I’m going to take photos in my grandads favourite locations when he used to come and visit the island, I’m taking images of the scenery and then taking restaged images using my dad as the subject so re creating images that were taken years ago in the specific locations
Mind Map
This clearly shows where I’m going for my photoshoots and what I’m taking photos of. This is my photoshoot plan for my final piece, I’m going to use images that I’ve taken from my grandads favourite places when he used to visit the island and also re stage images using my dad in the photos. Originally I was going to take photos of still life and change them into black and white but I couldn’t think of a way to link the images together so the idea changed.
The locations I’m going to go
I’m going to go to 5 different locations for this photoshoot St Brelade’s bay, La Mare Vineyard, Gorey Pier, St Ouens bay and Corbierre lighthouse. I’m going to these specific locations because these are the places where my grandad loved the most when he visited and where his favourite places on the island where.
When and Why
I’m going to these locations when the lighting is at dusk when its not dark outside but the sunlight is starting to fade and when the sun is setting to get the light perfect for the shoots I’m trying to achieve. I’m going to these locations because they were the most important to my grandad and they hold memories that are the most powerful to recreate, I’m going to use my dad as the subject for the images to replace the space in the images where my grandad was.
Concept
My concept for the photoshoot is to go to these specific locations but then to also take the restaged images and edit them in photoshop and change the opacity of the images and my dad to show that he was fading away and that he isn’t really there in the images like it was his ghost coming back in the image.
Write a Statement of Intent of 250-500 words that clearly contextualise;
What you want to explore?
Why it matters to you?
How you wish to develop your project?
Which form you wish to present your study (photobook, film, prints etc)
When and where you intend to begin your study?
I want to explore my grandads life and his favourite places in jersey from when he used to come and visit. I’m going to restage the images I have of him in his favourite places and then use my dad to restage the image to recreate the memory. I’m going to 5 different locations that were his favourite when he visited jersey. The places I’m going to go are St Brelades Bay, Gorey Pier, El Ticos, Corbiere lighthouse, La Mare vineyard. This matters to me because these are the places that hold the most memories for me with my grandad and they are the places where he was the happiest when he visited. I’m going to develop my project by taking images of the places I’m going and then also take restaged images with my dad in it, and then choosing the images that capture those important memories the most. I want to create a photobook for my images and I want to put a big picture of one of his favourite places on the front cover of the book, I also want to create some A4 and A3 prints of some of the scenery photos that I take to show some of the development and to just get some of the best images I have made printed for my portfolio. I’m taking images this weekend for all 5 of the photoshoots for the favourite places and then I’m also going to take the restaged images at all 5 different places as well as the images of the actual landscape itself. I want to take the images at these specific locations because they capture the most important times I knew him in my life, but they also capture some of the important times in his life that he spent here with me and my family.
Ansel Adams is a landscape photographer and took most of his images of the environment, usually trees and flowers or picturesque landscapes from the top of mountains and rivers or taking images of these magnificent landscapes looking up from the ground to show the sheer size and enormity of these mountains. His photos are all in black and white and his images are very heavily shadowed which emphasizes the key features of the photos such as the image with the river because the mountain in the background is so heavily shadowed and the river has the sun beams reflecting on it, the river stands out very clearly against the dark shadows making it clearer to see the leading lines of the image.
Why I chose Ansel Adams?
I chose Ansel Adams as my first artist because he photographs the beauty of nature and life. His work looks at high contrast black and white images of the American west specifically showcasing the natural beauty of trees. His tree photographs almost give a new life to the images and show the trees in a different light making them look much more appealing than how they looked before they were edited to be high resolution black and white images.
Ansel Adams Photography
Ansel Adams photography is of lots of living nature such as trees and flowers and the beauty of life which contrasts against my theme for my book which was about one of my grandparents life. I chose to combine these two themes because I wanted to get images of the nature and plants and put them with pictures of my grandads life to show how precious his life was and to celebrate his life. The bright white in this image of a flower shows the purity and preciousness of the flower and almost shows how special and sacred the flower is. The white balance gives the image cold lighting which makes it come across as a very dramatic and striking image and it makes it look like there is a deeper meaning behind the image.
What inspired Ansel Adams ?
Ansel Adams was strongly influenced by Alfred Stieglitz whom he met in 1933 at an American Place gallery in New York City. He was given his first camera at 14 during his first visit to Yosemite national park where he discovered his love for nature and how to show the purity of inanimate objects.
This is Alfred Stieglitz image and it shows the comparison with Ansel Adams image and how similar the lighting and the shadow is with each of the images. The shadows in both images clearly define the features of what is being photographed and show clearly the amount of detail in the image. These two photos are similar as they are both black and white images and they are taken with a very narrow depth of field and they are both very detailed images.
Photoshoot plan
I’m going to take images of flowers up close and then trees from far away. In photoshop I’m going to change the images to black and white and increase the whites in the images to make them appear very clean, pure and positive compared to the dark blacks in the images which makes them come across as very dull and negative.
Artist Study 2 : Mark Power Mood Board
Overview on Mark Powers photography
Mark Power is a documentary photographer and he captures unexpected things on camera and unusual places that might have a significant meaning behind them. His photography also captures people in the images which documents certain events that might of happened or one of his images was a group of people getting out their car at a petrol station, his photography documents unexpected memories and places. His photos are very bright and they have quite a lot of colour in them making them eye catching and interesting to look at, however some of his images are in black and white to give an effect on the time it was taken or what was happening in the time of the photograph, which gives some of the images a dramatic emphasis on what is going on in them.
What kind of photography does Mark Power do?
He made Urban Landscapes and was a documentary photographer. His technical methods changed and he began to use colour film and a large format camera.
What inspired Mark Power?
As a child Mark Power discovered his fathers home made enlarger in the family attic, consisting of an upturned flowerpot, a domestic lightbulb and a simple camera lens. It was at this moment where Mark Forbes discovered his love for photography. However after he went to art college to study life drawing and painting. He was also influenced by documentary photographers such as Walker Evans.
Images like this influenced Mark Power because Walker Evans takes images in unexpected moments but they are almost set up to look a certain way this shows the similarities between Mark Power and Walker Evans style of photography.
Mark Power Image Analysis
The lighting in this image is very bright and vibrant and there is a lot of white in this image which suggests that this is a happy place or memory for someone. The tone of this photo is very light but there is a contrast between the light where there is the shadow at the bottom of the image. The meaning of this image is to show a Landscape image that had significance to Mark Power.
What kind of photos did Mark Power take for his projects?
Mark Power took documentary style images and also took landscape photography. In some of his images he does have a person in the image, which may show significance like that it was an important place for the person in the image.
What was Mark Power’s photography for?
Mark Powers Photography looked at key Landscapes in his book the “The Shipping Forecast” he takes images of points along the coast that had radio signal and wanted to visit all the coasts and get pictures from all of the points.
What were the other opinions on Mark Powers photography?
The Magnum speaks on The Shipping Forecast by Mark Power and says that “nothing now holds the place that the Shipping Forecast did throughout the 20th century”, suggesting that it was a timeless piece of work in the 20th century and that no other artist has lived up to Mark Powers project on the the different radio stations across Europe. “It’s a beautiful, poetic language,” Power says. Now 63, the Magnum photographer first remembers listening to the forecast growing up on a housing estate in Leicester. The soundscapes had a lasting impact on Power which influenced him to create this project and take images that he was fascinated by. The British Journal of Photography says “The book doesn’t take us any closer to an understanding of the forecast, or any sea area. But it is nostalgic and unashamedly romantic” this suggests that the meaning behind the images is deeper than what the image portrays.
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.
