Camera Obscura

Many people believed photography began during 1822, however it actually dates back to over 400BC, where the camera obscura technique was used. Camera obscura is a lightproof box or room with a hole in one side. Light from the sun then reflects off objects outside the camera obscura and passes through the hole, lighting up the surfaces inside the room with an inverted projection of the outside view. Since the renaissance period many Artists would manually trace what they saw, or use the optical image as a basis for solving the problems of perspective and parallax, and deciding colour values. This method became the first way to make an image.

Nicephore Niepce

Thousands of years later a man named Nicéphore Niépce was born. Niépce grew up to be a French inventor and one of the earliest pioneers for photography. Within his lifetime he took the first ever photograph during 1826, he did so using his Heliography technique. Niépce created the heliograph by dissolving light-sensitive bitumen in lavender oil and lightly covering a polished pewter plate with it. He placed the plate next to a window in his second-story workroom and put it into a camera obscura which then created the photo.

Using a thin copper sheet coated in silver and subjected to the vapour released by iodine crystals, Daguerre created a layer of light-sensitive silver iodide on the surface of the technique that would later be called the daguerreotype. In the camera, the plate was then exposed. To make a distinct image, this procedure initially also needed a very long exposure. However, Daguerre made the important discovery that a much shorter exposure could produce an invisible dim “latent” image that could be chemically “developed” into a visible image. After viewing the image that he created he said “I have seized the light – I have arrested its flight!” The daguerreotype process allowed people to capture the image created using camera obscure and preserve it as an object. It became the first practical way to take a photograph and ushered in a new age of pictorial possibilities. The invention of daguerreotype was announced to the public during 1839 in a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.

Henry Fox Talbot

These leaves are images which Talbot took, the lighter leaf is the negative image and the darker leaf is the positive image after it had been developed.

Richard Maddox

A dry plate is a glass plate coated with a gelatine emulsion of silver bromide and it is able to be stored until exposure. After the dry plate has been exposed it can be brought back to the darkroom for development at leisure. Dry plates were able to be bought in stores which allowed photographers to create photos without having to prepare their own dry plates. Negatives did not need to be developed immediately and for the first time, cameras could be small enough to be hand-held. Cameras could also be concealed, and with further research fast exposure times were created which led to snapshot photography, as well as the Kodak camera and roll film, this paved the way for cinematography. The John Scott Medal was rewarded to Maddox during 1889 and the Royal Photographic Society’s silver medal in 1901.

George Eastman

These dry plates were created by an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and the pioneer of popular photography and motion picture film, George Eastman. When travelling Eastman found that the weight, the awkwardness and the cost of the equipment required to take and develop photographs was a struggle. This led him to seek improvements. After experimenting for three years with gelatine emulsions, by 1880, he had invented and patented a dry-plate coating machine. Eastman formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company in 1881, which led to the development of easy-to-use cameras, this enabled many people to take photographs, and developed a flexible film that was a critical contribution to the launch of the motion picture industry.

Kodak Brownie

Eastman Kodak developed a series of camera models known as the Kodak brownie which were first released during 1900.

The Brownie was a basic cardboard box camera which has a simple conveys-concave lens which took 2 1/4 inch square pictures on number 117 roll film. The Kodak Brownie had an initial price of $1, which is equivalent to around $37 as of 2023, and it had simple controls, the Kodak roll film and processing also had a low price, which is why it surpassed its marketing goal.

Digital Photography

Today, digital photography is used which is a complex technological process which uses optical physics, materials engineering, and data science to transform light into electrical signals which are converted into photo elements, creating a digital image. This was initiated by the American Computer engineer, Russell Kirsch, who during 1957 developed the first rotating drum scanner and software which was able to digitally record images. Just 3 years later in 1960, two engineers George Smith and Willard Boyle developed the charge-coupled device, the precursor to the CMOD, used in fully digital cameras. However the first digital photo camera was not created till 1975 by an engineer working for the Eastman Kodak company named Steve Sasson. Sasson developed him camera using an image sensor created in the previous year. This camera weighed almost 9 pounds and took 23 seconds to capture one photograph.

Conclusion:

Therefore photography originated very early on when the camera obscura was used, however it was not as popular and easily accessed until many years later when the Kodak Brownie was invented as it was an easy way for many people to take their own photos without the need for all of the equipment necessary in earlier years of photography.

Sources:

• Camera Obscura
• Nicephore Niepce
• Louis Daguerre and Daguerreotype
• Henry Fox Talbot and Calotype , additional information
• Richard Maddox
• George Eastman
• Kodak Brownie
• Digital Photography

What is a zine?

