Origin of Photography –

The potential of photography is to be able to convert the ordinary to the extraordinary.

In this essay I will go over the history of Photography. From its creation to its conceptual developments such as Framing and the decisive moment, key aspects in capturing an image. With Photography having such a diverse use to document, tell a story or just be able to capture something seen everyday so well-camouflaged into everyday life, it can be revitalised through a creatively composed photograph.

Camera Obscura & Pinhole Photography –

Even before the development of photography, the idea had existed much longer. Dating back through numerous periods such as the Ancient Greeks, the Romanticism era and Ancient China. Within these periods, ideas around the concept of photography, such as with Aristole or the Chinese philosopher, Mo-tzu (or Mozi) in 400BC all centred around the natural Phenomenon, Camera Obscura. Created through the projection of light into a small lens or opening into a dark box or room, the narrow source of light, projects the outdoor image upside down within the dark chamber. The practice of this has been used for years, becoming more confined and developed until it was implemented into the physical mechanisms of photography we have in modern times. Examples of its usage before Cameras can be seen with famous painters Canaletto and Rembrandt. These artists used this to help achieve the incredible detail they have within their works of a reflected reality.

(Illustrated demonstration from the 1800s of how the phenomena occurs).

(Modern day re-creation of the phenomenon).

Nicephore Niepce & Heliography –

Photography’s origins, unlike other subjects, are highly debated to an exact date of time. Estimated to have began in the early 19th century. The oldest surviving photo dating back to 1826 or 1827, was made by Nicéphore Niépce.

(View from the Window at Le Gras – Nicéphore Niépce, 1826 – 1827).

Taken in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France, this was a heliographic image. Experimenting since 1811, Niépce’s aim was to create a photo-etched printing technique.

Having experimented before with acid-resistant Bitumen of Judea, which he had used in etching, he saw that it hardened with exposure to a light source. In experiments to create the printing technique he used zinc, copper and silver surfaced copper as well as pewter and limestone. As a result he found that when the surface was exposed the. Most light resisted was in the dissolution in oil of lavender and petroleum. Here the shadow areas could then treated also through acid etching a print the image in black ink. 11 years after this development he then produced the first light-resistant heliographic copy of an engraving. Without the use of a lens, he placed the print in contact with a light-sensitive plate. Through developments and experimentation with these pewters plates, he would find that due to their reflective surface this made his image more clearly visible.

Calotypes and Daguerreotypes –

Henry Fox Talbot, (1800 – 1877)

In 1839, The proper development of photography began with 2 processes. Henry Fox Talbot, an English Scientist, developed the first, and published his invention. By fixing images through the action of light and silver chloride coated on paper, the process of how this Produced a ‘Negative’, was revolutionary. by using a brief exposure of light, over a short period of time these would then darken and become a ‘negative’ image due to their reversed areas of light. From this ‘developing’ process, a ‘developing out’ process was also used to converse these latent images into a clear image through an additional use of chemicals on paper. from this method, negative images could be used as a template to then create prints, which then could be made numerously. From this invention he would name it Calotypes.

(Example made by Henry Fox Talbot)

Louis Daguerre, 1787 – 1851)

The second type, based upon Nicéphore Niépce’s work using heliography, created by Louis Daguerre used iodine-sensitized silvered plate and mercury vapour. Naming it after himself, he called this ‘The Daguerreotype’. Within this method, it created an interesting effect as through the process of making the photo, its appearance looked more like a 3D effect unlike the flat texture paper effect of Talbots Calotype. Despite the interesting process of the Daguerreotype, Talbots would ultimately be the more popular method due to its simplicity of processing images. Through Talbert’s work, the functioning of his system would soon become even more simplified and as a result the development of the film camera would be made.

(Examples of the daguerreotype photos)

Richard Maddox –

Richard Maddox, 1816 – 1902

In England, 1871, Dr Richard Maddox, a physician suggested that sensitising chemicals, calcium bromide and silver nitrate, should be coated on a glass plate in gelatin. From this suggestion, Charles Bennett, made the first gelatin dry plates for sale, soon after the emulsion of these chemicals could then be placed onto celluloid roll film.

These lightweight, gelatin negative plates revolutionised photography at the time. Through a commercial market these dry plates bought off a shelf, saved photographers from having to prepare their own emulsions in a dark room, instead these didn’t have to developed straight away and could be stored for later development. His work also would later go onto the construction of small enough, hand-held cameras.

