viewers eyes be signalled all over the screen.

I selected this image as I felt it tells the story on how these cargo ships and loaded or unloaded, as well as showing a contrast from how fishermen used to have to manually perform these acts at great difficulty in comparison to this industry becoming more modernised and using heavy machinery through Ports of Jersey in order to complete jobs and tasks with more efficiency.

I took these images of the Ariadne steam clock because, not only is it the largest in the world, it is a full-scale replica of the centre section of a paddleboat. I thought it would be useful to incorporate this into my work because it resembles a ships funnel and reflects Jersey’s long association with the sea.

This image here is a memorial dedicated to the RNLI, a crew of dedicated volunteers and staff concerned with the dangers of commercial fishing and keeping fishermen safe whilst at work. I wanted to photograph this as I felt it was really important due to this company being one of the main helpers in times of danger, for example if a fisherman is experiencing trouble at sea during rogue weathers, possibly in a storm.

These images are of an abstract structure of three block coloured anchors spiralling up into the air.

These two images depict a ships anchor, put into both monochrome and colour as whilst in the colour it has rich shades of red, I also liked the way the black and white version looked more modest.

I took this image of the roof of the maritime museum, crowded by a statue of a woman which would have been seen on the bow of an old ship, accompanied by a weather vane. I felt these two factors were relevant here because not only does it note the history of the structure of ships and shows the modernised change in the way they are manufactured, but also a weather vane which would’ve been important for fisherman to use in order to see the strength and direction of the wind before setting off to sea. As well as this, I feel that this is very important to show because the fact that a woman was placed on the bow of these ships shows the way traditional roles and social norms were – the men working doing these dangerous jobs whilst the wife sits at home looking after the children.

In this image, I really liked the way the buoy in the foreground, used in emergency situations when someone is in the water, and puts the harbour behind it out of focus. As well as this, I feel that this shows the extensive length of the harbour and makes it look bold.

I took this image facing down the stairs into the harbours waters, where many sailing boats and dinghy boats used to sail out to them, because this would be the perspective of a fisherman when going down into the boat to set sail.

In this image, I took it at a diagonal angle in order to capture the red buoy with the long stretch of harbour following behing it. I think that this worked really well because of the way the smaller boats are piling on top of eachother in the foreground, however as the camera pans back the boats are in a more relaxed state.

Typologies:

During my photoshoot, I took some images of structures created for and around the sea, in use and not, which are used for communications of fisherman at sea and with the island. I took them in this style because I felt as I feel that the anonymity this style provides makes the image more powerful as it is the focal point in the image and placed in the centre, showing significance and importance. As well as this, I feel that its a minimalistic way to show how, as a society, we find ways to update and advance technology, being applicable here through the way Jersey’s maritime history has gone from voyages at sea for months on end with no practical way to communicate back to the island, to a consistently developing fishing culture.

History:

This image is of one of many plaques placed on a benches, stating the name, weight and date of which one of the many sailing boats were in use within the harbour. I wanted to include this within my work as I feel that this acts like a memoir to the past, showing the kind of language these fishermen used and the old fashioned manor of which these boats were spoken about. I also think that the use of a harsh font portrays a viewpoint of strength and power, announcing that these boats were of high status at the time and extremely significant to the advancements made.

I selected this image of a reconstructed cannon because I liked the way I took it from a low angle, following upwards through the spine of the cannon. This is because I feel that this shows the depth and length of this weapon, and gives a powerful and bold feel to the images, specifically in black and white.

Down on the side of the lighthouse within my other images, a plaque dedicated to a person during concentration times and tells a story about this. This is important because it’s informative of Jersey’s history and stands as a idolisation of someone, fighting for their country.

This mural on the wall of the car park overlooking the harbour depicts a story of World War cargo ships and fisherman working to import and export cod in a black and white tone, contrasted against bright solid colours of red, cyan and yellow showing our society now and the simpler way these jobs are carried out now.

What was the involvement of Jersey mariners in the Canadian cod-fisheries and the Transatlantic carrying trade?

By the 1750s the fishermen of Channel Island had set up lucrative trade routes between Canada, Europe and America where they established bases on the Gaspé coast where they could prepare the salted cod.

A jersey merchant, Charles Robin ,operated one of the biggest companies on the Gaspé coast where he set up the fishing post at Paspebiac in 1767 right after Canada passed to the English.

This included Jerseys lieutenant-governor sir George Carteret, who was the founder member of the royal Africa company which traded ivory, golf and enslaved people in the early 17th century.

