Mirrors photoshoot Bill Henson inspired:

Bill Henson is an influential Australian photographer known for his evocative and atmospheric images that often explore themes of youth, identity, and the passage of time. His work typically features moody, dreamlike compositions with a distinctive use of light and shadow, creating a sense of intimacy and emotional depth. Henson often incorporates elements of the surreal and the sublime, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. His subjects frequently include young people in ambiguous settings, prompting viewers to reflect on the complexities of adolescence and the human experience.

Bill Henson’s images can also be analysed through the lens of the male gaze (which refers to the way visual arts are often constructed from a masculine perspective, objectifying women and presenting them for male pleasure). In Henson’s work, the representation of young subjects, particularly adolescents, often invites scrutiny regarding their portrayal. While his images are celebrated for their beauty and emotional depth, they can also evoke discomfort due to their sexualised undertones and the ambiguity of the relationships depicted. The focus on youth and vulnerability may reinforce traditional gender dynamics, prompting questions about power, agency, and the viewer’s role in interpreting these images. However, Henson’s approach also complicates the male gaze by imbuing his subjects with a sense of complexity and introspection, often portraying them in contemplative, ambiguous situations. This can challenge viewers to reflect on their own perceptions and assumptions, rather than simply consuming the images in a passive manner. Thus, while his work may engage with the male gaze, it simultaneously subverts and critiques it, inviting a deeper examination of the relationships between artist, subject, and audience.

photoshoot Plan:

For this photoshoot, we decided to go into the studio, turn off the main lights and decided to rely on the smaller dim lights to get a darker, moody tone to our images as seen in Bill Henson’s images. The model also wore revealing clothes eg a skirt as the girls depicted in his images often wore short dresses. This helped to bring a sense of vulnerability to our images. We then experimented with different complex, abstract positions such as laying over a chair etc and different angles eg a Birds Eye view, straight on etc. We decided to keep the models face covered for the majority of the images to convey the idea of male gaze in which men tend to objectify women and look at them as objects instead of real people. By having her face covered, you are more drawn to her body which represents the idea of the male gaze.

we also wanted to incorporate the idea of a distorted reality by taking some images of the model lying on top of a chair. Then, once we had the images uploaded onto the computer we then used photoshop to remove the chair in order to give the effect of the person floating. I did this by using the remove tool. However, due to the white floor in the studio, it ruined the idea as in Bill’s images it looks like they’re in the middle of the air but in our you can still see the cut between the floor and background, destroying the illusion of floatation.

Once I had removed the stool legs from the image, I then wanted to try and fix the floor issue. So, I went onto google and looked for images of fairy lights with a background. I did this as in his images, you can see small dots of light around the model. When I had found an image, I then copied and pasted it into photoshop and dragged into on top of my original image. Next, I used the eraser tool to get rid of the part of the image which was covering up the girl behind. I then used the blur tool to try and make the contrast between the two images move smoother but it still looks quite obvious. If I were to do this photoshoot again, I would try and get a black floor instead of white so that it actually looks like she’s floating and have fairy lights already in the image instead of transporting a photograph from google which then makes it look clearly edited. I think this was a good first experimentation but has a lot of improvements to be made.

These are my final attempts of recreating his original idea.

For these next images, I decided to experiment with my own ideas. I wanted to add an image into the mirror seen beside the model so I searched up empty dark streets on google and picked an image which I thought linked to the aesthetic of Bill Hensons images. I then copied and pasted it into photoshop and put it in a layer below the mirror layer. I then used the eraser tool once again and made a hole in the mirror so that the bottom layer would show through it. Finally, I wanted to make the line between the two layers more smoother so used the blend tool to do this. I then experimented with turning the top layer black and white to add further to creepy vibe of the image. Overall, I like how this experimentation came out although it doesn’t directly link to any of Bill’s pieces.

In these last four images, you can see yellow and black tape in the background. I didn’t like this as it was distracting and took the focus away from the model. If I were to improve these images, I would get rid of yellow lines in background.

Improvement:

Here, I decided to go back to this photoshoot and corrected this by using the remove tool on photoshop. This got rid of the black and yellow line and made the background all one colour which means the attention is now on the model only.