(An example of the smaller hand-held cameras Maddox’s work would go onto create).

George Eastman –

George Eastman, 1843 – 1932

Born in New York, Eastman was an American entrepreneur and inventor who developed the first Kodak Camera. In the lead up to this his contributions can be seen beginning in 1880 when he perfected the process of making dry plates for photography, a process first made by Richard Maddox. Operating in London, he manufactured these dry plates from a factory and established the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company. Applying the perfected process of the dry plates onto film, Eastman was able to make the first ‘Kodak’, which in 1888 he placed on the market.

In 1889, George Eastman and his company made their largest contribution to Photography with the introduction of roll film. Produced on a transparent base, this has since remained standard for film.

The Kodak Brownie –

With Kodak’s developments with photography one of their most important inventions, ‘The Brownie’, created to take images easily and quickly, allowed for amateurs within photography take their own ‘snapshots’. Due to the nature of photography being quite costly it was useful reserved for those of a higher class, however this let the middle class into the art too. Invented in 1900, its marketing was highly popular and saw their ownership on a massive scale.

(“Clearing Winter storm, Yosemite National Park” – Ansel Adams, 1937).

With famous photographers such as Ansel Adman’s using Brownies, their impact on the world of photography had shown they had made their mark.

From to Digital photography –

With Film photography, being used throughout the whole 20th century through George Eastmans invention of film rolls. The modern era of photography came about in 1975, with Steve Sasson’s invention of the first self-contained digital camera for Kodak. With this invention, it began another revolution in the world of photography. Using a 32 x 32 metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, which was modified with an Mos dynamic RAM memory chip, Sasson was able to build his invention.

(Side by side image of a film photograph vs ‘film-less’ digital image taken on Sasson’s camera).

From this point onward the development of photography has since grown rapidly, to its compaction into everyday life nowadays in mobile phones.

Jersey’s significance on the history of photography –

Thomas Sutton, 1819 – 1875

Sutton, a renowned figure not only in his local story but also his story in photography is most known for being the first photographer to take a coloured photograph. Establishing a studio in St Brelade in 1848 here he worked alongside another photographer, Frenchman L.D. Blanquart-Evrard were they had a printing establishment. In 1850 this studio was advertised as “founded at the suggestion of, and patronised by, H R H Prince Albert” who was known to be a keen collector of photographs. Suttons work of notoriety can be seen with his early experimental contributions to the patenting of a panoramic lens. His main contribution to photography however, was being the first photographer to take a coloured photograph. Under James clerk Maxwells pioneering work of creating colour photography, through a multi-coloured ribbon and a blue, red and green filter (similar to a computers RGB’s), this allowed Sutton to take the photograph in colour.

(The First permanent colour photograph, taken by Thomas Sutton in 1881, using the method produced by James Clerk Maxwell).

Further edits:

Due to snapseed not being supported on PC, I made some further edits to substitute in my zine. Using some original images from the snapseed edits, I edited them this time in greyscale to match the aesthetic of my black and white zine.

Edited images:

Mainly using saturation, I played around with the surrounding settings to create a deeply detailed set of images, with black and white being able to show a lot of details through tone I aimed to highlight these within these photographs.

Edited on the mobile app, Snapseed, these photographs taken today show a summary of daily life within Jerseys Maritime hub, St Helier Harbour. Using filters I have produced, a created a few sets of images from our second trip down to the harbour. Mainly using saturation, grain and texture setting’s this is how I created these images.

Edit set 1:

Visiting St Helier’s Rowing Club, in the former lifeboat building, we met one of the rowers who posed for our photoshoot.

Edit set 2:

Checking out the fisheries section of the harbour we came across a fisherman and his dogs.

Edit set 3:

Edit set 4:

Using the old harbour stairs, I was able to get some more close-up shots of docked ships. Moving onto the marina’s they offered some interesting angles for some photos. Also visiting parts of the harbours industrial sector this created a working atmosphere to my photographs.

Edit set 5:

Seeing a friend of mine, I asked if I could get some snap shots of him working. Removing Buoys used for the air show, this created an interesting narrative for my photographs.

Edit set 6:

Whilst in the fisheries section, I was able to get a photographic story of the process of selling fish product: from storage to selecting to selling I find that these images stand out in telling a story.

Before:

Editing:

Lowering the saturation and increasing the texture, clarity and dehaze, this helped add more of a dramatic effect to the image. By making the image darker it allows for more attention to be brought craftsmanship of the statue.