People like Captain François Messervy of Jersey who was murdered in 1722 during an uprising on board his slave ship off in the coast of Africa and the Jersey trader Josué Mauger who in 1752 advertised enslaved people for sale in Nova Scotia, Canada, where his business was based were involved in the enslavement of slaves.

Which ports did Jersey ships sail to and trade with?

The earliest harbours known in the island were areas such as Havre des Pas, St Brelade, St Aubin and La Rocque were used as ‘mini’ harbours. There was mention of an apparent Spanish ship taking on a cargo of wheat “in the harbour of St Obin”.

As ships became increasingly larger, Gorey, which is first mentioned as a port in 1274, began to grow its importance and on the year of 1685 Dumaresq map appeared a small pier was shown although a survey, Dumaresq describes as it being decayed. On the map it also appears a simple stone pier at St Brelade. However there were no type of facilities in St Helier at this time.

Effort to actually build a harbour was actually acted on, in the late 17th century, when work began on building a pier on the islet on which St Aubin’s fort stands. Then, during the 18th century, the St Aubin’s harbour was constructed and then the construction of the St Helier port, although the capital had to wait until the 19th century before it really began to develop as an actual port.

St Helier was the main harbour that was used for ships to sail and trade with

What type of goods did Jersey merchants exchange for cod-fish?

 Jersey had loads of ships which in peacetime held on two separate types of trade. The largest would go to the Newfoundland or the thereabouts in early spring or summer for cod, and returning in autumn, which was usually via mediterranean or Spanish ports.

The goods the Jersey merchants exchanged for codfish were things like tobacco, sugar, spices, ivory and many more

To what extend, has the island of Jersey benefitted from its constitutional relationship with Britain and the legacies of colonialism based on a slave plantation economy during the first Industrial Revolution (1760-1840)?

Due to the cod trade and related shipping industry, the spawn of shipbuilding industry with a significant number of shipyards on the south and east coasts of jersey. Initially, fishing vessels for the jersey fleet had been built in the outposts in Canada. This activity then shifted to jersey, with the large scale commercial shipyard starting operation in 1815. In that year, 69 vessels with the total tonnage of 7,519 were registered in jersey and by 1865, these figures had increased to 422 and 48,629, about 80% of the tonnage having been built locally. It is estimated that in the 1860s about 6% of the total tonnage of wooden fishing fleets built in the British Isles had been built in the Channel Islands, mainly Jersey

The best indication of the growth of the economy in the first half of the 19th century was the doubling of the size in population from 28,600 in 1821 to 57,020 in 1851.

This rapid immigration led to significant changes in the composition of the jersey population however after the Napoleonic wars, there was an influx of English speaking British army officers retired on half pay who found life in Jersey cheap due to this a demand in housing that was met largely by the expansion of St Helier.

Then, additional English speaking immigrant labourers, which many were Irish, came to work on the major building schemes such as the Esplanade, fort regent, St Catherines harbour project and the harbour development. The unskilled workers were underpaid and exploited which meant they lived in the poorest parts of town where they were exposed to cholera epidemics of 1832 and 1849. Other nationalities began their print on Jersey due to the work opportunities.

Photography can turn something ordinary into extraordinary, photography transforms what it describes.

Camera Obscura is when you have a blacked out room, with a tiny hole from the outside world showing the light into the room. After around 1-2 hours of patiently waiting, there will show an upside down natural photo of exactly what is on the other side of the hole in the wall. a darkened box with a convex lens or aperture for projecting the image of an external object on to a screen inside, a forerunner of the modern camera.

A Pinhole camera works because the small hole you made with your pin, paper clip, or pencil acts like a tiny camera lens. Light from the Sun enters the pinhole (or the holes in an object like a colander), it gets focused, and then it is projected out of the other side of the hole.

Photography captures live nature. Romantism is about nature too. The Camera’s were shoebox size and named mousetraps. Fix the shadows. They used the same plate in the camera that was the final plate with the image on that gets polished and cleaned.

Nicéphore Niepce & Heliography
In 1826, Niépce used his heliography process to capture the first photograph, but his pioneering work was soon to be overshadowed by the invention of the daguerreotype. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was one of the most important figures in the invention of photography.

Before:

Editing:

Lowering the saturation and increasing the texture, clarity and dehaze, this helped add more of a dramatic effect to the image. By making the image darker it allows for more attention to be brought craftsmanship of the statue.

After:

As a result I am happy with how this turned out, with relation to the topic of harbours this image fits well due it featuring a statue dedicated to Jersey’s Fishermen, Wearing a Jersey Jumper and outside the Jersey Museum here it signifies there importance.