Windows photoshoot

These are 3 examples of window images that I have taken. They show the exterior world and are objective and real. I took the photograph without making any adjustments to the landscapes; they’re all natural.

1. Read two texts above (John Szarkowski’s introduction and review by Jed Pearl) and select 2 quotes form each that is relevant to your essay.

John Szarkowski quotes: “reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it” and “the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality”.

Jed Pearl quotes: “potential toward either self-expression or exploration in the unique sensibility of each photographer” and “a photograph is not a window; it is a mirror”.

1. Select two images, one that represent a mirror and another that represents a window as examples to use in your essay.

1. Use some of the key words that you listed above to describe what the mirrors and windows suggest.

Window: documentary, objective, realism, candid, public, straight, optical, views.

Mirror: tableaux, subjective, romanticism, fiction, staged, personal, reflective, manipulated.

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.

The origins of photography can be first seen through the lens of the camera obscura. This was where a small hole was made in a dark room allowing the light from outside to travel through it which then produced an upside down image of the outside world onto the wall opposite the hole. This then lead to further ways of developing photographs onto surfaces. The first example of this is the daguerreotype, invented by Louis Daguerre. This process allowed for images seen inside the camera obscura to be preserved as an object. In this process, a highly detailed image is produced on a sheet of copper with a thin layer of silver. This process is very delicate, and the sheet of copper and layer of silver must be cleaned before you start the process and must look like a mirror. The daguerreotype produces positives meaning it is a one off and cannot be copied. I think that the daguerreotype can be perceived as both window and mirror due to its documentative style and personal relation to Louis Daguerre. This is because the images often capture a variety of different people from a different period of time where this was the only way of making images into an object. So in a sense, the images are a document of how images used to be produced. On the other hand, the daguerreotype is also a mirror as the people seen on these images had personal relations to Louis. This means his images are giving people a personal insight into his life and his family/ friends, which is a key concept of mirror photography. Similarly, the images could be seen as subjective as the viewer has to try and figure out how the person in the image is related to Louis. Additionally, in the images of his family members/ friends, they are staged as they are purposefully posing for the picture. Therefore it can be seen more as a mirror image than window image which are typically naturalistic. Shortly after the Daguerreotype, the calotype was invented by Henry Fox Talbot. In this process, the sheet of paper needs to be iodised by applying solutions of silver nitrate and potassium iodide under candlelight. The same surface needs to be sensitised using a “Gallo-nitrate of silver” solution. Lastly, the piece of paper needs to be dried and loaded onto the camera obscura. This type of photography produced negatives (which means copies can be made). Calotypes made by Henry often depict photographs of windows there meaning that his images are window instead of mirror as it is not manipulated in any way and is a way of exploring the exterior world instead of things personal to him.

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.

This image by Cindy Sherman is a mirror image. In the image, you can see a stereotypically attractive woman in the right side of the image who is glammed up and put together. However, on the other side of the image you can see pots, pans, dishes etc which implies the woman is in a kitchen. This feeds into the stereotypes at the time where woman were ‘destined’ to be housewives and to cook and clean for men. Szarkowski stated in his book about mirrors and windows that a mirror is “reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it”. This relates to Cindy’s image as she explores what it was like at the time to be a woman in society as she was. She shows a clear contrast to how women want to be perceived and treated though the use of makeup, clothes and hair compared to how men actually view them (as merely servants) through the use of objects and environment the woman is placed in. Jed Pearl also states a similar thing about mirror images saying its a “potential toward either self-expression or exploration in the unique sensibility of each photographer” in which Cindy clearly displays self-expression as she reveals her opinions and thoughts on how women are viewed at the time. Additionally, this image clearly takes a staged approach as Cindy Sherman deliberately chose the environment in which the model is in (a kitchen) and the pose of the model. The idea that her head is facing away from the pans and dishes could be Cindy Sherman’s way of rejecting societies perception of what a woman is and trying to separate the idea of women being seen as workers rather than real people.

