My story will be seen as something that has a mixture and comparison of past and present. It might also show some form of the future in the St Helier harbour. This is to manipulate a realisation towards the audience for them to actually realise how quickly the time is passing and how quickly Jersey, more specifically, St Helier harbour, is evolving.
NARRATIVE:
I will have my own produced images with a comparison and incorporation of mixture of images from the Archives and will also get the future images from a folder my teacher has provided me which shows a variety of future lookalikes that St Helier harbour may become.
At the beginning of my zine, I will have an introduction of the history, facts and more about the St Helier harbour. The first couple of pages will consist of landscapes of the St Helier harbour (present). Then I will have some past and present images, using the archive images and my own picture to compare. In this group of images, I will have the year it was taken and where. Then using some picture from the archive, I will incorporate the past people or objects from the past pictures and place them on my own, present images of St Helier harbour. These images will be placed on one side of the page and the next page won’t have any images because I will put a poem about St Helier harbour or sayings that people have said about St Helier harbour
I plan to have my font-types quite antic tone to them with words that change colors depending on the image that is shown (black and white or colored). The cover of the zine will be black and white with an image that indicates what the zine will be about. The text will be shown vertically on the right side of the cover on the middle. These words will be black and white
This was my first ever mock plan. I liked the Sequence of the photos however I didn’t really like the Layout of it and the fact that there was too much images to produce so this plan was rejected.
Indesign plan:
I liked the layout more and the features however the fonts and writing weren’t what I was looking for and there was too little images so I wanted to incorporate more images so this plan was rejected.
Actual Indesign plan:
I loved everything about it, I liked the layout the sequence of images and most important the fonts and placement of the text. The design of the zine was also something that I was extremely proud of.
What is the difference between photographs that are mirrors or windows?
Mirrors tends to classed as quite subjective and romantic. It has denotations of a photographers sensibility of view which is a projection of self. Windows is objective, it explored the exterior region and illustrates reality and presence
Read two texts above (John Szarkowski’s introduction and review by Jed Pearl) and select 3 quotes form each that is relevant to your essay.
John:
“The pictures included here are arranged in two sections,”
Szarkowski suggests that there is a, “fundamental dichotomy today between photographers who believe that all art is concerned with self-expression and those who see it as a means of exploration”
“Art is a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, and those who see it as a window, through which one may better know the world”
Jed:
White, toward an idealist, “romantic” goal of “self-expression,” a “mirror” that primarily describes the self; Frank, toward an introverted “realism,” involved with the “exploration” of a private “window” on the world.
“the general movement in American photography in the past quarter-century has been from public to private concerns”
Now, in Mirrors and Windows, he presents a binary theory of photography as art: an evolution from public to private concerns
2.Select two images, one that represent a mirror and another that represents a window as examples to use in your essay.
Mirror-Cindy Sherman
Windows- Henri Cartier-Bresson
3. Use some of the key words that you listed above to describe what the mirrors and windows suggest.
Mirrors: subjective, personal, romantic, sensibility, expression, projection and complex
Windows: objective, exterior, documentary, tableux, escape, landscape, still life, explore, world and elements
photography is where you turn something ordinary into extraordinary and it can also be something like putting a frame into something and capturing that moment. It creates curiosity of who is the people framed in the photo and what lies outside the frame, it can transform what it describes. The camera is objective. Its like a story never ends in a photography because the photo was put into a frame with never ending ellipsis. Many say that photos can intrigue, outrage, disappoint and move people/society.
Fixing the shadows
Supposedly, photography was invited in 1839, however the idea of it has been known way before 1839 and was used for a millennium.
Camera Obscura which is a Latin word for dark shadow is a technique consisted of a dark room with no light emitting in the room. Then a small hole or circle would be made to allow light to enter. After 20 minutes, and upside version of what is outside, emitting from the hole , should be displayed on the other side of the wall. The longer you wait, the more detailed image you will get. This technique was seen as something deep, primitive and natural.
Done like this,
Pinhole photography
Pinhole photography uses the most basic concepts of a camera. A lightproof box, an aperture, and light-sensitive material. Light is passed through the pinhole to project an inverted image onto the paper or film on the opposite end of the camera. The distance between the pinhole and film determines the angle of view.
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and The Niépce Heliograph
The Niépce Heliograph was originnaly made in 1827, during a period where there was fervent experimentation. It was and still is the earliest photograph produced with the help of the camera obscura known to survive till this day.
The photography shown below was made by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce where he was born in 1765 and died in 1833. He was born in a prominent family in France. Encouraged by the ever growing popular demands for affordable pictures, his photographic experiments were conducted with the dual aims of copying prints and recording scenes from real life camera. He produced legible but fleeting images or points de vue, as he called them, in 1816. Over time, he tried to order chemicals, techniques and materials to advance the process he ultimately called héliographie, or ‘sun writing’.
To make the so called heliograph, he dissolved light-sensitive bitumen oil of lavender and put a thin coating over a polished pewter plate. He then would insert the plate into a camera obscuraand put it near a window in his second-story workroom. After several days of exposure to sunlight passed, the plate yielded an impression of the courtyard, outbuildings, and trees outside.
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre and Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. The silver-plated copper plate had first to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror.
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process between 1839 until 1860 stated in the history of photography. It was named after the inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre.
In 1829, Louis partnered with Nicéphore Niépce, as mentioned above, the inventor of the first heliograph in 1822. However when Nicéphore Niépce suddenly died in 1833, Daguerre continued experimenting and produced the process which would later be know as Daguerreotype.