After:

As a result I am happy with how this turned out, with relation to the topic of harbours this image fits well due it featuring a statue dedicated to Jersey’s Fishermen, Wearing a Jersey Jumper and outside the Jersey Museum here it signifies there importance.

Before:

With these 2 images, taken in the same timeframe and location I decided to edit them in a set.

Editing:

Like in the previous image I made these images grey through removing the saturation. Using similar settings as before I made some slight differences with the use of temperature.

After:

Taken together, I find that these images work well together in there set. In relation to the theme of the harbour, the characters present, Bryan Nibs, the former captain and the tour guide tell a story within this context.

Before:

Editing:

Sticking to the aesthetic of black and white images, I continued with this image, Adding more depth through texture, clarity and dehazing, this allowed for more detail to come pop out in its greyscale appearance.

Cropping the image, this allows for more of a focus on the main focal point of the image. In my opinion this lessened the clutter in the original composition and made the 2 subjects appear closer to the camera.

After:

Overall, I am happy with the outcome, with the difference between subjects such as hair colour and posture, to me this makes for an interesting image.

Before:

Editing:

Using the tone curve I inverted each corner till I was able to create an image negative of my original photograph. By adjusting some of the settings this created an interesting effect.

After:

Through my research into the origins of photography, the appearance of negative images always gave a cool impression to me, through Lightroom I was able to recreate this effect.

Before:

Editing:

Since I found that this image was already taken well, I only used some slight editing to improve upon some parts of it. Since I found it was a little to bright I lowered that with the dehaze tool.

After:

Overall I am quite happy with the outcome of this image, to me it resembles a lot about Brian Nibs and Jerseys harbour.

Before:

Editing:

Using quite a bit of editing, I aimed to make the textures of the image and make them stand out more. By lowering the shadow and highlights and increasing the rest, this to me made the image stand out more.

After:

Overall I like this image, as the grey shadow conflicts with the lighter tones coming from below.

Before:

Editing:

Using mainly shadows, as well as the white and black, my aim was to make this image stand out with its natural colours.

After:

I like how this image came out as the framing and composition really help make the image good.

Before:

Editing:

Trying to make a vintage digital camera aesthetic, I used both tone and presence settings to make this image look older, adding grain this further added to the older look.

After:

As a result I think this came out really well, to the style I was trying to achieve.

Before:

Editing:

Highlighting the mans fluorescent coverall’s, I aimed to make them look lighter in the image.

Adding a gradient filter, this helped tone the upper part of the image and creating more of a focus on the man working.

With these editing settings, as well as a vignette this allowed me to darken the images corners some more to bring out the detail of the image.

After:

Overall, I’m happy with this outcome as I like the colours and texture of this image.

Photoshoot 1 –

Green coloured:

These photos are rated 4 – 5 on the star rating, and are flagged: This means that they fit the aesthetic of my desired outcome and suitable for editing.

Yellow coloured:

These images are taken well but lack the correct amount of exposure, need to be cropped, re-adjusted with their angles or contain unwanted obstacles.

Red coloured:

These images did not fit the aesthetic because they where either blurry, poorly taken or did not fit the concept I was basing my photoshoot off.

Photoshoot 2 –

Due to amount of photos taken, I rated the next photoshoot on flag ratings of what I found usable. In a rating of around 3 – 5 These images where marked white, For those that I found couldn’t be used they marked black in a rating of 1 – 2.

Good quality = 3 – 5

Bad quality = 1 – 2

White –

Black –

1700 –

Illustrated in 1790 This showed the first example of development of a Harbour in St Helier. Built in 1700, the French and English Harbour (the 2 buildings highlighted in red) are older than any harbour on the Island. These served as the only port for Jersey’s larger ships until construction began of the North pier in 1790 to 1821.

Here shows a map of the harbour in 1834, The North pier is now present opposite the French Harbour. Later expanded upon in 1887 to 97 this became the New North Quay as seen today.

To improve the Harbours capacity, development of a new pier from 1847 to 1853 began. Named after the Prince Consort, Albert, this was announced on his second royal visit in 1859. Later on, Victoria pier, named after the current monarch at the time, was constructed from around 1841 to 1846.

Photos of the Piers reconstruction in the 1930’s:

As Jersey’s population increases, many inhabitants, cramped on this small island hold the desire for travel. As a result, in recent years, plans have been put forward to redevelop the aging Elizabeth Terminal.

