OBSERVE, SEEK AND CHALLENGE

“The human desire to seek and explore the unknown has driven artists to look for fresh inspiration throughout the centuries” – The idea that people are looking out for something more than what they know has driven them to become very curious, they search for deeper meanings and never stick to the original meanings. This helps photographers to capture the best image possible. The aim for this personal study is to have a deeper understanding of my chosen topic, be able to compare its positives and negatives and produce my own set of images. Looking through my previous work that I have produced I have come to conclusion that a form of street photography has caught me in interest, the ideas of doing urban photography or fashion photography has made me wonder which one is best suited for me. Fashion street photography could be slightly harder than urban photography as you need to get the right people to wear the right clothing and capture the best image possible, whereas urban photography is more like taking pictures of the streets. The term street photography refers to Street photography being a type of photography that is conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places, usually with the aim of capturing images at a decisive or poignant moment by careful framing and timing. Although fashion photography may be harder to accomplish it would be a good idea to try to organize the right way to complete it in easier ways, for example making the photos staged could be an idea as it’s not always obvious that certain photos are staged. Having a model by your side is a good advantage as you are in control of what actions they may do in each photograph, and you could change the way they are dressed to make the image seem less staged or precisely just a perfect moment captured. 

Other previous work like ‘windows and mirrors’ could help influence my decision on this personal project to get a better understanding on where my strengths and weaknesses are, as I do prefer to look at windows more than mirrors as the windows theory of identifying a photo is context based. I would rather not make the images too personal to myself but more personal to other people around me in general. The photos that will be produced will show a sense of reality or even fiction but not a personal story of myself. The windows and mirrors concept will guide me to understand what photos need to be taken. I like the idea of taking anonymous photos where people aren’t aware that there photo is taken meaning they aren’t posed, although when creating my own photos I do think making my images staged could help me get an overall understanding on what type of photography I like whether it is staged or taken at a ‘decisive moment’, a good artist I could look at would be Henri Cartier Bresson, he came up with the decisive moment being a method in photography where the thrill of waiting for the next person to walk by will make the perfect image. 

William Klein:

“William Klein was an American-born French photographer and filmmaker noted for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography”. William Klein has quite a good range of images that I could look at and work on, his work is quite inspiring although a lot of them look staged as the model is over dressed in some of the images, certain models are posing and doing different things that seem quite unusual, things you wouldn’t see on a daily basis. I do like the mixture of the photos being black and white as it makes them different but doesn’t necessarily make each photo more important than other photos. I do like how each photo is focused on one person in specific almost as if it’s trying to tell a story about the model, but the viewers must work it out. 

Martin Elkort:

“Martin Edward Elkort was an American photographer, illustrator and writer known primarily for his street photography. Prints of his work are held and displayed by several prominent art museums in the United States. His photographs have regularly appeared in galleries and major publications”. All these photos are in black and white which makes the images quite modern and sophisticated, these images captured are taken out of the blue, the people didn’t stop to pose for the camera, they kept normal as they were aware and sometimes it how’s everyone how the world I today and how it has changed throughout the generations and the way people dress has changed massive due to different ages which is good to capture and acknowledge. One thing that would be more difficult for me is that these images seem to be old fashioned and a lot of things have changed since this photographer has taken these images, which helps to make the images more personal to me and also make me experiment how things have changed throughout the years and what has changed, e.g. clothes, props (prams), transport and even buildings have changed.  

Overall, this is a topic I have a great interest in and feel as though it would be quite entertaining and challenging to do but will help me understand why each photo looks and feels different due to it being staged or just a good, timed image also referred as a ‘decisive moment’. The idea that the images I want to recreate are mainly based on the streets whether they are urban photography or fashion photography which could be more difficult if the image aren’t quite staged. I do like the idea of taking images of a big city and a crowded place but I would have to do the opposite due to living on a small island, though that will make images feel more personal to me as this island is my home and a place I feel safe in and I have experienced most of my childhood in. 

My plan is to go out and try to capture images of people who have quite an unusual and unique style that is different to the rest. Or I could get a few of my friends to dress up in their own styles to show how different people are and the effects of the world, how other people influence us to dress the same, why we feel to dress a certain way and why aren’t comfortable to wear certain clothes. Another thing that I could try and do would be trying to get my models to dress like a certain individual, a specific character from a tv show or possible a significant influencer to recreate their image and try and get a perspective of their life through what the images they put online. I would also like to get landscape photos of town/ somewhere busy to get the model to stand in, so that the background of the image is quite noisy. The slight problem I could have with that would be that the image might have too many details and make the photo look tacky and not as elegant as I would aim for. The best texture I’m looking for in the image would be a smooth texture but not too much to the point that it looks too boring and there is no details, I do like the idea of having a rough texture somewhere in the image, possibly the main event happing in the image as it will draw the eyes towards the main focus point. 

