What are the differences between photographs that are Windows and Mirrors ?
Personal visions take one of two forms. In metaphorical terms, the photograph is seen either as a mirror – a romantic expression of the photographers sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world; or as a window – through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality. This was showcased in the Museum of Modern Art by John Szarkowski whose work largely reflected the subjectivity of the artist.
The distance between them is to be measured not in terms of the relative force or originally of their work, but in terms of their conceptions of what a photograph is; is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world.
– John Szarkowski
This suggests that every image is either a Mirror or a Window and looks into different areas of peoples life’s, or looks into the outside world.
Windows – objective, documentary, realism, candid, public, external, truthful.
Binary Opposites
Mirrors Windows
Studio Street
Inside outside
Subject object
Chosen Image
This is my chosen image, it is a field where a person has worn in a path from the amount of times they have walked it. I have chosen this image because it has elements of both Mirrors and Windows, it looks at the outside world in reality but also peers into someone’s life and why this particular path might of been important or why they continue to walk the same path. This has elements of being a Window because its a realistic image and its external it looks outside the life of a person and their home. This image could also be seen as a Mirror because it does reflect on the persons life in a way. It suggests what was important about this image and why they chose to take this photo.
This is the template for my zine and where the images that I have chosen will go. I’m going to have some of the images on full pages and some that are going to have a blank page of the other side.
This is my first page of the zine and it shows that the zine is about his life and what he did as a harbour master and throughout his life as a captain.
This is one of the full page layouts and I have extended the image to the edge of the page so that there is no white border around the image.
These two images contrast really well against each other because its the one big boat contrasted against the three boats. It compares them as one being in great detail and the other picture shows the three boats in not as much detail.
This is my final layout for my zine and it starts with similar images at the beginning and at the end to show the start and end of his life as captain and a harbour master.
Texts > Write a short introduction or statement about your picture story, image captions
Typography > creative uses of words, letters, font-types, sizes
3 words
Documentation, history, Harbour
A Sentence
The photos that I have used document Brian Nibb’s life as a captain.
Paragraph
This zine is a documentation of Brian Nibb’s life as a captain and his life as a harbour master. It showcases images of the harbour and portraits of him. I kept images that were similar together like the images that have a lot of light in them to give the zine some structure. I used a couple of photos as double page spreads to break up the use of small photos on single pages and to make the zine more interesting.
Plan
My plan is to have a portrait picture of Brian Nibbs on the front of the zine and then an empty picture of the alley on the back of the zine and then I’m going to put some double page spreads in the zine of the harbour and one double page spread of an old captains log book in the middle of the zine which makes it look like a book, but also gives some history about captains life’s as sailors.
I think this image is really strong and the writing acts as leading lines to the middle of the book. The shadows on the side of the image contrasts against the bright white pages.
The lighting in this image is very strong and highlights the writing on the letter box. The contrast between the dark brown box and the coloured writing gives the image more dimension.
I love this image and I think that it is one of my strongest images. The shape of the window being circular gives contrast against the square shape of the sea and the harsh lines of the boat.
Evaluation
Overall I think the images I have picked are all very strong and different in their own ways and they all encapsulate the maritime history.
I think this image is one of my best images as the red doors and windows act as leading lines for the focal point which is the back wall. The way that the alley is lined up also makes this image much better because everything is lined up perfectly.
This is one of my best images because of the size decreasing in the boats, it starts of with the biggest boat and then they get smaller which gives great contrast to the image. The contrast between the dark stormy sky and the white boats also makes the image more interesting and appealing to look at.
This image is also strong but its not one of the best images. I like it because it captures every angle of the harbour but also includes the buildings in the background which adds more to the image.
I think this image is strong because of the leading lines of the white floor tiles that lead to the steam clock. The shapes and lines from the tiles also contrast against the clock and give the image more depth. The contrast between the stormy sky and the clock gives the image a dramatic appearance.
I think this is also a really strong image and it brings more presence into the image of Captain Nibbs.