My Zine pages:

The Front Page

For the front page I decided to use this image as I liked how the negative space framed the title of my zine, which I chose to be ‘Life of Jersey Harbour’ as my zine is going to explore not only the outside view of the harbour but also the inside perspective and the history behind it.

Page 1-2

For my first two pages I chose to focus more on the outside view of the harbour and how many people see it. I included two black and white photos as well as two coloured images. I included views from the harbour above as well as at a close up view. I also added the commercial buildings into the second page as they are an iconic area of the harbour and they are well recognised. In order to make it stand out I made the Normans buildings yellow and the rest of the buildings black and white.

Page 3-4

I then added two pages which focus the Maritime Museum, both outside and inside of it. I wanted to include the museum as it is another iconic part of the jersey harbour and it holds a lot of history from the Jersey Harbour.

Page 5-6

For these pages I wanted to include some detailed shots of the coloured boats as they are an important part of the harbour as people need them to get to and from their boats. I placed coloured images in opposite corners of each other and in the other corners I added the photos which only consisted of one coloured boat.

Page 7-8

In these pages I chose to focus on Brian Nibb’s, a former Harbour master, who gave us a tour and talk around the harbour.

Page 9-10

I then started to focus on the different businesses of Jersey Harbour as they symbolise the Life of the harbour more than anything as it is their way of making a living. This is why I included the Jersey Rowing Club as it is an important business down the harbour as it is not only a way for the workers to make a living but also a way for people to come together to do sports.

Page 11-12

The second business I included was the Jersey Fishery. I included an observational portrait of the man working as well as two detailed shots of the fish and crabs that they sell.

Page 13-14

Then I added a page which shows one of the fisherman who provide the products to the Fishery on the previous pages. I included an environmental portrait and two detailed shots.

Back Page

I wanted to use a simple yet effective image for the last page which is why I chose to use this close up of the stairs with the boats in the background.

EDIT 1:

This photo I chose to edit is of the Jersey Steam clock which is a full size replica of the centre section of a paddle steamboat named Ariadne. The clock was commissioned by the Jersey Waterfront Board in 1996, and built by Smith of Derby group. It was built to symbolise the islands maritime history. The original photo is good however I wanted to make it black and white.

Before and after edits:

History:

The Maritime Museum is located around the Jersey harbour and has been open since 1997. The museum holds collections which include artefacts from the island’s maritime industry as well as from piracy and the 1692 Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue. The museum is housed in a set of five linked warehouses on the New North Pier in Saint Helier. This pier was constructed during the 1880s as part of the redevelopment of the harbour by the states of Jersey. The warehouses were built in 1889, and after the liberation of the island from German occupation in 1945, they housed the harbours customs and maintenance teams. The warehouses were then empty by the 1970’s due to changes in harbour practices with the development of containerisation. The pier was then converted into a marina from 1980. By 1992 the friends of the maritime museum group occupied the warehouses where they houses the maritime museum along with the occupation tapestry, after the 50th anniversary of liberation. In 1996 a memorial took place outside of the museum buildings to Channel islanders who died after being deported the Europe by the Germans. The museum then formally opened one year later in 1997. The collections within the museum cover the islands fishing and ship-building industries, its mercantile operations and piracy.

I took both these photos of the outside area of the Maritime Museum. I then edited them into a black and white photo by reducing the saturation to -100. I also increase the texture as I wanted the small details to stand out.

Photoshoot plan:

Trip 1: Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive and St Helier Harbour

Our photography trip began with a visit to the Jersey Archives, where we were given a presentation on the relevance and importance of the Jersey archives. We were also shown older photos of saint Helier harbour and the maritime museum. Our first photoshoot was on the old harbours where we were also given a guided tour by Brian Nibbs, who is a former harbour master and a blue badge guide. In our second photoshoot we visited Albert Pier, Elizabeth Terminal, and the Elizabeth Marina.

Trip 2: Maritime Museum and St Helier Harbour

Our second trip was based on the Maritime museum as well as other areas of the harbour that we had not photographed in our first trip. To start we were given a talk by Doug Ford, maritime historian, on Jerseys maritime history and heritage. We were then given time to take photos of the exhibits within the Museum. Next we done a photoshoot of Victoria Pier and the fisheries (Fresh fish and Aquamar).

I took all of my images using a canon camera with a mix between manual and automatic mode.