REVIEW

Throughout my time looking at photography and trying to recreate images I have learnt many things. I have don’t photography for quite a while now and realise how creative you have to be to come up wit your own set of images. While learning all about certain rules like, depth of field, rule of thirds, composition, leading lines and many more, it has helped me to understand how to capture a proper image and I can do next time to make the image better. when studying photography I started to think that images had to be planned to be captured at the right time and be a good image, but when studying Henri Cartier Bresson I learnt that he came up with the decisive moment and that your images don’t have to be perfect to everyone else but yourself. Your the creator of the images therefore you decide what you want to take and where it should be taken. I also learnt that there were different view points to look at, for example. birds eye view, women’s eye view, high view and the Dutch angle that are all very different and help to make each image different and unique from the rest.

What is photography? The actual definition of photography is known as drawing with light, but if I were to define photography I would day its a way of capturing precious moments and keeping memories. it is the communication and the recording of ephemeral moments in time, meaning it captures images in that moment and once that moment is gone there is no going back.

REFLECT

Sublime:

Overall, looking through all my blog posts, I discovered that I had forgotten that I had done. These blog posts could help me find an inspiration to see what my independent project will be. Through my first year of photography, I learnt some key skills that will help me when taking photos, I was able to take pictures and add different colours and shades to the lens of the camera to make the image look colourful. The photoshoot I did was to investigate the idea of an image being good or evil. The images that are darker based tend to be evil due to the lack of lighting, the fact that most of the models facial features aren’t visible makes the image look mysterious and dangerous and the ‘good’ images would have lighter lighting on the models face to see their facial feature to make the image look less unexpected and more comforting . One topic I am quite interested in would be romanticism and the sublime effect, the picture being a disaster but still showing some kind of beauty. The idea of sublime is ‘a self-forgetfulness where personal fear is replaced by a sense of well-being and security when confronted with an object exhibiting superior might’. I feel that a photoshoot to do with sublime could be quite successful and interesting to investigate. Especially if I already have loads of notes based on it to help direct me to the right places to take the images. Another effective experiment that we looked at was technical headshots that helped me understand the different lighting techniques, for example soft and hard lighting. Soft lighting is known to be a portrait lit with soft light and is generally lit with a large light source whereas hard lighting has the characteristics of showing edgy features like a sharp jawline or muscular definition. I feel like I was able to recreate that quite well as my final outcomes look quite successful. I’ve noticed that using a dark background will make the light on the models face look brighter and define the models features with a sharper tone, whilst using a lighter/ baby pink background the lighting doesn’t necessarily make the models face brighten up, it adds the perfect amount of light to snatch the models features without making them look sharp. We also experimented with butterfly lighting, basic lighting and Rembrandt Lighting which could be useful to use in future photoshoots. These techniques will help especially if I do a photoshoot of people’s portraits as I can perfect my skills. One thing that i have noticed throughout my work was that i have used many of Henri Cartier Bresson’s images in my work, which gives me the idea that I would like to explore his work in more depth. 

Cindy Sherman- Femininity

I quite enjoyed exploring femininity inspired by Cindy Sherman, her images are meant to portray ‘women’s lives’ and how women are treated or seen to be treated, her main idea was that women were objectified and she wanted to recreate images to show how women would be objectified, the idea that women were in charge of cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children, she would create images of her cleaning her house, she also had images of her in the mirror trying to put make up on as its considered to make women more “beautiful”. I really enjoyed this topic as I was able to get a good set of images and explore what it is like to be a women, another reason I quite like this topic was because I was able to link it with good vs evil and boy vs girl photoshoots, this lead to me expanding my research from femininity to masculinity as well and explore the differences between them. While exploring femininity and masculinity I found out how different the two genders are, the idea that men are seen as strong and dominant, they hold all the power and sometimes it shows in photos, the way they stand to show their strength. Women tend to try and look good in images and pose for the camera which shows that they are more ambitious, asserting and caring. However, when photographs of women are taken, they tend to be objectified, they tend have the male gaze on them and most of the time women feel as though they need to objectify themselves to get men’s attention. 

