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

15th century –

• 1497 Newfoundland discovered 1504 Small Norman fishing boats visited the coasts of Newfoundland.

16th century –

• 1504 Small Norman fishing boats visited the coasts of Newfoundland
• 1562 Channel Islands boats noted on Grand Banks.

17th century –

• 1611 St Brelade and other parishes had fishermen who sailed to Newfoundland.
• 1699 There were Seigneurs in Gaspé. A Monsieur Rivers in Mont Louis in 1699 set the industry on a permanent basis, but lack of government support led to failure. Finally a Monsieur Maillet circa 1750 got the fishing industry profitable.

18th century –

• 1758 Gaspé became British property.
• 1789 Ship Elisha Tupper, 280 tons, built at Bel Royal for Janvrins, She was named after a Guernsey merchant.

19th century –

• 1806 4,000 tods of wool were imported into Jersey.

• 1835 William Fruing, son of William, bought 36, La Colomberie, St. Helier.

20th century –

• 1914 Robin and Collas sold out to Robin, Jones and Whitman with HQ in Halifax, being no longer a Jersey company.
• 1950s Clement and Company becomes the last Jersey company trading in Newfoundland cod.

Which ports did Jersey ships sail to and trade with?

Jersey has been an island for approximately 8,000 years, therefore, apart from the last 60 years, the only way for people to come to or leave the island has been by sea. Ports of Jersey was incorporated by the States Assembly in 2015 to provide lifeline public services and to create wider community and economic benefits.

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

Jersey cod-merchants also exported cod-fish to British colonies in the West Indies and later Brazil too in exchange for plantation goods, such as sugar, molasses, rum, cotton, coffee and tobacco which it brought to markets in America, Europe and the UK. Within that context Jersey benefitted from the profits made in the British Empire build on a capitalist model of a slave-based economy Jersey seamen also braved the ocean to bring back cod fish and oil, skins and furs.

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)?

 By the 1770s there may have been up to 70 Jersey ships and 2,000 Jerseymen engaged in the cod trade. By the 1840s it is estimated that the industry directly employed 4,000 people. Also, many others were engaged in manufacturing goods to be exported to the Canadian settlements.

However, Jersey was not without internal troubles notwithstanding increased prosperity. Both war and poor harvests led to increases in corn prices of such magnitudes that the poor were unable to feed themselves. Matters reached a head in 1769 when wealthy mill owners tried selling the little corn there was at very high prices to France, causing some local people to riot. The rioters went on to demand changes to the Island government which resulted in the Code of 1771, giving more power to the States Assembly.

Extra links & sources:

In 2021 Jersey Heritage produced report with details of current knowledge of Jersey’s links to the transatlantic slave trade.

 Jersey Heritage report on legacies of Transatlantic slavery in Jersey

Jersey historian Doug Ford carried out much historical research in 2006 as part of the efforts to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.

 A respectable trade or against humanity?

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For this specific project, I chose to base my approach on myself and my own upbringing for no other reason than I know myself and my own story in the most detail. Therefore, it will be easier and sentimental for me to share memories from my childhood, as well as how they are still important to me today.

For my approach, I asked my mother to lend me a photo album from when I was little. I then photographed some of the most precious images of me during my childhood, and I will display them in a chronological order to give a more in depth effect, as well as showing a deeper meaning throughout my story.

For this experimentation, I used Adobe InDesign to create a newspaper-like layout to display my images. On InDesign I created a 4-columned layout to organise my photos in a way where they could all be seen, but emphasising the establishing shots so they were most out-standing to the viewer. Essentially, these photos are the ones I wanted to catch the viewers eye with the most, and I think having other smaller images surrounding them helped create a successful dynamic with an overall interesting aesthetic.

Variation 1:

The first thing I did was create my columns in order to layout my photos successfully. I also chose where I wanted to place my title before adding any images because I believe it is the most important element on the page spread, as it tells the viewer what they’re looking at and shows my intentions.

Next, I added in my establishing shots before any smaller images because they introduce the scenes and set up a point of view.

After this, I added in my best smaller images that link to my establishing ones, but not too much. I did this because I wanted to create an intriguing contrast between the two, showing a range of textures and abstract photographs throughout the landscapes topic.

Finally, I added placeholder text into my text box, to give me an idea of how my completed page spread will look when I have wrote my own text. Additionally, I changed my font for my title as I didn’t think the first font suited the aesthetic of my images.