Similarly, this image made by Shirin Neshat is also a mirror image with a similar concept behind it. In this photograph, you can see a woman with a hijab and a riffle going up the middle of her face. To me, this could be highly provocative to the country in which she is from and ones with similar morals. This is because in these countries eg Iraq, women are often seen as inferior to men and weak so it will come as a shock to see a women from that sort of place pictured with a riffle in front of her, implying she now has equal power to men. However, this piece could also be referring to the stereotypes society has on Muslim people. By having a riffle up to her face, it combines the idea of people associating Muslims with terrorism and how harmful these connotations can be to innocent people. This evidently shows how subjective the image is as it can be interpreted in multiple ways therefore meaning it is a mirror image. Similarly to the other image by Cindy Sherman, this image was evidently staged in a way to cause a reaction in the person that views it (which is another feature of a mirror image).

Paragraph 2 (250 words): Choose an image that in your view is a window and analyse how it is an objective expression rooted in a sense 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.

This image by Ansel Adams is an example of a window image. His work serves as a window into the natural world, revealing the beauty and majesty of landscapes which are untouched by humankind. This is a window image as its objective and a display of reality rather than something that has been manipulated (which you would typically see in a mirror image). There is no trace of humankind or any specific objects that might link the artist to this image; it’s simply showing off the beautiful scenery. This therefore supports John Szarkowski’s idea that a window image is where “the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality”, as Ansel Adams has just captured what he’s seen in-front of him without altering anything or adding anything which would connect himself to the images. However, Jed Pearl opposes this idea by suggesting that “a photograph is not a window; it is a mirror”. This can also be seen in Ansel Adams image as there is clearly a specific reason he choses to photograph the landscapes he does; suggesting there’s a personal relationship between his images and himself, therefore making his images potentially mirror images instead of window as they give the viewer an insight into his passions and thoughts. For example, Ansel Adams photographs these natural, scenic places in order to bring awareness to how these beautiful places exist and we could actually see them with our own eye but due to our constant expansion and destruction of nature as a species, these places are going to become non-existent if we carry on at the rate we are. Therefore, the images he takes actually have a more personal meaning than what is initially thought. 

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.

In conclusion, I believe that an image can be both a mirror and a window contrary to John Szarkowski’s theory where he suggested that a photograph is either a mirror or a window. This can be seen in his book on window and mirror images where he described mirror images as “reflecting portrait of the artist who made it” and “a romantic expression of the photographer’s sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world”. Whereas he described window images as a way “one might better know the world” and “through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality”. John Szarkowski believes that artists find themselves somewhere along a “continuous axis” from romantic to realist. In contrast, Jed Perl critiques Szarkowski’s thesis by stating ‘Szarkowski is fond of creating categories’ at the start of his review, suggesting he doesn’t agree. He goes onto say that a photograph is not just a transparent window but rather a mirror that reflects the photographer’s own perspective, emotions, and interpretations. Perl argues that photographs are inherently subjective and can distort reality, inviting viewers to consider the personal context behind the image rather than seeing it as a straightforward representation of the world. This clearly shows Jed doesn’t agree with the idea that an image is either a mirror or window. Instead, he believes that the two can exist simultaneously in the same image.

The images I chose to illustrate the idea window and mirror images have a lot of similarities and differences, the main difference being one is a window image and the other a mirror image. However, depending on the way you interpret the images, this can be proven to be false. This is because Ansel Adam’s image of the mountains could be seen as a mirror instead of window as he has a personal interest in photographing these places, making the image a reflection of his passions as a person rather than a photograph just exploring the exterior world. This highlights to me that idea that a photograph can be both a mirror and window image, depending on how one interpreted it. Another similarity between these two images is that they are both in black and white. However, Ansel Adams dramatizes the different shades of grey in his images to create a romanticised image. Another difference between the two images is that the mirror images made by Cindy Sherman and Shirin Neshat are subjective whereas Ansel Adams images are objective. This is because his images just consist of different landscapes. This leaves no/ minimal room for interpretation from the viewer. On the other hand, the mirror images can be interpreted in many ways. For example, some people may view Cindy Sherman’s images as her displaying the ‘perfect wife’ (attractive and doing the dishes) whereas others may interpret as her bringing awareness to the ridiculous standards set for women in society. Overall, although the two images are majorly different at the first look, as you look closer and understand the image more, you find there are more similarities between the two than you would expect. This may explain why John Szarkowski suggested that an image is either a window or mirror as he hadn’t properly inspected each image first and figured out how close they actually are to each other. 