Environmental portraits:

This photoshoot was quite limiting as I captured all these images in school, going round all the different departments, the first 3 photos were captured in the science department, where we asked the staff to show us around and capture some images of them at work, this helped me understand how everyone’s jobs are different. I also went to the canteen to get pictures of some of the staff there, in the canteen the mixture of students and staff made me realise that we all have different lives and different things going on. These images were put in black and white, which tends to help with distracting the eye from any unusual colours but more from what is in the surroundings of the image. This wouldn’t be my favourite photoshoot I’ve done as it’s quite boring to take pictures of people without any context but with some of the images you can tell a story and try and put meanings together and understand what is going on in the image. Another reason I wasn’t big fan of this photoshoot was because I didn’t manage to get man y good quality photos and struggled a little bit finding areas to take pictures. 

Photoshoot in the studio:

This photoshoot was to help me edit on photoshop and get an idea on how to edit each photo and what worked best for each image. I was given a few props to work with and placed them down on the table, I captured a few different shots and n photoshop I was able to control the tones of the images, I changed the tones to warm and cold, which gave a different effect to each photo, I prefer the warmer tones in the image as I feel as it fits best. This photoshoot was only an experiment, but I feel as though it helped me understand the composition of the image. This photoshoot was just a small one and was quite useful and fun to do and helped me decide that landscape photography is more for me. 

St Malo:

This would be my favourite photoshoot as I prefer taking pictures of buildings and street photography, I feel as though street photography is a theme that is so broad that it’s good to focus on every little detail at a time to understand how this image was put together. Street photography can also be based on the “decisive moment” by Henri Cartier Bresson, the whole idea that there is a perfect moment to capture an image. I really enjoyed taking images in St Malo as it’s so different from jersey and a lot bigger. The people seem to be out a lot longer in France which sets out a different mood to the picture, the way the French dress very different too, so it helps me get a different perspective to street photography, one thing I would have liked to have done better is focus on a certain amount of people and sort of follow their journey round the town. Street photography is quite different to the previous photoshoots I’ve done as most of the photoshoots done were in the studio. That’s what makes these images different, also the people in the photos don’t have a personal relationship with me, they are just strangers on the streets, this makes the images look more mysterious as we don’t know what each person may be feeling, whether it’s shown on their face or not. 

Hannah Starkey is a British photographer who specializes in staged settings of women in city environments, based in London. In 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Hannah Starkey: In Real Life showed at The Hepworth Wakefield in April 2023. Her photography style consists of taking images of strangers on the street that don’t seem to have any relation to the models in the image. Her type of photography would be based on staged photography which could conclude that she is trying to make the images look realistic to what people may be feeling. The idea that what the artist is looking for isn’t always where she needs them to be, so she used the idea of the scenario she saw and turned it into her own reality by staging the images she produces. Although she has a specific theme to her images, she tries to get messages across about different women in the city. Although her images are staged it doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have a real meaning that the artists are trying to get across. Hannah Starkey’s work is purely based on women and how they are represented in the city which could either be a stereotype or an actual representation, she likes to describe her work as “explorations of everyday experiences and observations of inner-city life from a female perspective.” This is a topic I quite like and decided to write about. However, the main reason I chose to do this artist was because it links in with the windows and mirrors theory. Hannah Starkey’s work is based on a mirror as it’s her own interpretations put into an image, she is recreating what is personal to herself as being an individual female living in the city, she makes her own experiences or possible other female experiences known to public without a shame, but some people might not gather that her images are staged just by one glance and hence not realise that this image is a window, some people could view Starkey’s images as something else and others could take offence to them, it’s all o do with stereotypes and how women are portrayed. I like that she sticks to her theme and doesn’t add any male models into her images. It shows that she is dedicated to show some of her life events as a woman. 