Variation 2:

For my second experimentation, I first changed my top right photo into monochrome like the rest of the images on the display. This was a better decision as it helps give the overall page spread an overall theme of history, as well as showing the different textures within all the images to add to the old aesthetic.

I added another text box for additional writing and details of my photos. I think this is useful as it allows me to go into more depth with my images, which will ultimately give the viewer a clearer idea of my aim. I also changed my top left photo into monochrome like the rest of the images on the display. This was a better decision as it helps give the display an overall theme of history, as well as showing the different textures within all the images to add to the old aesthetic.

Variation 3:

This is my final variation for this page spread specifically. I like the layout of this version as it includes more text than the previous experiments, which can give a more detailed description of my work and what I am trying to achieve for future references. However, I believe the layout is very top-heavy as it includes both of my establishing shots at the top of the page. This could be a problem due to the viewers eye being drawn to the top of the picture story only, which is defeating the rest of the page spread.

Variation 4:

This is my last variation for this experiment, and I added a black box instead of my background to see if it would add more character into the page spread. Although I think this looks appealing due to the pop of colour, I had to change the colour of some of the text to white so it was still visible, however I do think this looks successful because it helps bring out the white tones in some of the images which help bring the outcome together. Finally, I added a drop shadow to my title to emphasise it against the images.

Evaluation:

Overall, I believe all 4 variations of my page spread are unique and successful in different ways. Such as the layout on each one outstands a different image, which allows me to choose which image looks best as the most eye-catching one. I also liked how I could experiment with the background of each one

My favourite variation of this experiment was number 3. This is because I had a beneficent balance of images and text, and I think the background compliments my image and completes the overall aesthetic of history. Despite my picture story being very top-heavy due to my establishing shots both being at the top, I believe this gives the smaller images a chance to also stand out as they are all the same size.

My least favourite variation of my page spread is my number 4. This is because I played with a different background compared to the others, and I feel it stands out too much and takes away from the text and the images.

Mood Board:

I chose these 6 images for my mood board because I feel I can use the most inspiration from them compared to the rest of the ones I looked at, as well as them easily standing out. Despite them all being very different to one another, I feel they are all equally as successful as they incorporate different moods throughout due to the different colours and shades that are used. Within this mood board there is a large variety of colour, space, texture and the amount of text on them, which I will review closely so I can decide on how I want to approach these elements.

My favourite picture story on this mood board is the top middle one, because it has more space than the others. I like this because it doesn’t give the aesthetic of it being too crowded, which can often happen if too many photos are used. By spacing the images out, this helps the viewers eye wonder throughout all the images separately, as the space differentiates the photos. One of my favourite factors within this picture story is the large image on the right that takes up a whole A4 page. This caught my eye as it immediately told me that this was the main shot of the page spread, and it implies that the photographer was emphasising that this was the most important image. Finally, I like how this image is the only one with a border, which again helps it stands out against the other images as well as the white background

“Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), a French photographer who is considered to be one of the fathers of photojournalism and masters of candid photography. He sought to capture the ‘everyday’ in his photographs and took great interest in recording human activity. He wrote,

“For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”

The Decisive Moment, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s influential publication, is widely considered to be one of the most important photobooks of the twentieth century. Pioneering for its emphasis on the photograph itself as a unique narrative form, The Decisive Moment was described by Robert Capa as “a Bible for photographers.” Originally titled Images à la Sauvette (“images on the run”) in the French, the book was published in English with a new title, The Decisive Moment, which unintentionally imposed the motto which would define Cartier-Bresson’s work. The exhibition details how the decisions made by the collaborators in this major project—including Cartier-Bresson, French art publisher Tériade, American publisher Simon & Schuster, and Henri Matisse, who designed the book’s cover—have shaped our understanding of Cartier-Bresson’s photographs.

The Decisive Moment, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s influential publication, is widely considered to be one of the most important photobooks of the twentieth century. Pioneering for its emphasis on the photograph itself as a unique narrative form, The Decisive Moment was described by Robert Capa as “a Bible for photographers.” Originally titled Images à la Sauvette (“images on the run”) in the French, the book was published in English with a new title, The Decisive Moment, which unintentionally imposed the motto which would define Cartier-Bresson’s work. The exhibition details how the decisions made by the collaborators in this major project—including Cartier-Bresson, French art publisher Tériade, American publisher Simon & Schuster, and Henri Matisse, who designed the book’s cover—have shaped our understanding of Cartier-Bresson’s photographs.

