“Photography can turn something ordinary into the extraordinary”. Meudon, a famous photographer from the early 20th centry, has some very good examples to explain this quote. He would find a place witha nice composition (the ordinary), then wait for a story to be performed, so he can capture that moment (the decisive moment). By waiting for an interesting moment to be captured, he has turned the ordinary to the extraordinary. Below is an example:
The beginning – camera obscura
Photography in a certain sense has been around for almost 1000 years through a process called camera obscura (simply means dark room). It is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a small hole (also known as the aperture) into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) projection of the view outside.
It was often used as a drawing aid, used by the likes of leonardo davinci for example.
it allowed tracing the projected image to produce a highly accurate representation, and was especially appreciated as an easy way to achieve proper graphical perspective.
capturing the light
In the early 18th century, scientists found a certain silver salt that becomes darker from light exposure. However, they could not keep it from turning all black after they took it out the camera obscura.
The first ever photo was taken in the 1820s using a discovery made by Joseph Nicephore Niepce using asphalt and different solvents. Its a simple view from a window:
Nyep’s experiments further was an advanced version of Nicephore experiments and his camera design was used to create the first ever camera. This kick started the photography and allowed it to become what it is today.
first ever camera
Talbot further advanced the camera. He was not very good artist but needed to be for many of his hobbies. he switched photo drawing process from silver chloride to silver iodide. He then experimented with different solutions allowing him to create a photographic negative. With this photographic negative photo the same photo can now be produced many times after some exposure to light with the negative image underneath. This is called the positive negative process. This is what a negative image looks like:
Photography shaped the way we remember things, making it a very important cultural change. Early photography showed the truth in photos.
This photoshoot started at the Maritime Museum and then proceeded towards the fisheries and harbour around La Collette.
Analysis
Overall, I think I had a successful photoshoot. I’ve decided to analyse this image because it links well with the story I want to tell.
I really like the outcome of this image because of it’s general composition and low angled shot making the image look more dynamic and much more interesting. I also really like how dramatic and somewhat angelic it looks because of the natural lighting which helps intensify the various textures and forms within the item rack.
Although I believe it was a good photoshoot I think I could have further explored more areas in the harbour, such as Elizabeth harbour, in order to properly show how the whole harbour has changed. I could have also tried to build up more courage to take photos of more people at work.
Just like the first photoshoot, I have carried on relating back to my inspiration Ansel Adams because I believe his work is very good at creating or telling a story, which is what I am trying to achieve, as well as having a really powerful style of creating images that create a sense of drama. I had also attempted to capture decisive moments like Henri Cartier-Bresson through people who work within the marinas to also tell a story.
I plan to create a zine with my best images from both of my photoshoots and present them in a way that tells a story or shows a linear series of going further into the marina and how much change it has gone through. I will first create some layout designs on InDesign and then start printing out my images in order to make a physical copy of it.
these photos are rated 1-2 stars because they didn’t meet the criteria of what I needed to accomplish inn terms of the quality of the photo itself or what the image its self consisted of.
photos rated 3-4 stars
these photos I believe are rated 3-4 stars because it has some of the criteria that is needed for project but is missing somethings that I would consider for the photos to be 5 stars. for the most part I would say the photos are missing the quality of the image or it doesn’t project the idea of the difference between the modern day harbour and the original harbour.
photos rated 5 stars
these eight photos are what I believe to be the best photos I took on this trip to the harbour as I think it captured what the harbours about as it shows how the modern day harbour works in comparison to the 1800s
Edited images
evaluation
overall I believe that I got a good set of images on the trip to the harbour as they capture the history of the harbour but also capture the changes and how its changed over the years of the harbour. However for next time I would prioritise getting more images of higher quality as I think I missed out on some images that could have been better due to the quality of the image.
We went to the maritime museum, taking photos of all of the history and facts from the boats and ships from the past and a lot of photos from the St Helier Harbour, showcasing fish such as crabs, lobsters and even a special lobster the fisherman brought out for us.