Untitled, May 1997

This image is quite detailed and has two models, both models are posing for the image but not in a way you would when you know that someone is taking an image of you, this image is staged, this is meant to portray a women’s daily life and how women’s lives have been changed throughout the years. I really like how colourful this image is as most of the artists I looked at had images in black and white, although the aim of black and white photos is to restrict any distractions to the image, the idea that black and white images are easier to observe. However I do quite like a coloured photo as colours could link together and make the image look more put together, everything looks like it falls in place, this could make the image look staged but still shows that the photographer has a main target they want to capture. This image is quite powerful in presenting what a female might feel on a day-to-day basis. Starkey states that she thinks the outcome of her images is mainly based on an experience led thing rather than just projecting how a women might act or feel. She states that the female eye senses anything that is tied up in those kind of sexualised images- the sort of image that’s being used to sell stuff. She also suggests that things are changing and will continue to change in her time of working/ taking photographs, her aim was to evaluate how women are represented and what access women must make these representations themselves. She states “When you come into your professional career or your education, you will always have a legacy of what’s gone before you. You tend to want to rebalance or readjust that. So for me, that was all about the representation of women and to try to find a different way” which can suggest that she wants to see how much power she holds as a women and what she can put out on social media, how many views she might get and what type of retaliation she might get back from her work. Her work is basically an experiment to see how much recognition women get and to find out when they well get noticed. She also states how she disliked the way women were represented “I guess from about 2000 onwards, the mainstream media seemed to be very heavily influenced by the language of porn, and there was a while when it became so suffocating. It seemed like the “go to” way to present women – it’s not about prudishness or double standards, it’s just that there are many ways to make a woman look attractive, but the dominant aesthetic was just this one way.” The reality of the world has been shown and objectifies women in many ways, when taking an image of a women to always make sure she looks good, good enough to represent all women, this leads to women’s photos being edited to look thinner and prettier which effects many people today, the idea women need to look a certain way to please the public eye is quite disgusting and all women should be proud and content about their appearances. This isn’t seen as a problem just for women but men too. There has been much written about how men and women might photograph each other differently, and while it’s not something that is necessarily straightforwardly easy to quantify or put into words, it shows us how social media is fake and nothing is seen to be true anymore and Hannah Starkey has researched the how women are identified as she relates to that topic a lot more and likes to have a different message and interpretation for each image. 

Essay plan
Introduction (250 words): Reflect on the origin of photography and describe in your own words the difference between the two photographic processes, Daguerreotype and Calotype. Consider how they could be viewed as either a mirror or a window of the world according to John Szarkowski’s thesis. Choose one quote from Szarkowski’s text and comment if you agree or disagree.

Paragraph 1 (250 words): Choose an image that in your view is a mirror and analyse how it is a subjective expression and staged approach to image-making. Choose one quote from Szarkowski’s thesis and another from Jed Pearl’s review which either supports of opposes Szarkowski’s original point of view. Make sure you comment to advance argumentation in providing a critical perspective.

Paragraph 2 (250 words): Choose an image that in your view is a window and analyse how it is an objective expression rooted in the notion of realism. Choose one quote from Szarkowski’s thesis and another from Jed Pearl’s review and follow similar procedure as above ie. two opposing points of view and commentary to provide a critical perspective.

Conclusion (250 words): Refer back to the essay question and write a conclusion where you summarise Szarkowski’s theory and Pearl’s review of his thesis. Describe differences and similarities between the two images above and their opposing concepts of objectivity and subjectivity, realism and romanticism, factual and fiction, public and private.

Introduction:

Looking at the basics of photography and trying to gather the difference between Daguerreotype and Calotype helps us identify the Mirror or Windows theory. A Daguerreotype is a ‘positive’ image that creates a highly detailed image in a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver. Whereas Calotype is seen as a negative and positive process where the image is printed using paper coated with silver iodide, the texture of the paper limits the ability to see low contrast details and textures on the image. The easiest way to identify a Calotype is due to the lack of clarity in the details and a mottling of tones and a Daguerreotype is identified by its mirror-like, highly polished silver surface and its dually negative/positive appearance when viewed from different angles or different shades of lighting. The concept that an image is either a window or a Mirror creates this idea of the photo whether its personal and foreshadowing something or its just taken unexpected. The mirror image would portray a Daguerreotypes as it made from a highly polished silver-plated sheet of copper that appears to look like a mirror. This creates an image but still allows you to see yourself due to the copper. This image is captured by its reflective surface echoing the surrounding scenery. The photographer Szarkowski came up with the theory of the windows and mirror and suggested that windows are not seen to be personal as when you look through a window what you see has nothing to do with you where as a mirror is seen as your reflection although there may be a debate about this as a window could be a path through to what is important to the photographer. A specific quote stated by Szarkowski “Whatever else a photograph may be about, it is inevitably about photography, the container and vehicle of all its meaning’s.” This quotes suggest that there is a lot of information about each photograph taken and it has a deep meaning whether it is a basic photograph. The idea that the photo does not just have one meaning, it can put multiple things together to create the real story of the image. Though this could also show that Photography was not invented to serve a clearly understood function, sometimes it would be better to not understand the concept of the photograph and have a basic understanding to be able to visual your own ideas towards the image, sometimes the real meaning of the image doesn’t justify the actual shot of the image. Photography is so widely spread to any topic that any image could have any deep meaning towards it. 