Here the decisive moment is described:

“If a photograph is to communicate its subject in all its intensity, the relationship of form must be rigorously established. Photography implies the recognition of a rhythm in the world of real things. What the eye does is to find and focus on the particular subject within the mass of reality… In a photograph, composition is the result of a simultaneous coalition, the organic coordination of elements seen by the eye. One does not add composition as though it were an afterthought superimposed on the basic subject material, since it is impossible to separate content from form.”

Image analysis:

This image taken by Cartier-Bresson is composed as a dejected image with a clear subject of a person. I believe that this image is successful as it focuses on a natural, common everyday scene, which draws the viewer in forcing us to question why the photo was taken and which message is the artist trying to get across. From a first glance I can gather that Bresson is presenting a mood of sorrow, which is also inferred through the black and white filter and the use of a puddle also adds to the melancholy. This is because the puddle reflects the man in the foreground’s shadow, which essentially exaggerates his loneliness. Similarly, there is also a man in the background who is also by himself and looks as if he is looking at nothing, implying he is deep within his thoughts. In addition to this, the size of the puddle could also suggest misery as it implies that it has been raining, which we can rightfully associate with sadness. Another effective element in the image is the ladder as it is lying down and not standing up, which shows that there has clearly been a storm, perhaps suggesting people should not be outside.

In addition to this, the way Bresson has taken the photo is practical because a slow shutter speed has been used, giving the image a candid effect. This is an important technique in street photography as it tells us that the subjects behaviours are not changing for the purpose of the image. This helps the outcome look more realistic and believable for the viewer, which makes us feel sympathetic towards the subject. I like how the background is in focus, as we can assume that Bresson’s attention was drawn to the background rather than the foreground.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities. On its own or combined with other technologies, AI can perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence or intervention. As the hype around AI has accelerated, vendors have been scrambling to promote how their products and services use it. Often, what they refer to as AI is simply a component of the technology, such as machine learning. AI requires a foundation of specialized hardware and software for writing and training machine learning algorithms.  general, AI systems work by ingesting large amounts of labeled training data, analyzing the data for correlations and patterns, and using these patterns to make predictions about future states. In this way, a chatbot that is fed examples of text can learn to generate lifelike exchanges with people, or an image recognition tool can learn to identify and describe objects in images by reviewing millions of examples. New, rapidly improving generative AI techniques can create realistic text, images, music and other media.

AI programming focuses on cognitive skills that include the following:

• Learning. This aspect of AI programming focuses on acquiring data and creating rules for how to turn it into actionable information.
• Reasoning. This aspect of AI programming focuses on choosing the right algorithm to reach a desired outcome.
• Self-correction. This aspect of AI programming is designed to continually fine-tune algorithms and ensure they provide the most accurate results possible.
• Creativity. This aspect of AIuses neural networks, rules-based systems, statistical methods and other AI techniques to generate new images, new text, new music and new ideas.

AI is important for its potential to change how we live, work and play. It has been effectively used in business to automate tasks done by humans, including customer service work, lead generation, fraud detection and quality control. In a number of areas, AI can perform tasks much better than humans. Particularly when it comes to repetitive, detail-oriented tasks. AI tools often complete jobs quickly and with relatively few errors. Because of the massive data sets it can process, AI can also give enterprises insights into their operations they might not have been aware of. The rapidly expanding population of generative AI tools will be important in fields ranging from education and marketing, to product design.

Advantages of AI:

• Good at detail-oriented jobs. AI has proven to be just as good, if not better than doctors at diagnosing certain cancers.
• Reduced time for data-heavy tasks. AI is widely used in data-heavy industries, including banking and securities, pharma and insurance, to reduce the time it takes to analyse big data sets.
• Saves labour and increases productivity. An example here is the use of warehouse automation, which grew during the pandemic and is expected to increase with the integration of AI and machine learning.
• Delivers consistent results. The best AI translation tools deliver high levels of consistency, offering even small businesses the ability to reach customers in their native language.
• Can improve customer satisfaction through personalization. AI can personalize content, messaging, ads, recommendations and websites to individual customers.
• AI-powered virtual agents are always available. AI programs do not need to sleep or take breaks, providing 24/7 service.

Disadvantages of AI:

• Expensive.
• Requires deep technical expertise.
• Limited supply of qualified workers to build AI tools.
• Reflects the biases of its training data, at scale.
• Lack of ability to generalize from one task to another.
• Eliminates human jobs, increasing unemployment rates.