Here are some photos that are my favourite that I have taken and started to edit.
These photos are based around the harbour and the lobsters the fisherman caught. The man then let us take photos of him in his working environment with firstly his cafeteria with his dogs and work colleges, and then him lifting out a big lobster from the back-top to show to all of us and put it on the floor.
I took these photos of these old-fashioned, (some new) boats either being stored just waiting to enter the sea. Or, some boats being worked on as you see in the last photo, with a man sanding/drilling the bottom of it, potentially drilling holes or drilling something off of it.
These are some photos I really like with the B/W filter on top of it to create a dark/old style to them.
I like how the 3 faces are looking into the camera with a little grin/smile with the dog eyes peeking at the camera too. The men were in the back of the harbour which made it feel very sketchy with two blokes sat talking to each other with one on a bike with a dog on a seat.
These are some photos I have brought the saturation down and only shown the main colours of the photos, for example, the boots on the door, the door and window frames are all this orange/red colour, so I made everything else Black and white and brought out that colour a little more than standard.
The man moving the fish from the boxes into little plastic clear bags, I made the 3 bright lime green boxes stand out, but, I also wanted the mans boots and glove to be brought out as the lime green/orange is a nice opposite blend of colours that pops.
I felt that the mans apron was the main part of this photo for me, as the fish weren’t very colourful/bright, and that is the centre stage object/clothing. So, as I brought out the darkish-blue, I also saw that the air-con behind him was the same colour so I left that still blue to give the photo some front colour and back colour.
For the next photo, I saw the big pillar on the left side of the photo and knew, that this had to be the main coloured-part of the photo. So, I made everything else B/W but I saw this little barrel next to it and had to keep that with the navy blue to add a little clash of the colours.
Texts > Write a short introduction or statement about your picture story, image captions
Typography > creative uses of words, letters, font-types, sizes
Camera Obscura & Pinhole photography:
Photography captures a moment from time and fixes it in place. Photography did not just appear one day, it took years for photography to become a known art. It emerged experimentally through Camera Obscura. The earliest known written account of a camera obscura was provided by a Chinese philosopher called Mo-tzu (or Mozi) in 400BC. He noted that light from an illuminated object that passed through a pinhole into a dark room created an inverted image of the original object. Several other scientists experimented with light passing through a small hole, but it wasn’t until the 11th century that a viewing screen was used to see the inverted image. Alhazen (or Ibn al-Haytham) is said to have actually invented the camera obscura, as well as the pinhole camera which is based on the same idea. He carried out experiments with candles and described how the image is formed by rays of light travelling in straight lines.
What is Camera Obscura?
Camera Obscura is a natural and visual optical phenomenon, where the rays of light passing through a small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted and reversed projection of the view from outside.
People believe that photography was invented in 1839, but camera obscura was used before this time.
Photo example of Camera Obscura:
Nicephore Niepce & Heliography
What is Heliography?
Heliography is an early photographic process producing a photoengraving on a metal plate coated with certain chemicals to achieve the positive and negative tones. It was invented by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce around 1822.
Nicéphore Niépce began experiments with the aim of achieving a photo-etched printmaking technique in 1811. By 1822, he had made the very first light-resistant heliographic copy of an engraving, made without a lens by placing the print in contact with the light-sensitive plate. In 1826, he increasingly used pewter plates because their reflective surface made the image more clearly visible. In 1827, he then produced the very first photograph.
Experimentation:
Niépce knew that the acid-resistant Bitumen of Judea used in etching hardened with exposure to light. In experiments he coated it on plates of glass, zinc, copper and silver-surfaced copper, pewter and limestone, and found the surface exposed to the most light resisted dissolution in oil of lavender and petroleum, so that the uncoated shadow areas might be traditionally treated through acid etching and aquatint to print black ink.
Photo example of Heliography:
Louis Daguerre & Daguerreotype
What is a Daguerreotype?