Hannah Starkey, Untitled – May 1997

Mirror Reference:

The idea of an image identifying as a mirror could vary in many ways; the main reason this image could be a mirror is because the people in the photograph are looking through it. Some people could suggest that the older lady in the image is looking through the mirror at her younger self, as if she is looking through her memories. Though looking at Hannah Starkey’s work, she states that her work is staged and based on women in London based on fake sceneries, she uses actors within carefully considered settings, Hannah Starkey’s photographs reconstruct scenes from everyday life with the concentrated stylization of film. Starkey’s images picture women engaged in regular routines such as loitering in the street, sitting in cafes, or passively shopping. Starkey captures these generic ‘in between’ moments of daily life with a sense of relational detachment. As Starkey is a women she may the need to portray the idea that women don’t get enough recognition, or she simply wants to explore all the stereotypes women have been pinpointed to do such as shopping and sitting cafes, which isn’t the case for every women’s daily life, it could be an analysis of what women are seen to be doing everyday making their roles useless and quite in vain. Though that could depend on analysis does not mean the be dependent. This may not have a specific meaning as said by Szarkowski that photography is not purposed to provide a meaning to each photograph taken. Most of Szarkowski concepts stated, “The hard part isn’t the decisive moment or anything like that—it’s getting the film on the reel.” This could imply that the photograph does not have to be the best captured image but it needs to be taken at a certain point to prove that something happened, this could be similar to Starkey’s concept of staged photography, she isn’t capturing the real moment of the event happening but she recreating it to the best of her ability portraying the events as happened but without capturing it in the right moment as its being replayed with different people, possibly in a different scenery, at a different time of the day but the event is still getting shown. this therefore represents the idea that this image is a mirror as Starkey may have seen these event happen and that is why she recreates them, this makes the images real meaning feel more personal to Starkey than other people as they don’t know the real story behind the image of the lady holding her hand to the mirror with an older lady behind her. One quote stated from Jeds review notes that at some length, “Szarkowski writes about the death of the pictorial press (Life, Look) which supported public documentary photography” .This can tie in with the fact that Szarkowski’s quote states that some images aren’t always the best but they take a picture of the moment. Almost like a documentary, they don’t really get people to pose for their images, they just want to get the message across. This Image could also represent the imagery of the lady’s downfall as you pay attention to the mirror it seems to be cracking, and the lady behind her is looking quite concerned. Therefore, the point of an image being identified as a mirror is to show the personal aspects, the fact that this image is foreshadowing the future or even just replaying past events. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Seville, 1933

Window reference:

The windows theory of identifying a photo is context based. This image is almost created like a window, it is like a scene is happening behind the closed wall, but the small hole is letting us see the perspective of what is happening behind closed doors. This is seen as a window because this might not be personal to the photograph, this image is based on small children playing around. This image is of a poorer place or country at war. The photographer Henry Cartier Bresson is known as a humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, Bresson focuses on street photography and produced the idea of a decisive moment. Bresson described his photography journey as hunting without killing, he describes photography as a passion, he used his passion to turn images into the unexpected, Bresson goes out an takes photo of what is walking past him, the people in his surrounding, he is not looking for a specific thing. As seen in the image none of the little boys are looking straight at the camera, there seem to be occupied playing around as little children do, this image could represent a nostalgia of one’s childhood, as none of the children are on their phones messing around doing negative things exactly like when we were children and then the world grew bad. The concept that all children are innocent as they do not know the cruelty of the world, they do not have anything to focus on except playing around. the purity of this image shows how generations have changed the word of childhood, childhood to older generation would mean playing in the garden with your friends, drawing, doing fun activities whereas these days a childhood is which child had the best phone at the youngest age, all everyone focuses on is social media and knowing about the latest news. A way of linking Henri Cartier’s work to Szarkowski concept of windows. An important quote stated by Szarkowski “They were … pure and unadulterated photographs, and sometimes they hinted at the existence of visual truths that had escaped all other systems of detection.” This could link in with the idea that social media has taken over people’s minds, all people want to do is go on their phones and message people or scroll on apps brain washing people to believe fake news. This quote shows us that this image is an example of the purity of the world, showing us that these children look grateful for everything things may get, they do not seem to be complaining, these children are content. We are letting the truth slip away that social media is slowly taking over and no one is stopping it. Another quote stated by Szarkowski was ” Photography’s failure to explain large public issues has become increasingly clear… most issues of importance cannot be photographed.” this shows us that this photograph may have contextual factors to it, these children look like they are playing in a dangerous place, all the walls are broken, there are pieces on the floor scattered everywhere. But the idea that these children look happy navigates us away from the idea that they are in danger. The impression that the war isn’t really major here as everyone looks happy, safe and there isn’t any graphic images shows us how inhumane we have become, the world wants to forget the fact that war is happening and just because the image doesn’t capture the actual moment of the bombing an shooting happens then everyone is safe and not in danger anymore. one quote from Jeds review states that “realism,” involved with the “exploration” of a private “window” on the world. This states that window is meant to represent the struggles of the world and how war is effecting us. This ties in with Szarkowski thoughts that some photographs are gonna be revealing the visual truth of the world. Therefore, the concept that windows are all about the concept of the image shows how forgotten some of the key concepts are left behind due to the atmosphere being content and not graphic. 

