What Is a Narrative?

A spoken or written account of connected events; a story that you write or tell to someone, usually in great detail. This may be fictional or real, it also usually involves characters, a plot, conflict and eventually a resolution to the problem. These narratives typically covey a ‘deeper meaning’ to something.

What is a Zine?

A zine is a small booklet of photographs created by someone or a group of people, they are created using a photocopier or a printer and help to convey self expression, community, creative freedom and encourage a do-it-yourself dynamic. They also help to allow individuals to share their unique perspectives and connect with other people.

What is a Story?

A story is a similar to a narrative in the sense that they both have a plot, setting and characters etc. They also are used to entertain people and covey deeper messages. Stories can help people to share ideas, experiences and emotions and connecting with other perspectives. Storytelling enriches lives and provides a way to understand the world.

What is MY Story?

– 3 words

Unseen, dedication and diligence.

– A sentence

The unrequited effort that is put in to produce food and to keep our Island beautiful.

-A paragraph

My Zine reflects a story of a mixture of the outcome from the effort put in to keep our harbours clean, tidy and charming for citizens and tourists to enjoy. I also wanted to display the hidden work and labour of hundreds of people which is concealed and goes unnoticed. I displayed this element in my zine by showing the not-so-noticed parts such as the equipment, people and uniform. I chose for there to be a mixture throughout of outcomes of the work put in, mixed with industrial side to the harbours of Jersey. I wanted to incorporate close up’s of production materials such as oars, buckets, buoys, boats etc. In a way to attempt to make them look just as interesting and amusing as the amazing sea views.

Mood Board:

This was my mood board of ideas and photos I found of Jersey harbours that I used for inspiration and ideas when taking my own photos.

This was my mood board of photos I took of Jersey harbours that I used in my Zine chose for my final product.

Typography:

I chose the title ‘Mariners’ as I thought It described the people and their work that is done everyday perfectly.

I also then used the words ‘Fair Winds and Following Seas’ as It is another way of saying ‘Good Luck’, I thought this was a wholesome reference which conveyed the peaceful and tranquil community well.

I also used a nice and simple font called Cambria Math. This keeps things easy to read and used a white colour to make it eye-catching and also easy to read as It does not blend in with the background.

I created my InDesign document first and the settings I used are below;

I created 16 pages for my 16 photographs, just like on my prototype booklet.

I used the square selecting tool selected below to chose the size of my image and where I wanted it.

Next, I went to file and place and selected which image I wanted for this page.

Then, I right clicked on the image I had chosen, once it was placed and went to fitting and selected fit frame proportionally. I did this, so that the fitting would be more accurate and the image would fit perfectly within the selected box.

I could also go into display mode, so I can view my work in high resolution, so that my images were clear. This helped me be able to experiment and see what I did or didn’t like.

Experimentation

Once I had finished inserting my images, I wanted to experiment with my layout and be more brave with my juxtaposition, so I made an alternative layout, where I could swap my chosen images around in the layout.

I experimented with many different orders of my images. I also decided to get rid of some of my images and include one extra different image. I did this, because I wanted the include my landscape images as a full page spread.

Writing Experimentation

Next, I experimented with my text and typography. I experimented with the size of the writing for my title, as well as experimenting with the different fonts and colours of writing. I also had to layout my writing where I wanted it.

I experimented with lots of different font type, but in the end, I decided on ADD, because I think it best suited my zine, as it was the nicest font, but it was also a font that suited the harbour theme, unlike very posh cursive writing would for example.

Next, I experimented with the size I wanted my title and my name. I chose 30pt for my title, because I think it perfectly filled up the negative space at the top of my image. I chose 18pt for my name, because I wanted it to be slightly smaller than my title, but still stand out.

Then, I experimented with the colouring of my writing. I wasn’t able to use darker colours like black, brown, red for example, because the space where my writing is is very dark, so the writing would not be visible. That is why I have chosen to use white for my writing, because it stands out well and looks the best with my front cover and against the dark background.