What is the difference between photographs that are mirrors and windows?

A mirror photograph reflects a portrait of the artist who made it. Its a “romantic expression of the photographers sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of the world”. Some words that are associated with mirror photographs are: subjective and naturalistic. In mirror images, the artist expresses themselves and focuses on exploring themselves as a person rather than the exterior world (as seen in windows).

On the other hand, window photography is where an artist explores the exterior world through photography in all its “presence and reality”. These images help those who are looking at it to understand the world further.

Szarkowski pointed out that most people and photographs will not fall perfectly into one of these sides but fall somewhere in between

Key words associated with mirrors and windows

MIRRORS: tableaux, subjective, romanticism, fiction, staged, personal, reflective, manipulated.

WINDOWS: documentary, objective, realism, candid, public, straight, optical, views.

Examples

A photographer who has produced both documentary (window) work and deeply personal work (mirror) is Nan Goldin. Goldin’s work is a reflection and document of her own life from the 1980s. The journey that is documented takes the viewer through key events in history but seen through the eyes of Goldin. The window part of her work has grown over years and now we can see the documentary side of the work and the extra historical meaning related to the work. However at the time when the work was being shown as slideshows within nightclubs in the 1980s, all people saw was the mirror at the photographs projecting Nan Goldin’s love and feelings towards the subjects. Goldin even named one of her exhibitions “I’ll be your mirror”, a retrospective of Goldin’s work to date held in 1996. Goldin has taken self portraits during an abusive relationship and of friends/ lovers, which is clear evidence of a mirror photograph.

The photography of the window has been taken to the extreme by photographers such as William Eggleston. Eggleston is a photographer that takes pictures of the world as he sees it, without any context or explanation. The pictures are deadpan and snapshots. Unlike Goldin, who took pictures for herself first and foremost. He photographs without a hierarchy within his photographs. There is not a part or subject of the picture that is more important than the other. There is no narrative to the works, Eggleston presses the shutter and moves on. The photographs form a straight document of the subject, almost scientific in nature. 

Although this image appears to be a window image at first as it just looks like a photograph of the exterior world, as you look closer, you can see there is a line going down the centre of the image. This line could be from a football pitch or from grass that has been rundown due to people walking over it. In reality, the artist Richard Long purposefully created the line by walking on that piece of grass. Therefore, this image could be seen as a mirror image too as its a reflection of his art style.

This image is a window image as it appears the photographer has simply opened up his fridge and photographed it how it was (no manipulation made to the setup of the foods). Therefore, this is more of a documentative image, meaning the image is more of a window image rather than mirror.

This image is also a window image as it it exploring the exterior world with no manipulation to the setting. However, you could argue that there is a sense of mirror photography in this image as Ansel Adams (the photographer of this piece) chose to take this picture for some reason. This may suggest he has a personal reason for choosing this place therefore giving a bit of insight into him as a person.

Overall, I like how my zine turned out. I thought the contrast between the only images pages and writing pages made it more enjoyable to look at and made it look more finished than if there were to have been blank spaces. I like how I conveyed the idea of the Harbour throughout time, going from only black and white images to ending up with fully coloured, vibrant pictures. Additionally, I found it interesting experimenting with different background designs and adding different shapes and layouts. I kept my writing font consistent throughout as to make it look seamless. However, one improvement I would make to my zine is by adding some images of people to it as my images are mainly just boats and wide angle shots. I think this would’ve been an interesting concept and created a better mixture of images in my zine instead of having them all look quite similar. Also, next time I would like to try and create a zine where there’s letter writing and different backgrounds so you can really focus on the images rather than the presentation.