As shown in the image above, this shows the plans in mind to facilitate creating a safeguard of the Islands supply chain, increase in capacity of handling future freight requirements, and overall, improving travel capability for Jersey.

– 2024

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

Since Canada’s discovery from around 1497, Europeans from early years, had their Fishermen drawn to the continents’ local seas full of fish. By the early 16th-century 10,000 European Fishermen made the Transatlantic voyage to fish in the area for cod.

Amongst these Fishermen where sailors from the Channel Islands, who by the 1750s, had set up lucrative trade routes between Europe, Canada and America. Although Jersey folk did not necessarily fish themselves some did. The majority that where involved in the Canadian Cod industry, where merchants, trading all across the globe from areas such as in central America, North Africa and Europe. Through this process, Jersey was able to gain a lot of wealth through the trade deals made with Cod for other commodities such as coffee, sugar, wines and spirits. Imported into Jersey and then re-exported free of tax this made it quite a popular location for the international markets. With wood such a Mahogany imported this benefited Jersey’s shipbuilding industry which in turn fuelled the Cod trade with more ships to obtain these items.

Which ports did Jersey ships sail to and trade with?

Voyaging from coasts such as Gaspé, here was where they salted and prepare the cod for trade and travel. All year round Fishermen could travel and fish, seas held plentiful amount of fish, nearer the coast proved harder for other fisherman but Channel Islanders experience with coastal fishing made use of their skills. Other ports included that on the Newfoundland, South America and others. Main ports which ships travelled to during their trades consisted of Bristol, London, Liverpool. Trading through both English and French ports in the Newfoundland, Jersey peoples native tongue and adoption of English benefitted them massively due to how similar they sounded. Using it also to discuss trade deals this allowed them to judge if they felt they where being scammed or not.

Charles Robin

1743 – 1824

Charles Robin, a Jersey Merchant , is one of many Channel Islanders who sailed to the Gaspé Coast as well as the grounds of Cape Breton Island.

Within his life he became the Island’s leading merchant and biggest exporter on the Gaspé Coast. Forming the family firm Robin, pipon and Co in 1765, they established links with Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and the British colony of Newfoundland. In the exchanging of control from French to British in the Newfoundland’s, Robin was sent to Seaflowerto to establish potential trading on the coast south of the St Lawrence river, which when under French control used to been the territory of St Malo merchants. Here, Robin discovered some of the best fishing grounds in the Atlantic were across the banks of the St Lawrence River by the mouth of the Gaspé Coast.

On the gravelly beaches of the banks, this proved perfect for the drying process of the Cod collected by fishermen. In the following year robin returned and established a dock within a lagoon which ships could safely anchor within. From this point onwards, Robins lucrative industry began thriving. Trading with America, Britain and many other countries this generated a lot of wealth for Robin. However due to fluctuations in the need for Cod life at the Gaspe was exactly perfect. Wars would occasionally cause trading difficulties, with the British-American war of 1812 – 1814 for example, this forced him to close for a couple of years. Annoyances such as ship seizures by privateers, lost valuable cargos and attacks from French ships caused Robin to suffer some difficulties. However being a resourceful man, during Britain’s war against France, he made his men disguise them selves as French soldiers. Speaking Jersey’s dialect of French he could deter any questionings by French warships. Due to fears of losing his men for pressures of joining into naval service, he avoided British ports, sailing to Portugal and Jersey, he recruited more workers from the Les Quennevais area. Bringing in carpenters and shipwrights this allowed him to construct his own vessels and develop his industry further and have ships docked in both Jersey and at the Gaspe. Settling back home in Jersey, Robin left the Gaspe for last time in 1802, however still ran operations. Even after his death his firm continued on in his legacy.

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

Throughout the Transatlantic carrying trade, Jersey Merchants received, by French and English fishermen, dried and salted cod. Providing economic benefit to Jersey, these allowed for much larger exchanges to ports in the Americas. Through these trades, Jersey folk received commodities, exotic in comparison to the food on the island. Islanders could now enjoy items such as rum from the Caribbean, molasses in the West Indies, coffee from countries in Africa, wine from brazil and mahogany from Honduras.

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)?