Conclusion:

Overall, the idea of mirrors and windows describing an image has been looked at in depth, by allowing us to understand how to identify what image symbolises a mirror or a window. The main point that photographs can be both ‘mirrors’ and ‘windows’ of the world, is all dependant on how you may look at the photo. Many believe that a photograph is a mirror and window, but they let their imagination control their thoughts. The photographers that have helped me understand the concept of windows and mirrors have opened my eyes to see different perspectives. The idea that a window is a way to portray the events of something historical, it’s almost a way to spread news without writing anything but just presenting an image that has a historical background. The concept that a mirror is to be presented as a documentary is quite a reasonable way of stating what a mirror image is, as it is meant to portray life events about the photographer, or the model, or ever yourself. It’s meant to reflect a past or future event or making the image personal and reflective. Although an image can be seen as both mirrors and windows it shows us that not all images are meant to represent their purpose, sometimes images are taken for memories, for positive or negative reasons. Although some images could be taken to spread news, like war and violence that people need to be cautious about, it’s a way of presenting an image with expressions that tell a story without displaying it with words. Both images show different people and also show different emotions, the coloured image shows a sense of mystery and confusion as to why the image is cracking. Whereas the black and white image shows a sublime moment, the concept of the image is to report the damage of the war, but the point of the image is taken over due to the joy on the boy’s face, playing in the image. The image almost gives us a sense of romanticism as it captures the beauty of the image, the way these boys turn the downfall of the country in a positive way, without causing problems but they know they can’t for anything to save their countries so they try to see the positives of the situation where as the first image in colour automatically shows a personal side, something you can try and pick out to make a story, the story seems more familiar and homelike, not that the scene is cosy, but it shows a day to day scenario in London that would be seen on a daily whereas the black and white photo is not an image that is displayed worldwide as it is seen as a negative image, the way the world is at war and nothing in the world is peaceful whereas the first image in colour shows a sense of relaxation, even though its seems to a mysterious image of the two ladies, it does feel more comforting, also with the fact of the colour. The colour can create visual contrast, direct attention, evoke mood, this image makes the mood fee quite bewildering, and makes the audience want to pay attention to the detail whereas the black and white image is quite straight forward. Therefore, the overall idea that each image tells a story whether it’s personal or not is decided by if it’s a mirror or window, or possibly both. 

What are the differences between photograph’s that are WINDOWS and MIRRORS.

The difference is windows can be seen as less personal to the photographer, almost as if the photographer is looking down at someone else’s life. A Window is described as an exterior world that is explored in all its presence and reality. Where as mirrors is a photograph of a something you can relate to, something that reflects who you are. In other words a mirror is a romantic expression of the photographer’s sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world. It’s almost like putting it as a window is something you look out of therefore its not something related to you, its what is outside the window that matters and a mirror is a reflection yourself, how you could portray yourself as in a photograph, what the photo reminds you of. “Mirrors” were images meant to mirror the photographer’s own sensibility. “Windows” were photos meant to act as a window for the viewer to see something that is primarily factual and external to the photographer’s own sensibility.