Virtual gallery:

To create this zine, I first created a page with specific things. For example, a width of 148 mm, height of 210mm, 16 pages, 2 columns with a gutter of 5mm. Then for margins, I selected 10mm for each subcategory. Finally, I made a bleed of 3mm. Once I had this blank page created, I then created a box using the rectangle frame tool. I then chose an image to put in the box which would go on my first page. I decided to use a Jersey Archive photograph as the idea of my zine is the harbour through time so I wanted to start with the oldest image I had. I decided to make this image fill up almost the whole page as it is the title page. To do this, I made the box I created initially larger then right clicked the middle of the photograph and selected fit frame proportionally. I then added a boarder to this image and made the background a grey colour to make the colour scheme of the image. Finally, I added a title to the top of the page. I decided to call it ‘St Helier Harbour through time’. Finally, I experimented with different fonts. I ultimately decided on ‘Modern No. 20’.

For my first double page, I decided to create 4 boxes where I would input 4 of my landscape images from my harbour photoshoot. At first, I made the images a bit smaller and left a lot of room for text but as I added the text I realised that I wanted to show more of the images rather than text as it looked cluttered. In the end, I made the images of the right side longer and cut down on the amount of text I had. Next, I added boarders around my images and created a background using a rectangle shape then changing the colour of the shapes to make them grey like the images. Finally, I added a drop shadow to the shapes in order to give my page some more depth.

The next page I decided to make more simpler as the last page was very full of text. So, I made one big box covering both sides of the page then added one of my landscape photographs. I then finished up this page by adding a boarder to the image and using the rectangle shape tool to create more shapes in the background (adding a drop shadow to these too).

On this page, I made two boxes, one filling up each page. I then added portrait images I had taken. This time, I decided to use the circle shape tool instead to create some contrast in my backgrounds. I layered these on top of each other, making the smaller circles darker. Finally, I made a boarder around the two images.

On this next page, I decided to add some text as I hadn’t in a while and wanted to experiment more with my layout. However, this time I decided to make one page just filled with one big image to ensure it wouldn’t look messy. On the right page. I created two rectangular boxes in the corner of each side. Then, I added text into the empty space which talked about the history of St Helier Harbour. Once I had added boarders to the images, I then used the rectangle shape tool once again to make rectangles going horizontally across the page, making each rectangle smaller and darker. Finally I added drop shadows to each of the rectangles.

This next page changed drastically to what I originally had planned. Initially, I intended to add a whole page of writing on the right page but ultimately decided against it as it was becoming overwhelming with text. So, I instead decided to use some more images from the Jersey archives such as maps and old pictures of Jersey Harbour. Also, I had first added a background of the sea but then decided to change it for just plain shapes as the vast amount of pictures and texture in the sea made it look clutter and not nice to look at.

Similarly to earlier, for this page I just added two big images to either side of the page. However, this time I made the images go right to the end of the page with no boarders on the pictures. I felt this helped to create a contrast between the writing pages previously.

In this next page, I wanted to experiment further with my layout and so I decided to create a polaroid like shape around one of my images then added a text box below it. Finally, I added rectangles going down the pages and added a boarder to the left image.

When I first added images to my zine, I put this one in but as I went through again, I decided to delete this page as I felt the image didn’t fit in with the colour scheme of the other images as the others were very blue and vibrant but this one was more dull and brown and looked out of place. This also meant I had 20 pages instead of 22 which was required for printing.

Again, this page consisted of two big images on either side. I then elevated the page by adding shapes in the background.

For my final double page, I decided to fill it up completely with one image that covered it entirely.

Finally, to finish off my zine, I added a grey background to the final page which matched the colour of the background in the first page of the zine to give it a seamless effect. I did this by adding to rectangle shapes to my blank page then using the pipette tool to get the exact colour as seen on the first page.

A zine is a self-published, often handmade magazine that features a collection of photographs, typically focused on a specific theme or concept. Zines can vary widely in style, format, and distribution, allowing photographers to express their artistic vision outside traditional publishing routes. They often include accompanying text, such as essays or poetry, and are created in small runs, making them accessible and personal. The DIY nature of zines fosters creativity and experimentation, encouraging photographers to engage directly with their audience.

Zine: A tool that photographers can use to tell a visual story, to inform an audience about a specific topic or issue, to showcase and advertise a new idea or simply create a preview of an ongoing project. Zines were originally called fanzines, alluding to the fans who made them.