Evaluation
I think the images I have taken are very strong and each one of them is different. All of the images are interesting and eye catching and the angles that I have taken the photos at make them look more intriguing.
What was the involvement of Jersey mariners in the Canadian cod-fisheries and the Transatlantic carrying trade?
It was said that the waters in New found land were some of the best waters to fish in for the cod that they wanted to sell across the world, this drew fishermen to the north of the continent and around 1600 English fishing captains still reported shoals. By the beginning of the 16th century Basque fishermen were travelling to the region to fish and by 1580 around 10,000 European fishermen were making the transatlantic voyage to the area each year to fish.
Which ports did Jersey ships sail to and trade with?
The harbour at St Helier was concentrated around La Folie in the English and French harbours. At low waters there was a landing stage at La Collette, to which passengers were ferried in small boats and picked up by waiting carriages and horse drawn omnibuses.
A concerted effort to build harbours did not take off until the late 17th century, when work began on building a pier on the islet on which St Aubin’s fort stands. During the 18th century St Aubin’s harbour proper was constructed and work began on developing St Helier as a port, although the capital had to wait until the 19th century before it really began to develop as a port.
It was during the early 19th century that stone piers were built at La Rocque, Bouley Bay, Rozel and Gorey, to accommodate the oyster boats. The harbour at Gorey also took passenger traffic from Normandy.
What type of goods did Jersey merchants exchange for cod-fish?
They exchanged things like rum and tobacco and sugar, molasses and plantation goods with the cod that they caught. They exchanged their cod with places in the Mediterranean such as Portugal and Spain. They also traded with the West Indies, Honduras and Brazil, where they traded things such as Mahogony and coffee
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)?
The move of Jersey’s allegiance from the Dukes of Normandy to the Kings of England became formalised with the Treaty of Paris in 1259, under which the English Crown gave up its claim to France, other than Gascony. In 1294 England lost Gascony to France leaving the Channel Islands as the only remaining “French” possession of the English Crown.
Photography turns the ordinary into the extraordinary by what’s in the background of the image or the people that are inside the image itself. Original photography was based on the shadows that photographers saw in the surroundings that they were in. The term “fixing the shadows” was a chemical combination used in the final steps of processing an image onto paper, which stabilised or “fixed” the image, neutralising its sensitivity to light.
Camera Obscura
The Camera Obscura is an optical phenomenon that’s totally natural. It’s where the room has to be completely dark and then there is a small rectangle where the light can come through and then over time the image will be displayed in the room where you want the phenomenon to happen.
Camera Obscuras have been around for thousands of years and they started with artists using blank boxes and projecting an image on to a piece of paper or a piece of metal. The Camera Obscura can be presented inverted (upside down), or reversed (left to right).
Nicephore Niepce
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor and one of the earliest pioneers of photography. He developed heliography, a technique he used to create the worlds oldest surviving products of a photographic process. He used a primitive camera to produce the oldest surviving photograph of a real-world scene.
Louis Daguerre
Louis Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognised for his invention of the Daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography, however he is mostly known for his contribution to photography. He was also an accomplished painter, scenic designer, and a developer of the diorama theatre.
Daguerreotype
The image was printed on to a metal plate which meant the image was just lying on top of the plate which made these daguerreotypes very delicate and easily damaged. With the image being on metal and then having a glass plate put over the top of the metal he said that it was like the person in the photo was “on the edge of being present”. The daguerreotype was very expensive to make and took ages to produce one, this meant that they were not mass produced and they were very valuable and precious.
Henry Fox Talbot
Henry Fox Talbot couldn’t draw so he couldn’t make real life things he saw into 3D drawings, which led to him inventing the Camera Obscura so he could see the things he wanted to draw. His idea was to use paper negatives where the image would sink in to the paper and he could mass produce them and ship more of them out.