Words and quotes for mirrors and windows:

Binary opposite: Two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. Windows (exterior) and mirrors (interior) are completely different to each other. Windows are seen as being truthful and honest they show you the true colour of an image and help the viewer open there eyes to see a new perspective to the image. Whereas Mirrors are seen more as lies and staged.

 “A window is a story that sheds light into the other’s experience whereas a mirror is a story that reflects your own experiences and helps you build your self, your own identity.”

John Szarkowshi

John Szarkowshi wrote this book as a way of understanding himself the difference between windows and mirrors throughout the years. He stated that windows were seen as an direct observation whereas mirrors were an introspective narrative. although Szarkowski does state that photographers can not be categorized as purely one or the other and that you can find aspects of both in the many photographers work, this helps me understand that each image can have a factor of both windows or mirrors if the image is analysed correctly. The thought that an image can be categorised only into one category makes it challenging to see which one as there are counterargument’s depending on each persons perspective. argues for the importance of looking carefully and bringing to bear every bit of intelligence and understanding possessed by the viewer states that students should read his book to help identify the importance of looking carefully and bringing to bear every bit of intelligence and understanding possessed by the viewer looking at an image, arguing that each photo has a deep meaning to it, some which is hidden and some that is very well seen by the viewer. Another thing by Szarkowsk stated was argues for the importance of looking carefully and bringing to bear every bit of intelligence and understanding possessed by the viewer.

window: This image would be seen as a window due to the fact that its not personal to the photographer, its not really showing a specific identity or portraying a specific story it shows us the basics of the photo where an older man is standing still with a younger girl next to him, this image shows us the perspective of looking out a window down onto the exterior of peoples lives. This image clearly is showing someone’s else perspective and not the photographers experience, However some could argue that this image is a mirror as it could portray the life of the photographer’s family which makes the image quite personal and sincere. You could say that the man is looking in the direction of the camera almost as if he is looking at himself and his reflection. It could be a self portrait of the people and the camera is set up which makes the image direct to these people. The girl could be posing knowing the photo is being taken making it a staged image or it could be a hidden camera taking the photo and the girl is expressing her happiness without realising she is being photographed.

Mirror: This image is clearly a mirror as it could be seen as a reflection of this ladies mind, she is laying on the floor looking quite helpless, this could be a reflection of the ladies mind, she could be depressed or maybe missing something. Although her house might not be looking really messy, she is laying on the floor looking vulnerable and quite weak. The room is still quite lit up and looks quite cleaned up, which could reflect the idea that there is something making her still content to an extent. People could suggest that this image is a window almost as if the photo was taken through a window looking at someone’s else’s perspective.

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. 

Here I’ve selected more photos from my harbour photoshoot however I created a whole new page just for the people I’ve captured. All of the people I have captured each have a story of what they are doing in the moment and why, each person has a story, a reason to why they are doing the thigs they want to do an say. I really like the way each photo came out as everyone seems to be occupied, either by themselves or someone else interacting with them.

I’ve turned these photos into black and white as I believe it gives a more modern look, it almost helps to give the whole focus on the persons facial features, their pose and what they are holding. The photo on the right is a full view image of the man standing holding a roar , this tells us that the man in the image does rowing, his surroundings also suggests that he does rowing with all the roars in the background.

This photoshoot was quite a good experience to see how the life at sea is like. Every single person in this photoshoot seem to be busy at work, ether working on the boats or working with the sea life such as fish and lobsters. I chose to make a separate blog post just for people to show the difference of the meanings of each person in each photo.

Overall i really did enjoy this photoshoot as it helped me look at all the different jobs surrounded by the ocean, although this topic isn’t one i would voluntarily choose it does still an interesting aspects to it, for example I did enjoy walking around and seeing occupied doing their daily job that is so different to what we do as students in school, it was also really nice to see how things have changed throughout the years such as new inventions for boats and how they can go faster and collect more fish at a time, although there are still boats that collect fish as it till is good to see fishermen doing their jobs or even just their hobbies.

This would be one of the best photos I took at the museum as not all the photos I took looked good enough to present, I turned this photo into black and white as it stopped the colours from distracting the view of all the patterns and texture. I took this photo from a slightly lower angle than a straight view point to show that all the item are above me almost as if they are looking down on me which could help represent their importance. This photo hold a lot of importance s it has historical items in one place. The reason I chose this photo being my best is because in some of my photos the angles of the photos don’t match the photo and this photo has the most important object in the centre with all historical images in the background. I do quite like the mages of the rocks with an image underneath as they would look good together to create a row of photos with meaning. They have framed a specific rock , maybe due o the fact that it is going extinct or the rocks have a great significance to jerseys history. Even thought the image is quite busy it still shows the purpose of each item being placed in that specific place, possibly each photograph links in with the submarine suit. The wall in the background is quite textured but also helps to make everything else stand out and be its own independent photo.