Once you have considered the points made between the differences in narrative and story and thought about what story you want to tell about St Helier Harbour and the images that that you have made in response, consider the following:

A story can be linear or complex, with sub-plots, twists and turns, etc. A story usually answers the question “What’s going on?” or “What are the main events?” On the other hand, a narrative encompasses the entire narrative work, including the story itself, as well as the way it is told, structured and formatted.

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words
• A sentence
• A paragraph

Harbour throughout time

My pictures will tells a story of St Helier harbour throughout time going from the older harbour to the newer one.

The story my images will try to convey is the idea of how St Helier harbour and Jersey in general has grown and expanded. From back in the day where Jersey only consisted of one small harbour to now days where we have a newer, bigger, modern harbour. My pictures will also show how Jersey has expanded in landmass as my images show where once was sea is now land/ buildings.

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

• Images > New St Helier Harbour photographs
• Archives > Old photographs of St Helier Harbour from SJ photo-archive or JEP Photographic Archive
• Texts > Write a short introduction or statement about your picture story, image captions
• Typography > creative uses of words, letters, font-types, sizes

I will convey this idea of time by using images I took of the older harbour and the modern harbour. Additionally, I will add filters over my images to enhance the idea of aging. For example, some of my images will be black and white like they would’ve been back in the day. On the other hand, some of my images will be in full colour (with some of the colours in the images enhanced to emphasise the point of how colour in photography has changed and grown). Finally, some of my images will be mainly black and white and then have one object in colour. I decided to do this in order to represent the time where colour slowly got introduced into photography.

I will also use these image from the JEP photographic archive which shows the old harbour and maps of it.

Add a selection of your final 10-16 images as a moodboard/ gallery to the blog post too, including any archive material too:

These are the images I am going to use in my zine. I decided to create my zine around the idea of time. For example, the first 6 images in my zine are black and white. This is representative of the olden days where images had no colour. Next, I decided to add some colour splash images to convey the idea of colour slowing being introduced to the photography world. Finally, the last set of images in my zine are coloured. This represents the present day. The use of different colouring throughout my zine almost acts as a timeline going from when images were only black and white to now when they are full of colour.

For this photoshoot, I went to the maritime museum and the old harbour. I first took images inside the museum. Next, I took images around the harbour. I took images of the boats, rubbish, fish and other things I saw whilst walking. I then exported these photos onto Lightroom and began narrowing down my images. I began with 457 and ended up with 34. I did this by assigning each image with either a white or black flag depending on whether I wanted to use it or not. Next, I gave all my images with a white flag a rating out of 5. Finally, I gave the final images I wanted to use a green colour.

Once I had narrowed down my images, I then began editing them on Lightroom. I started off with simple edits such as adjusting the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, black, texture and clarity.

I like how this photoshoot came out as I managed to explore the older harbour more than I did in the previous photoshoot. Additionally, I like this photoshoot more as it wasn’t as cloudy. This made my images more vibrant and enjoyable to look at. However, one problem I occurred when editing my photos is that in some images there are black dots in the sky due to the camera being dirty. However, I managed to fix this in my later images by opening them up on photoshop and using the remove tool in order to get rid of them.

Edits

Similarly with my previous photoshoot, I also edited these images by adding a sepia colour on top of them or by turning them black and white in order to portray the idea of oldness and how a photo of the harbour would’ve looked like years ago.

Finally, I decided to do a colour splash on a few images from this photoshoot too as I felt it worked well with the previous one. I think these came out well due to me enhancing the colour on photoshop which I didn’t do on my previous photoshoot. This helped to make the contrast between the object(s) and background even more clearer.

For this photoshoot, I went to St Helier harbour in order to take pictures of the old and new harbour. I captured the harbour from a variety of angles and obtained landscape and portrait images (in order to get variation in my work). Once I had taken all my photographs, I then uploaded them to Lightroom. Here, I narrowed down my images. Initially, I had 494 images. I then used different techniques to narrow down this. Firstly, I gave each image a white flag (if I wanted to use it) or a black flag (if I didn’t want to use it). Next, I gave each of my images with a white flag a rating out of 5 (5 being the best and 1 being the worst). Lastly, I assigned the photos with 3 stars+ a colour (green= going to use and edit. Red= not going to use). This left me with 31 images.