Finally, I wanted to experiment with adding writing to my images, to explain my narrative.

I experimented with this, but ultimately decided I didn’t want writing throughout my zine, because I wanted my images to speak for themselves, and I didn’t want the writing to distract from my images.

Final Print Out Booklet

Finally, I printed of my images and folded them using a paper bone, so the pages were folded perfectly. Then, I put my images in order and stapled my booklet pages together.

My Final Layout

In my zine that I am creating I have experimented with the layout of my images, and using images, which have relationships, so that I am able to create a narrative (story) portraying St Helier Harbour. I also had to create a visually appealing zine in InDesign.

What is a story?

A story is a narrative about people and events, usually including an interesting plot, is a story. A story can be fictional or true, and it can be written, read aloud, or made up on the spot. Journalists write stories for newspapers, and gossips spread stories that may or may not be true.

There are also picture stories, which are the intentional use of pictures and words assembled into a story. You can also have a picture story, without writing.

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words- ‘Life at the Harbour.’
• A sentence- ‘The different elements of the harbour include, fishing, sailing, salting fish, selling fish and so much more.’
• A paragraph- ‘At the harbour there was loads of different elements and workers working together, to keep the harbour life running smoothly. There was fishermen, salesmen, sailors, harbour masters and so many more people working together. They had to work together, so they could capture, salt and sell all different types of seafood, as well as transporting goods.’

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

• Images > New St Helier Harbour photographs
• Archives > Old photographs of St Helier Harbour from SJ photo-archive or JEP Photographic Archive
• Texts > Write a short introduction or statement about your picture story, image captions
• Typography > creative uses of words, letters, font-types, sizes

About my Zine

In my zine, I used my images, which I had taken at the harbour, but I also wanted to experiment with old photos of the harbour from different archives, including the JEP Photographic Archive. I wanted to experiment with the archives, so that I could compare today’s harbour and the harbour from a long time ago and present the similarities and differences between them in my photos. However, in the end I preferred my zine with just the new photos of the archive that I had taken, because I thought they had more of a relationship with each other, and I just wanted to be able to present more of my work. I also experimented with different texts on my zine. I experimented with different titles, until finally deciding on, ‘Life at the Harbour.’ I also experimented with different texts inside my booklet, but I ultimately decided I preferred my zine without the writing, because I didn’t want to take attention away from my images, and I believe that the images speak for themselves. Finally, I experimented with typography, using different sizing, fonts, colours etc. for my title.

I used many differing images in my zine, that weren’t necessarily related, but also were, because of what I was trying to portray with my zine. I used images from all over the harbour and images of all the different aspects, eg the workers, the alive crabs, the seafood being sold, the boats docked, the rowing boats and crew etc. I wanted to include all of these images, so that I could present every possible aspect of the harbour, because a day at the harbour is never the same for everyone and I wanted the portray that. In my work I also didn’t add any text other than my title, because I felt the images speak for themselves, but because I also wanted to leave a level of subjectivity for the audience in my work, so the viewer can interpret my work in their own way.

What is a Zine

A zine is short for a magazine and it is a small self-published piece of original work, which can be presented as a booklet or magazine, with appropriate text or images. This is typically used as a form of developing identity by expressing artistic vision about a certain topic. This is non-commercial print-work that is usually produced in small, limited batches. Photo zines emerged from punk, DIY movements, and underground culture as an alternative way for photographers to showcase their work.

Experimenting with the Archives

Old photos of the harbour

For my zine, I want to experiment with archives of the old harbour and compare them to images I have taken of the harbour in present time. I want to experiment with this, because I think comparing and presenting the differences and similarities between present and past time harbours. This would enable me to create a narrative of the progression of the harbour.

JEP Archive

I also want to experiment with the JEP archives, because they contain images that famous Jersey photographers have taken during their life and time in Jersey. I could also compare my images to these images, and I could also edit my images into black and white, so they are the same as the archives, or I could leave them in colour to create a juxtaposition between my images and really present the differences in the old time harbour images and the new harbour images.