Richard Maddox
Richard Maddox was an English photographer and physician who invented lightweight gelatin negative dry plates for photography in 1871. He was known for photo micrography which is photographing minute organisms under the microscope. When he realised his health was at risk with the ‘wet’ collodion’s ether vapor, he came up with a new substitute with the sensitising chemicals cadmium bromide and silver nitrate and that they should be coated on a glass plate In gelatin.
George Eastman
George Eastman was an American Entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experimentation in photography he patented and sold a roll film camera, making amateur photography accessible to the general public for the first time. Working as the treasurer and later president of Kodak, he oversaw the expansion of the company and the film industry.
Film/print Photography
Film/Print Photography is where the images are printed from a film in a camera. It shows how accurate and intricate the images taken on a film camera can be and is really rewarding to see how the photos develop from the film.
Digital Photography
Digital Photography is a process that uses an electronic device ( a digital camera ) to capture an image. Instead of film, it uses an electronic digital sensor to translate light into electrical signals. In the camera the signals are stored as tiny bits of data in bitmaps, tiny bits of data that form the image.
The Rohingya crisis is about the ethnic minority group The Rohingya who have been denied citizenship in Myanmar and faced decades of persecution. Currently nearly one million Rohingya refugees reside in neighbouring Bangladesh’s district. They are living in highly congested camps which makes them prone to bad weather crisis’s, insecurity and disease along with not having access to basic services such as health, sanitation and education along with many other things.
My response to the exhibition
My Evaluation
This exhibition of photos made me feel incredibly fortunate as children and families are living in congested camps which puts them at risk of catching diseases and illnesses and there are also dangerous weather hazards that they could face where they are living. However the Rohingya have a great sense of community which is something that I value because they stick together and help each other out as a community instead of being an individualist community. The publics response to the photos shows how some people have strong emotions towards the images and other people just walk past and don’t even acknowledge that they are there which shows the importance of these images and by putting them on display in a public area like town they are encouraging people to take notice and take action about the situation that is happening in Bangladesh.
I used the tool to create a box where I then added the photos I wanted to use from my St Malo photoshoot in the areas of the page I wanted them to be. I used photos that link together and tried to use photos that were different kinds of shots like establishing shots and observed shots.
I then added a text box to the top right hand corner of the page layout and added a title, I then changed the font of the title to make it fit the way I wanted the page layout to look. After this I added a text box in the spaces I wanted to leave blank and filled them in with text.
I then did the same thing with a different set of images that told a different story and then created a title and filled in the blank spaces with text. I then wanted to get some colour in the background of the page spread so created a box and filled it with the colour I wanted and clicked move to background so the colour was behind the text and the images. I then changed the colour of the text to white so that it stood out more.
With this page layout I added a different set of images and then added a blank box and filled it in with a light green to put in the background of the page to make the writing stand out more.
This is my double page spread and I added two sets of images for each page and added text to both pages. After I added a blue colour box and sent it to the back and then added a red colour box on the other page and sent that to the back as well. I then changed the colour of the text to white to make the writing stand out.
This is another layout of my images showcasing the history of St Malo from the statues and sculptures to the historic buildings and cafes.
Evaluation
I like my final page spreads because they are all different are unique and tell a different story each time. I think that to improve them I would of added my own text about the decisive moment rather than use the prompt text. The page spread with the red and blue boxes in the background is my favourite because it emphasises the writing and the photos a lot clearer.
These picture stories are all related to the Vietnam war and the war in Budapest. These picture stories show a lot of information about these events and describe what happened from these tragic photos.
Types of photos used in picture stories
Establishing Shot
Detail Shot
Relationship Shot
Observed Shot
Environmental Portrait
Formal Shot
Analysis of Picture story
In this photo page spread there are four different photos and you can see that there is a few detail shots which have been taken close up and show clearly what is happening. There is a relationship shot at the bottom right hand corner which shows a man and a woman walking along the street after the war that has just broken out in the street. Most of the photos that have been taken are observed shots and have been captured when no one knew they were being photographed there were no formal shots of anyone in the photos. The establishing shot is the largest photo at the top of the page which shows what is going on in the series of photos.