Daguerreotype is said to be the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography, created by the inventor Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre. The daguerreotype is accurate, detailed and sharp. It is very delicate because it has a mirror-like surface. Each Daguerreotype is a unique image on a silver coppered plate. This photographic process was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s.
Experimentation:
To make the image, the base is a sheet of silver-plated copper polished to a mirror finish. Then it was treated with fumes that made its surface light-sensitive, exposed it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary; which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting. The resulting image on it was made visible by fuming it with iodine vapours which formed a silver-iodine surface to the plate. The plate is then exposed to light transmitted through a lens, once exposed the plate was removed and exposed to vapours from heated mercury, only then would the image form. Then it’s sealed behind glass in a protective enclosure as the Daguerreotype is very fragile. The image will appear either positive or negative, depending on the angle at which it is viewed, how it is lit and whether a light or dark background is being reflected in the metal.
Photo example:
Henry Fox Talbot & Calotype
Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre fixed shadows
William Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. Talbot was best known as the British inventor of photography and in 1834 he discovered how to make and fix images through the action of light and chemistry on paper.
What is a Calotype?
Calotype is a photographic process introduced in 1841 where negatives were made using paper coated with silver iodide. It produces a monochrome, blue coloured print on a range of supports, often used for art, and for reprography in the form of blueprints.
Photo example:
Robert Cornelius & self-portraiture
Robert Cornelius, an American photographer and pioneer in the history of photography, was said to be the first person to produce a self-portrait.
Around October 1839, Cornelius improvised a camera obscura and made his first daguerreotype, a self-portrait outside of his family store. The image required him to pose still for 10 to 15 minutes and has survived. Other early images of his family made by Cornelius have not been preserved. His self-portrait is generally accepted as the first known photographic portrait of a person taken in the United States.
Photo example:
Julia Margaret Cameron & Pictorialism
Julia Margaret Cameron is regarded as one of Britain’s foremost photographers and one of the leading portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorians and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature.
Julia Margaret Cameron was born in 1815 into a wealthy, highly cultured, and well-educated family. Cameron went to school mostly in France, and her education was well rounded, but not focused on fine art.
In 1841, one of Cameron’s most important friend sent her some “Talbotypes”, early examples of photographs by Henry Fox Talbot. This influenced Cameron into starting photography. Cameron was given her first sliding box camera as a Christmas present from her daughter, Julia, in 1863. Cameron quickly devoted herself to photography and within a month of receiving her first camera, she made the photograph that she called her ‘first success’. The photograph is a portrait of Annie Philpot, the daughter of a family staying in the Isle of Wight where Cameron lived.
From this, she quickly moved on to photographing family and friends for experimentation. Cameron worked quickly and diligently preparing photographs with new equipment. These early portraits reveal how she experimented with soft focus, dramatic lighting and close-up compositions, features that would become her signature style. Cameron embraced the ambiguity around her portraits and cultivated it intentionally, making her a forerunner to the Pictorialist photographers
Pictorialism:
Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Typically, a pictorial photograph appears to lack a sharp focus, is printed in one or more colors other than black-and-white and may have visible brush strokes or other manipulation of the surface.
Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visit
Henry Mullins was a highly successful photographer, and was by far the most prolific of the first generation of Jersey photographers in the mid-nineteenth century. He moved to Jersey in July 1848 and set up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square.
Henry Mullins was by far the most prolific of the first generation of Jersey photographers in the mid-nineteenth century. He produced thousands of portraits of islanders between 1848 and 1873. While numerous photographic studios opened across the town of St Helier in the 1850s and 1860s Henry Mullins continued to be the photographer of choice for leading members of Jersey society and successful local and immigrant families.
Mullins started to create ‘Cartes de visite’ (visiting cards). They consist of a print stuck to a card mount of about 4 ⅛” x 2 ½” in size. Carte de Visites were traded among Victorians and were so small that they could fit in your pocket.