In order to edit these images, I used the different tools on Lightroom. I adjusted the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, texture and clarity. I decided to create a darker tone/ feel to the images by using a lower exposure etc as I felt it fit with the weather at the time (cloudy).

Overall, I like how this photoshoot came out as I managed to successfully capture the contrast between the new harbour and old harbour, with the new one looking a lot more modern and filled with more futuristic boats. I also like the clarity of all my images and how I captured many boats but also boats by themselves. However, one thing I didn’t like about this photoshoot is that because the sky was cloudy when I was taking pictures, it makes the sky look quite dull and empty and the colour of the images less interesting and vibrant.

Edits:

Next, I decided to experiment with my images by adding different filters on top of them. For example, I turned some of my images black and white and other with a sepia tone. I did this as I thought it made the images of the harbour taken now look old and like it would’ve looked like back in the day. I found it interesting how a once modern photograph could look vintage and old simply by putting a filter on it (despite there still being modern objects in the image).

For these next images, I decided to add a colour splash effect to some of my images. I did this by opening up photoshop and using the object selection tool in order to create a cut out of a certain object in my image. Once I had this cut out, I then right clicked on it and pressed layer via copy. Final, I pressed on my background layer and pressed adjustments and black and white in order to take the colour out of my images.

Overall, I like how these experiments came out as I got to experiment with the effect of colour on time (eg making it a sepia tone makes it look like it was taken ages ago). I also like the effect of the colour splash on my images as it draws attention to a certain object/ objects

Camera obscura and pinhole photography

A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture (the pinhole). Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, which is known as the camera obscura effect. The size of the images depends on the distance between the object and the pinhole.

A camera obscura is a dark room with a small hole in one wall. When it’s bright outside, light enters through the hole and projects an upside down image of the outside world onto the wall opposite the hole. This was before 1839 (which is when photography was thought to be invented). Its appears upside down as light travels in straight lines.

A simple camera obscura can be made with a box that contains an opening on one side where light can pass through. When light passes through the opening, an image is then reproduced upside down on an opposite surface.

Nicephore Niepce and Heliography 

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor and one of the earliest pioneers of photography. Niépce developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world’s oldest surviving products of a photographic process. In 1826, Niépce used his heliography process to capture the first photograph, but his pioneering work was soon to be overshadowed by the invention of the daguerreotype.

Heliography is an early photographic process producing a photoengraving on a metal plate coated with an asphalt preparation. Nicéphore Niépce began experiments with the aim of achieving a photo-etched printmaking technique in 1811. To make the heliograph, Niépce dissolved light-sensitive bitumen in oil of lavender and applied a thin coating over a polished pewter plate. He inserted the plate into a camera obscura and positioned it near a window in his second-story workroom.

By 1822 he had made the first light-resistant heliographic copy of an engraving, made without a lens by placing the print in contact with the light-sensitive plate. In 1826 he increasingly used pewter plates because their reflective surface made the image more clearly visible.

Louis Daguerre and Daguerreotype 

Louis-Jacques-Mandé 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. The daguerreotype process made it possible to capture the image seen inside a camera obscura and preserve it as an object. It was the first practical photographic process and ushered in a new age of pictorial possibility.

After Niépce’s death, Daguerre alone kept on researching how to take images and invented the daguerreotype, a photographic process which was easier to put into practice, since exposure times were only of a few minutes. The daguerreotype knew a huge success and made Daguerre world famous.

The Boulevard du Temple photograph of 1838 is an image of a Parisian streetscape and one of the earliest surviving daguerreotype plates produced by Louis Daguerre. Although the image seems to be of a deserted street, it is widely considered to be the first photograph to include an image of a human.

The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. Named after the inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, each daguerreotype is a unique image on a silvered copper plate. In contrast to photographic paper, a daguerreotype is not flexible and is rather heavy. The daguerreotype is accurate, detailed and sharp. It has a mirror-like surface and is very fragile. 

To make the image, a daguerreotypist polished a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish; treated it with fumes that made its surface light-sensitive; exposed it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary, which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting; made the resulting latent image on it visible by fuming it with mercury vapor; removed its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment; rinsed and dried it; and then sealed the easily marred result behind glass in a protective enclosure. This process produced positives (which means it’s a one off and copies can’t be created).