Contact sheets:

I labelled the best photos with a white flag and the bad photos with a black flag. I also set colour labels on some of the images, I made the images from inside the maritime museum as blue, and I made the old photos of the harbour blue along with different piers. I also chose to make the photos of people red.

Best images:

These are my best images which I plan to edit, some of them have a low exposure which I will fix by increasing it through editing.

I believe my photoshoot was successful as I managed to capture many different types of photographs for exmple environmental photos, detailed shots, and landscapes.

1500s:

John Cabot’s voyage of 1497 – Google

Newfoundland was discovered during the 15th century by John Cabot during his voyage in 1497, soon after in 1504 small Normal fishing boats visited the coasts of Newfoundland.

1600s:

During 1509-1547 the Spanish and French withdrew from Newfoundland after Henry VIII commenced trading there. By 1530 Jersey men had visited the coasts of Newfoundland and only 6 years later, in 1536 J Hore, and Londoner, established a colony in Newfoundland. Later on in 1562 the Channel Islands boats arrived on the Grand banks, a portion of the North American continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean, lying southeast of Newfoundland.

During 1583, Newfoundland was taken over by Queen Elizabeth. Under 10 years later Jean Guillaume of Jersey obtained a licence to sail to Newfoundland from the Governor of Jersey. Upon Guillaume’s return he was fined 300 crowns by the Royal Court due to selling his cargo of fish at St Malo rather than Jersey. This is when the fishing industry commenced, as this was when the Governor of Jersey quoted that at the end of the sixteenth century islanders were saved from starvation by the arrival of a cargo of fish from the colony.

1700s:

Jersey’s involvement officially began in the start 17th century when Sir Ralegh obtained a ‘grant of application’ in Newfoundland, seamen from Jersey were then moved to begin a fishery in that area of the colony which Ralegh had been granted. As the Governor he not only motivated trade with Newfoundland but other locations too such as Virginia, New England states and the Caribbean Islands. These seamen battled the ocean to bring back cod fish and oil, skins, furs, sugar, tobacco, and more.

There were three families which are named as the “master traders”, d”Auvergne (St Ouen), Lemprierre (St Helier), Le Breton (Lily Langtry branch).

By 1611 St Brelade and other parishes had fishermen who sailed to Newfoundland, however by 1618, just 6 years later, the Privy Council had to order the Governor not to allow stores from the castles to be sold to the Newfoundland fishers, as the use of these stores was likely to risk the inhabitants in times of emergency. In 1625, on his way to Terre Neuve (Newfoundland), one of the master traders Captain Pierre d’Auvergne was captured by pirates and taken to Salé, where he was sold as a slave along with his shipmates.

1800s:

By the 18th century ships had been registered in Jersey after being built in North America and Newfoundland for the fishing trade. In 1740 a non-native Jerseyman, Captain David (Le Vavasseur dit), was recorded as trading between Newfoundland and Lisbon in his vessel ‘Tito’.

One year later, in 1741, the same vessel was sailed once again from Poole to Newfoundland. In 1744, he was a signatory in a petition to the Government of Newfoundland. His other vessel ‘Sally’ was recorded as sailing annually between Poole and Newfoundland as late as 1766, his fishery was located at Burnin: John Jean, Jersey Ships and Railways. In 1764 the youngest son of Philippe and Anne nee d’Auvergne, Charles Robin aged 21, of Robin Pipon and Co, sailed from Jersey in Seaflower, a 41 ton ship, as their agent. He did this to explore the possibility of establishing a fishery there.

From 1765 onwards the French and Quebec merchants moved away from the Gaspe coast which allowed Jersey firms to move the the more profitable fisheries off the Gaspe coast.

Robin Pipon and co established fishing posts as far north as Baie des Chaleurs, under the auspices of their kinsman, Charles Robin, for later on formed his own company in 1783, named ‘Charles Robin and co’. During 1790-1792 Charles Robin with eight vessels , including the largest one St Peter weighing 210 tons, this with Jerseys leading group of vessels with the Janvarins in second place.

1900s:

However by 1800, David Lee in The Robins in Gaspe, a book, stated that Robin only had four ships, which demonstrates the fluctuations in the fortune experienced in times of war, by those engaged in the fishing trade. Through the years 1766-1842 Jersey had profited by the British conquests in Canada and it almost transformed the Gaspe coast into a Jersey Colony. In the 1950s Clement and co became the last jersey company trading in Newfoundland.