Although beneficial to Jersey’s economy at the time, these commodities received through trades in the cod industry were provided of the backs of slaves within the Americas. Goods such as mahogany were obtained through trade as a result of the Slave Trade. Harvested in Honduras through the work of forced slave workers, this wood was crafted into items such as furniture for Jersey’s richer islanders to purchase from trading merchants involved in the slave trade. Furthermore, with the importing of Mahogany into Jersey, this wood was provided to be used within Jersey’s ship building industry. With ship construction across numerous building yards In Jersey, these ships were made and sold to more traders and merchants involved in the trades. Slave traders from Britain, using purchased ships built in Jersey, would use these throughout the slave trade.

Ships from Jersey such as the ‘Neptune of Jersey’ delivered 165 enslaved people to the West Indies In May of 1762. The ship ‘Hope’ built in Jersey, 1747, departed from Bristol in 1759, to pick up 230 enslaved people, here they then disembarked 199 enslaved people in Jamaica. These are only 2 examples of numerous accounts taken of Jersey’s involvement with the slave worker.

Image 1:

Before –

Editing:

Adding a filter from the app Snapseed, I lowered the saturation and temperature to add an aged Hue to the image, Altering the highlights, I aimed to make my facial features stand out more.

Adding grain to the image, this further helped add to the desired aesthetic of a grained image.

After –

Image 2:

Before:

Editing:

In attempts to make this vintage image look more modern, I tried to bring out the colours more to seem more plausible to be taken from a modern camera/phone.

brightening up the image allowed for a more natural skin tone, compared to the over-saturation which has come from the camera at the time. By also adjusting the ambiance, this created a more realistic impression of warmth of the image, since the image was taken on a sunny day.

After –

Combining the works –

To make these edits more interesting I’ve taken an abstract approach to my images by merging with a cut-out pattern within each of them.

Doing vertical lines on the image of myself and horizontal on the ones of my dad It created a really interesting composition of a checkered design where both subjects (me and my dad) are visible in their pictures.

By lowering the opacity of the image of my Dad, this was how I created that subtle fade.

Image 3:

Before –

Editing:

Using the editing settings shown, I did this in order to the bright cracks due to aging of the original photograph.

Furthermore I added a blur to image surrounding my Dads head, this was intentionally done as for my images final outcome I wanted to create an interesting effect which would become apparent when finished.

After –

Image 4:

Editing:

For this image, I had already altered it previously by converting it into greyscale, for it to work for my final project I cropped the image down and added the blur affect like my previous edit.

After –

Combining the works –

Cutting the first image in half, this allowed for me to line up the second image, with the blur effect surrounding both of our heads, this created an interesting effect, as due to the majority of the image being blurred it forces them to focus on the faces.

As a result this is what turned out.

Image 5:

Before –

Editing:

Firstly, I cropped this image to make the composition smaller and focused on what would be added to it later. With to much room I felt this would takeaway from what the outcome would look like.

Using the following settings, I altered this image to make it greyscale, but also to make parts of the clothing I was wearing stand out more once converted. To do so I mainly lowered the shadows, and increased the brightness and contrast to what suited it best.

Adding grain to the image, this took inspiration from my artist reference, John Stezaker. The aim was to create the effect of a vintage photograph which is usually the subject of his work.

After –

Image 6:

Before –

Editing:

For the second edit of the image set, I applied the same edit settings as the previous image.

After –

Image 6:

Before –

Editing:

Using a pre-set style from ski seed, This allowed the image to have that old-digital camera look which was what I hoped to create.

adding another vignette, this helped made the image look more realistic for when i added it to the final outcome.

After –

Image 6:

Before –

Editing:

Using the same settings as the previous image, I liked how this image came out, To me it really does replicate that early 2000’s camera style.

After –

Combining the works –

With Stezaker work, some of his images within images contain a ripped paper effect as if a post card has been glued on. To replicate this I found a stock image and copied the effect.

Using the Object select tool, I was able to cutout the stock image.

Combining this with the edited image, I added a drop shadow to make it seem as if the edited image looked like it wasn’t properly stuck down to the paper.

After merging the 2 I then adjusted the image to how make it seem more naturally placed like how Stezaker had done with his work.

As a result this is what turned out.

Combining the works –

Like the image before I repeated the process of cutting out the paper to have that postcard effect.

Again, adding a drop shadow, and merging the imported image and paper this then allowed me to place it in the desired place for my final outcome.

As a final result it turned out like this.

Final Image outcomes:

Here are my Final outcomes of my St Malo Page spreads.

Physical outcomes:

Printed out physically, I have mounted them on foam board for display.