My experimentation with AI:

Past:

I chose these objects to add into my experimentation of the past because they provided the first means of fast travel. This sped up migration, trade, and communication between cultures. I also added a black and white filter as it is known to make people feel nostalgic.

Present:

My reasoning for adding a man on his phone is because today’s society has brought technology into every aspect of our life, and has changed the way we behave and operate. In the background I placed another two people with shopping bags to add to the modernized affect.

Future:

For the future I added robots because in the last 10 years we have seen a significant increase in advanced technology, with many businesses beginning to replace humans with robots.

My virtual Gallery:

Step 1: Adding my past image

Step 2: Adding my present image

Step 3: Adding my future image and a drop shadow to each frame to give a 3D effect, which adds a sense of realism.

To display my final images, I laid them in a virtual gallery in chronological order so it is easy to interpret the differences between them.

Ruscha’s work:

My work:

Ruscha’s work in photography includes a large photoshoot of old petrol stations, with lots of empty space surrounding it. This is due to him mainly photographing Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. My photographs contrast to this because many of the petrol stations in Jersey are significantly smaller than ones in America, leaving less empty space surrounding them. A similarity between mine and Ruscha’s outcomes is the angle in which the image is taken. Both of us take our photos from a deadpan angle, which allows the whole setting to be shown in the image, I also like this angle because gives the image an overall sense of simplicity, without over complicating which elements to include in the shot. It seems as though Ruscha takes his photographs on a main road to get everything in the shot, I also tried this approach because I wanted to be able to do the same.

Outcome 1:

Outcome 2: comparison

Outcome 3: Comparison

Outcome 4: Comparison

Outcome 5:

For my first image, I adjusted the temperature to exaggerate the different shades within it. I knew this would be useful as all of my images are going to be in black and white, so by doing this I am preventing my outcomes from looking bland and lifeless. I also increased the exposure to add more brightness into the photo, and the contrast to extenuate the lights and the darks. I also increased the texture in all of my images as it adds a grainy affect, which is significant for me because it helps my images take on a more historic effect.

For my second image I decided to decrease the exposure rather than increase. I did this because the lighting when I took the original photo was very bright, which took away from the features in it. By decreasing the exposure I was able to bring out the main subject rather than the background. However, I increased the highlights as it was able to bring some life back into the photo, while also helping create a bigger contrast. Again, I increased the dehaze to bring out all of the different textures in the image. Finally, I decreased the blacks as this also helps exaggerate a contrast between the different tones, which linked back to my artist inspiration.

For this image, I decreased the temperature rather than increasing, this is because it helped exaggerate the black and white rather than decrease the overall mood. By doing this, my photo was able to fit in perfectly with the rest of them as originally it naturally had a brighter aesthetic. I decreased the whites because it made the image look over-exposed, and increased the texture and clarity to match my other outcomes too.

Similarly to my last image, this photo was originally over-exposed. Therefore, I decreased the exposure to neutralize the different shades. By increasing the highlights, shadows and whites I could create a natural looking contrast, which helped my main subject easily become more eye-catching to the viewer. In this image I kept the temperature and tint neutral because I did not want to change the colours in the image too much.

In my fifth image, I decreased the temperature because this image had a wider variety of different colours compared to my other image. This way, I was able to bring down those colours to help this image fit in with the others. I slightly increased the exposure but not too much because there was a lot more sky incorporated in this photo than the others. Although, I increased the highlights because it created a successful contrast between the white building in the background and the dark roof of the petrol station.

This is the last image I edited, and I increased the temperature by a significant amount because originally this image had minimal colour and appeared more dull than the others. There was very little contrast throughout the image before editing, therefore I increased the highlights, shadows and texture to bring some life into the outcome. Also by increasing the dehaze, it helped add a more ancient feel to the outcome, as well as showing resemblance between my outcome and my artist inspiration’s.

Extra edits:

Station 1:

Station 2:

Station 3:

Station 4:

Station 5:

Station 6:

These are the 6 different petrol stations I visited. I chose to photograph 6 different petrol stations around the island because my plan is to put them into a typology. I feel that this will be successful as typologies display a range of different images that link to the same topic. I selected my best photo of each station so I can compare the similarities and differences, as well as being able to make my final pieces in the project interesting for the viewer, as they display a strong contrast.