Final Selections

Before starting my zine on InDesign, I printed out 19 images, which were my best images, that also had a relationship with each other. I experimented with the layout and order of my images on the table and finally narrowed my 19 images down to 16 images and chose m final order and layout.

Next, I made a 16 page booklet with 4 pages of plain white paper and folded them all in half. Then, I stuck my images in the booklet in my chosen order, using masking tape. This allowed me to easily experiment with my images and see what my zine would physically look like, before creating it, so that I saved time and it was easier to create my zine.

Mood Board of Selected Images Before Experimentation

Harbour photoshoot

I used Adobe Photoshop to make my virtual gallery’s. I used the images from my zine.

I firstly designed a small blueprint of my zine on paper. I chose where my photos would go and which photo would go with another and etcetera and started placing them on InDesign in the places they are mean to be.

I finished putting all photos where they needed to go and started to work on the font of the title.

The font used in my title gives almost a pirate vibe. I thought this was fitting for my zine because not only is it about the harbour itself, it shows a story of the boats and reminds viewers to not only look at the physical side of it but the emotional side that the lives that these people lived.

I matched the theme of the front cover and back cover to show a similarity through the zine too just for some almost comfort.

Virtual gallery –

I created two virtual galleries to display the final images I used within my two zines using ArtSteps. My second gallery however shows a smaller amount of images as some of my images were shared between the two zines:

Zine 1:

Zine 2:

Photos used:

Final Outcome

This was the final outcome for my zine, i really liked how it turned out as at the beginning I didn’t have a vision in mind, When collecting my photos together I tried to put the colours that matched the best together. Also when considering putting certain pictures together I tried to mix what side each photo look best on, which did have an impact. As my photoshoots didn’t go too well I didn’t have many pictures that I liked and wanted to use therefore made some of the pictures take over the whole page. This made these pictures show a great importance. I also tried to get a picture of the surroundings and then next to it a picture of a person doing their job to show what surroundings each person could be in, although this could not be the case for every page for example the last page with the man opening his truck wouldn’t be near some stairs leading the the sea but I thought that the colours and concept of these photos look good together.

Evaluation:

Overall the St Helier topic was quite off putting at the beginning as I didn’t have much interest in it, though after the photoshoot i started to use my imagination to create ideas of what to take pictures, also when creating my zine I started to develop certain story lines, although this topic still hasn’t grown on me it still is interesting to see what people who work around the see do, when doing my first photoshoot I just took pictures of what looked interesting and didn’t have a specific idea or reason for taking what I took. For my second photoshoot, I started observing more of what was around me and what could be a good representation of the sea. I started having more ideas of what the St Helier harbour was and how it had changed throughout the years when given photos and information about when and why it was created. Throughout my research I found it quite difficult to get the right information to look at and this made the topic even more repetitive and dull. I had managed to find some details about the harbour but not much which was quite irritating and made it hard for me when it came to the photoshoots and I didn’t have anything specific to look for. I would say the best photoshoot I had done would have been the maritime museum as it has many funky items inside that explained a lot and helped with my research. There were many examples of what a boat sounded like and what each sound represented and meant, there were interactive activities which helped all of us to engage with the topic and the idea of why we are researching all these things about the harbour. I did like making the zine for this project as I did manage to capture some good pictures to use, I had captured a good set of images that worked well with each other, whether it was the colours or the representation of the images. Although I didn’t quite enjoy this topic it was still a good topic to explore and gain some knowledge on. I did find it hard to capture some good quality images as the harbour isn’t something that I have great interest in, I feel like if I were to do this again I would try and get some inspiration on photoshoots such as using different angles to portray different meanings and find different textures to capture that represent the harbour. I did manage to capture some good quality images but a plan would have helped out more in which direction I was going with these images.