Going to the maritime museum helped open my eyes and get a perspective of jerseys past, there were many interesting interactive item in the museum which made it fun and entertaining to explore. There were many picture of important people with little descriptions to help identify and understand how and why they were important to jerseys history. the museum also had many boat models that we could look at and identify the main reasons they were used and what they looked like. I really enjoying exploring the museum and understanding how each of these items have a historical meaning and representation. This photoshoot helped me learn songs and stories of the sea, and investigate the island’s myths and legends. I would say that this was a really good experience even though not all of my photos are usable but they do show some historical and important pieces that represent an important factor to the museum.

links I used to help me write about the maritime museum:

Here these images are very bright and colourful compared to the rest, the sky is a shade of green that almost gives off a disastrous look almost as if a storm is coming. I made the sky looks more colourful so that the image itself would stand out. However I highlighted the area I wanted to make bright and simply copied the layer, I then proceeded to brighten the colour and made it look more green, I felt as though the green makes the photo looks really ready to explore The thought that our world is slowly getting destroyed with all the carbon being released and the plastic being thrown around creates this unpleasant image, the world is dying and no much is being done to save it.

All of the photos that I selected in big to present are the best images I took. Through out all the photos I took these were best one I could analyse and use in my work as they had bod colours and all represent a story whereas some of my other photos don’t have the right lighting or angle to use or don’t have the right story to tell. Most of my photos are pictures of boats but not really the big luxurious boats more like small boat that u would stay close to the haw with which tells us a lot, possibly the p[person who owns the boats like to do fishing close to the island or likes to have a small paddle around the island in their bot however it doesn’t necessarily tell us if they don’t have the money to buy as its not a factor we can judge and asses. The colour of each boat can tell us a story as it can show each personally identity.

Doing this photoshoot was quite successful as I got many photos of different places surrounding the harbour. For many of these photos I had zoomed in with the camera to get a specific area of the surroundings, Like with the pictures of the boats I had make sure that nothing else is in the background and only the boats were in focus. For many of these photos I had used Photoshop to add Ai effects and get rid of any distracting directs effecting the image. Firstly in the image with the two boats I asked AI to remove anything I the sea to make it look like there are only boats floating and nothing else around. To get the basic editing I levelled all the colours and made some of my photos in black and white as helped to stop the colours from distracting the main idea of the photo. I believe this photoshoot went really well as I was able to interact with some people along the way and understand why they do what they do for a living how it is impact in their lives. For example, I was able to see people who took care of all the lobsters and fish. I was also able to see all the boats that were left on the side. These boats were all different colours and can each represent different personalities and how people look like and the way they are portrayed.

Overall, I believe this photoshoot went well and I managed to capture quite a good bunch of photographs that portray the importance of the st Helier harbour and how its history ha impacted it. Most of the pictures I took of boats are quite small and show how in the past they didn’t really have really high tech boats and almost shows us ow people used to travel across the seas, and of Couse they have other boats with high tech and more protection but it does help us view the evolution of the boats and how each boat can help a person achieve different things.

St Helier harbour hasn’t changed massively between the years, although there are some clear changes, the area has stayed homogeneous. Saint Helier Harbour is named after Helier (or Helerius), a 6th-century ascetic hermit from Belgium.

This picture, by a Mrs Slater, one of the earliest female photographers whose work in Jersey survives, was taken in 1860, or soon after, and shows the La Folie area of the original harbour, with the French Harbour in the foreground and the long, thin, North Quay lined with sailing vessels in the background.

This painting by John Shepherd dates to the 1870s or early 80s and shows clearly how close the top of the Old Harbour came to the original weighbridge, which was in front of the Royal Yacht Hotel

This picture was taken in about 1886-7 and shows the work under way on some initial widening of the North Quay behind the weighbridge. A new cargo shed has been constructed.

A rare photograph showing the Old Harbour infill from the other side, with the row of Commercial Buildings properties showing very few similarities to what survives in the 21st century

An aerial view of the harbour at high tide in 1934

1950, and nothing has changed

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