Charles Robin:

Charles Robin is arguably one of the most important people in Jerseys fishing history. He was born in St Brelades during 1743 and by 1763 he was a captain of a ship working in the Newfoundland Cod Trade. In 1765 him and his two brothers and another two formed a firm which developed fishing grounds off Cape Breton Island and the Gaspe region. The company then sold dried cod to Portugal and Spain, and they sold salmon, furs, and timber to Quebec.

What is a Picture story?

A picture story is an intentional use of pictures and words put together to form a meaningful story. Picture stories are often found within Photobooks. There are multiple different types of shots which can be put together to create a picture story, here are some examples:

• Person at Work – A person at work shot should show WHO the person is, WHAT they are doing, HOW they are doing it, and the CONTEXT of the situation.

For example in this photo you can see part of the subjects face, what they are doing and how they are doing it, as well as the context of the situation, (being in some sort of mechanic working environment.)

• Relationship Shot – a relationship shot is a type of shot which shows the relationship between multiple people. It should show who the people are and what role they present.

In this photo you can see who the people are, and that they have some kind of relationship between the two of them, for example they could be siblings.

• Establishing Shot – An establishing shot is one which shows what the topic of the picture story is. It may be a photo of where the place is for example St Helier.

This is an establishing shot as it shows that the location is New York, this is shown by the statue of liberte.

• Detail shot – Detail shots often tell the story of the situation by focusing on a relatively small portion of it. Details shots also can be images that, through compositional techniques, draw attention to a specific detail of a subject that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

In this detail shot it shows that there is a musical performance going on and a guitar is being used.

• Environmental Portrait – An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings.

For example in this photo the man is working at a food place possibly a van, this is an environmental portrait as it is a usual environment for him to be in.

• Formal Portrait –  A formal portrait is not a snapshot but a carefully arranged pose under effective lighting conditions.

This is an example of a formal portrait as the subject has been arranged in the centre of the photo and the lighting is effective and there is little detail in the background that guides the viewers attention away from the subject.

• Observed Portrait – An observed portrait is taken when the subject is doing something and they are unaware they are being photographed, it is similar to candid photography.

This is an observed photograph as they are being observed colouring and they have not been arranged in anyway for the photo to be taken.

Colour cropping:

Original photo:

This was my original photo before I began the cropping. I first adjusted the photo using Lightroom.

Cropped photos:

• For this first photo I cropped it in a panoramic style. It captures all the subject’s heads as well as the boutique on the left.

• For this final one I chose to zoom into the two main subjects’ heads. I did this to capture the man putting his finger to his face as it looks like he is deciding on something which is perfect for the term ‘decisive moment’ which Bresson chooses to describe his work with.

Black and white:

Next I chose to change the same previous images into black and white.

Original photo:

Cropping:

I prefer this one in black and white as it looks less chaotic in comparison to the coloured one. The fact all three subjects are wearing a dark top also makes the black and white image look better as it makes them stand out more.

Comparing:

I took this photo in the market in town in front of the vegetable stand as I liked the way it was laid out. I also like how the male subject is posed as it looks like he is deciding on something. I edited it in two ways, black and white, and brightly coloured with a high saturation. Although I do like the coloured version, I prefer the black and white one as it doesn’t have too much going on in comparison to the coloured version which has various tones of colours all in one small area, it looks quite busy.

Photoshoot plan:

To respond to Henri Cartier Bresson I will go to various areas of Jersey such as the royal square, parks and cafes as these areas are likely to be occupied by people. I will take these photos using a camera in manual mode as well as Tv mode. In some photos I will use a slower shutter speed in order to capture movement of people.

Photoshoot 1:

First photoshoot:

I started by doing a quick photoshoot in town with my phone where I went to the Royal Square as well as the Market in town. To improve during my next photoshoot I will take them in other areas and take more photos.

Best photos: (from first photoshoot)

Editing:

Edits:

For this edit I wanted to make it brightly coloured to see how it would look however I prefer the black and white image as the coloured one has too much going on due to the many different coloured fruit and shops in the market.

This photo shows the decisive moment as the people are deciding on what to purchase from the market stool. I prefer it in black and white as it looks similar to Bresson’s style where as the colourful one did not.

In this image I feel it really captures the decisive moment of the people eating their food at the café. I decided to make this one black and white as Bresson’s images are mainly black and white and I wanted to achieve a similar look to his.

I like this photo as it captures two people in the foreground of the image and another person in the background arranging flowers, this shows the decisive moment of her adjusting the flowers and making decisions.