Henry Fox Talbot  and Calotype

William Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. In 1834 he discovered how to make and fix images through the action of light and chemistry on paper. These ‘negatives’ could be used to make multiple prints and this process revolutionised image making.

Calotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low contrast details and textures.

The original negative and positive process invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, the calotype is sometimes called a “Talbotype.” This process uses a paper negative to make a print with a softer, less sharp image than the daguerreotype, but because a negative is produced, it is possible to make multiple copies. The image is contained in the fabric of the paper rather than on the surface, so the paper fibers tend to show through on the prints. The process was superceded in the 1850s by the collodion glass negative. Because of Talbot’s patent rights, relatively few calotypes were made in the United States.

In this technique, a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride was exposed to light in a camera obscura; those areas hit by light became dark in tone, yielding a negative image.

Similarities between daguerreotype and calotype:

1. -Both black and white
2. -Both have links to romanticism (ie capturing loved ones in a photograph)
3. -Both involve photographs being fixed onto a surface (eg metal or salt paper)
4. -Both were invented in 1839 (they came out at similar times due to competition

Differences:

1. -One is produced on salt paper whereas the other is on metal 
2. -The calotype process first produced a photographic ‘negative’ in the camera, from which many ‘positive’ calotype prints could be made, whereas daguerreotypes were a one-off image.

Robert Cornelius & self-portraiture

Robert Cornelius was an American photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. His daguerreotype self-portrait taken in 1839 is generally accepted as the first known photographic portrait of a person taken in the United States, and a very important achievement for self-portraiture. He operated some of the earliest photography studios in the United States between 1840 and 1842 and implemented innovative techniques to significantly reduce the exposure time required for portraits.

Robert Cornelius figured out how to take the first ever selfie by setting up a camera on legs, removing the lens cap, and running into the frame before quickly clamping the lens cap back on. By doing so, he captured a self-portrait of himself, which is considered the first ever selfie.

Julia Margaret Cameron & Pictorialism

Julia Margaret Cameron was 48 when she received her first camera, a gift from her daughter and son-in-law. When Cameron took up photography, it involved hard physical work using potentially hazardous materials. The wooden camera was large and cumbersome. She used the most common process at the time, producing albumen prints from wet collodion glass negatives. The process required a glass plate to be coated with photosensitive chemicals in a darkroom and exposed in the camera when still damp. The glass negative was then returned to the darkroom to be developed, washed and varnished. Prints were made by placing the negative directly on to sensitised photographic paper and exposing it to sunlight. Each step of the process offered room for mistakes: the fragile glass plate had to be perfectly clean to start with and kept free from dust throughout; it needed to be evenly coated and submerged at various stages; the chemical solutions had to be correctly and freshly prepared.

Within a month of receiving her camera, she made the photograph that she called her ‘first success’, a portrait of Annie Philpot, the daughter of a family staying in the Isle of Wight where Cameron lived. 

From her ‘first success’ she moved on quickly to photographing family and friends. These early portraits reveal how she experimented with soft focus, dramatic lighting and close-up compositions, features that would become her signature style. However, she was criticised against because she included imperfections in her photographs – eg streaks, swirls and even fingerprints – that other photographers would have rejected as technical flaws.

Pictorialism is an approach to photography that emphasises beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.

Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visite 

Henry Mullins was the most prolific of the first generation of Jersey photographers in the mid-nineteenth century. He produced thousands of portraits of islanders between 1848 and 1873 at his highly successful studio in the prime location of the Royal Square, St Helier. As a commercial photographer he consistently embraced the rapid technical progress that ran in parallel with his career. While numerous photographic studios opened across the town of St Helier in the 1850s and 1860s, Henry Mullins continued to be the photographer of choice for leading members of Jersey society and successful local and immigrant families. 

A carte de visite is a photograph mounted on a piece of card the size of a formal visiting card. The format was patented by the French photographer Andre Adolphe Eugene Disdéri in 1854. Most professional portrait photographers of the 1850s took either daguerreotypes or collodion positives.