Before:

With these 2 images, taken in the same timeframe and location I decided to edit them in a set.

Editing:

Like in the previous image I made these images grey through removing the saturation. Using similar settings as before I made some slight differences with the use of temperature.

After:

Taken together, I find that these images work well together in there set. In relation to the theme of the harbour, the characters present, Bryan Nibs, the former captain and the tour guide tell a story within this context.

Before:

Editing:

Sticking to the aesthetic of black and white images, I continued with this image, Adding more depth through texture, clarity and dehazing, this allowed for more detail to come pop out in its greyscale appearance.

Cropping the image, this allows for more of a focus on the main focal point of the image. In my opinion this lessened the clutter in the original composition and made the 2 subjects appear closer to the camera.

After:

Overall, I am happy with the outcome, with the difference between subjects such as hair colour and posture, to me this makes for an interesting image.

Before:

Editing:

Using the tone curve I inverted each corner till I was able to create an image negative of my original photograph. By adjusting some of the settings this created an interesting effect.

After:

Through my research into the origins of photography, the appearance of negative images always gave a cool impression to me, through Lightroom I was able to recreate this effect.

Before:

Editing:

Since I found that this image was already taken well, I only used some slight editing to improve upon some parts of it. Since I found it was a little to bright I lowered that with the dehaze tool.

After:

Overall I am quite happy with the outcome of this image, to me it resembles a lot about Brian Nibs and Jerseys harbour.

Before:

Editing:

Using quite a bit of editing, I aimed to make the textures of the image and make them stand out more. By lowering the shadow and highlights and increasing the rest, this to me made the image stand out more.

After:

Overall I like this image, as the grey shadow conflicts with the lighter tones coming from below.

Before:

Editing:

Using mainly shadows, as well as the white and black, my aim was to make this image stand out with its natural colours.

After:

I like how this image came out as the framing and composition really help make the image good.

Before:

Editing:

Trying to make a vintage digital camera aesthetic, I used both tone and presence settings to make this image look older, adding grain this further added to the older look.

After:

As a result I think this came out really well, to the style I was trying to achieve.

Before:

Editing:

Highlighting the mans fluorescent coverall’s, I aimed to make them look lighter in the image.

Adding a gradient filter, this helped tone the upper part of the image and creating more of a focus on the man working.

With these editing settings, as well as a vignette this allowed me to darken the images corners some more to bring out the detail of the image.

After:

Overall, I’m happy with this outcome as I like the colours and texture of this image.

Photography was firstly invented as a scientific experiment..

The potential for photography is to turn the ordinary into extraordinary which is shown throughout Andrew Krater and his images made in Paris (which he liked so much he went back) in 1928.

Photography shows the world of appearances and it transforms what it describes because the camera is objective, you as a human taking the picture are subjective.

Photography is about framing the image and how you perceive the photograph being taken, considering the lights and the angles as well as different shapes and what makes up what in the images.

Fixing the shadow (living in the shadows)

The camera of obscura is a black box – you need darkness to see light i.e. chamber where there is a whole which allows light to enter from the outside. However light travels in a straight direction/line(law of physics) so therefore it makes the image upside and the reason you could argue that this wasn’t the origin of photography was because you couldn’t fix it and take it with you which is why the Frenchman and English man fixed this, for so many years this was the projection of real life (camera less photograph). A simple dark room with a hole in it, shining through some light is the closet way to a box which will end up reflecting the images upside down.

In 1839, Louie and henry “started photography” however this is problematic to state that the origin of photography was in this period as the camera of obscura box was happening 1000 years before henry and Louie – Frenchman and English man was able to fix it.

Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. “Daguerreotype” also refers to an image created through this process.

Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low contrast details and textures

However the two processes made in 1983 which are daguerreotype and calotype have many similarities but also many differences i.e., both black and white with element’s of romanticism movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century. Henry fox Robert and Louie fixed this issue on metal and made it fixed as well as glass later on as a fixed photograph to reproduce images.

Conclusion

Photography started out as a cool science experiment, but it quickly became something way deeper. It can turn the everyday into something extraordinary

What’s awesome about photography is that it shows how things look while also changing how we see them.

At its core, photography is all about framing an image and figuring out how light, angles, and shapes come together. The camera obscura is a classic example: it’s basically a simple black box that uses darkness to let in light, creating upside-down images.

Daguerre came up with the daguerreotype in the 1840s, the first method that people could actually use to take pictures, while Talbot’s calotype, introduced in 1841, used paper coated with silver iodide to create softer images which made the images fixed.