Henry Fox Talbot & Calotype
The Calotype was an early photographic technique by William Henry Fox Talbot of Great Britain in the 1830s. This technique consisted of a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride that was exposed to light in a camera obscura. The areas that where hit the most by light became darker which yielded a negative picture. This ever moving aspect of the process lat in Talbot discovery of a chemical called Gallic acid, would be the key to develop the image on the paper.
This acid would accelerate the silver chlorides chemical reaction to the exposed light. This discovery ensured a shorter exposure time in the camera with the drastic change, down from one hours to one minute.
“for when the eye was removed from the prism—in which all looked beautiful—I found that the faithless pencil had only left traces on the paper melancholy to behold.”
Robert Cornelius & self-portraiture
In 1839, late October or some say early November a 30-year-old man nestled alone in the works of his family’s Philadelphia gas lighting business. He noticed that in front of him was a makeshift camera where the cameras lens was fashioned from an opera glass.
He’d realize that the daylight was perfect to expose the meticulous prepared metal plate within the camera and decided to take a photograph of himself. Something that was revolutionary. This meant that he had to remain still and keep his posture for 10 to 15 minutes.
This extraordinary man was named Robert Cornelius, and some might even sometimes joke that he took the world’s first selfie that day. However it was said that he accomplished much more than the term “selfie” implies.
Julia Margeret Cameron & Pictorialism
Julia Margaret Cameron received her first ever camera when she was only 48 ,from her daughter and son in law. Before her time of receiving the camera, Julia had followed albums and experimented with printing photographs from negatives. Once, she printed a negative image by developing with Swedish art photographer called O.G. Rejlander where they surrounded the portrait with ferns to create a photogram frame which is basically a combination of an picture made in a camera and a camera-less technique. This showed Julia’s experimental nature and provided us with a glimpse of her photographic practice before she even acquired a camera of her own.
When Cameron actually took up photography, it involved lots of hard and physical work which used potentially hazardous materials. Her set up was a wooden camera, that sat on a tripod, which was was large and awkward. She used the most common technique at the time, which was the production of albumen prints that came from from wet collodion glass negatives. The process required a glass plate which was approximately 12 x 10 inch, to be coated with photosensitive chemicals, in a darkroom and it had to be exposed in the camera when it was still damp. The glass negative would then be returned to the darkroom, to be developed, washed and varnished. Prints were mostly made by placing the negative straight on to sensitised photographic paper and immediately exposing it to sunlight.
She quickly devoted herself to photography and within a month of her receiving her well deserved camera, she made an extraordinary image which she called her ‘first success’. It was a portrait of Annie Philpot, who was the daughter of a family staying in the Isle of Wight where Cameron lived
“The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention”
Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visit
The introduction of the carte de visite has many introductions and beginnings, but all agree that they became popular in the late 1850s. They kept their popularity until the late 1860s and the a sudden decline happened decline however they were still produced in the 1900s. Cartes de visite contains of a print stuck to a card mount of about 4 ⅛” x 2 ½” in size. The prints were mostly albumen and then later were used in emulsion based printing out paper. Other uncommon processes, including carbon and Woodburytype, were also used but not as popular.
He was born in 27th of December 1818 and died in the year of 1880, was a British photographer who started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, where he then set up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. Initially he was partnered up with a Mr Millward, who we know very little about. By the following year, he started working alone and he continued to work in the same studio for another 26 years.
For a bit of time, He worked in London, but judging by the collection of his images which are now held by La SociétéJersiaise, he found himself many of willing sitters in the island prepared to pay half a guinea (promoted as “one half of that in London”) to have their portrait taken by him.
As seen clearly, his speciality was cartes de visite and to which the photographic archive of La Société has a massive collection of these. They can be seen on the on line archive , on the website. They possess about 9600 go his images however the majority of these are set were up to 16 photographs taken in one single setting.
Richard Maddox
Richard Leach Maddox who was born in 1816 and then later died in 1902 was an English photographer who was also know as an inventor who was recognised in his significant participation in early photography. He is remembered for developing something called the ‘dry plate’ process. This process made photography more accessible and practical compared to the earlier wet plate techniques that were used. His discovery aided pave the way for the extensive use of photography in the late 19th century.
His creation of the dry plates made it easier to handle and meant that it could be stored for a longer time, which greatly enhanced the convenience of photography. He was also involved in various photographic papers and equipment. His handout were necessary in the evolution of photographic technology
My first lens was bought about 1846, but active professional duties prevented its being used until 1852; from that date onwards, as an amateur, I have been interested in photography’.
George Eastman
George Eastman who was born in 1854 and then died in 1932 was an American entrepreneur and inventor who diverted a crucial role in the construction of modern photography. He was best known for founding the what was called, The Eastman Kodak Company. He also was know for popularizing the use of roll film, which then made photography even more accessible to the public in general.
Here are some key contributions of George Eastman:
Roll Film: Developed a flexible roll film in the late 1880s. Allowed cameras to be more portable and user-friendly.
Kodak Camera: In 1888, he introduced the Kodak camera, which came pre-loaded with film for 100 exposures.
Mass Production of Cameras: Focused on mass-producing cameras, which then significantly lowered the price of camera’s and made photography more available to a bigger audience.
“Light makes photography”
Kodak (brownie)
The Kodak brownie was made to ensure that photography was more accessible to the public, especially amateur photographers to encourage them to pursue photography even more.
Here are some key features and historical significance of the Brownie:
Simplicity: It was easy to use, featuring a box design and a fixed-focus lens. people who used it only needed to point and shoot, which made it user-friendly for amateurs.
Affordability: It was just $1 when it was first released. This encouraged more buyers.
Roll Film: The Brownie used roll film, this was more suitable than glass plates. It helped popularise the use of roll film in photography even more.
Cultural Impact: It helped democratise photography, which allowed everyday people to capture their lives and occurrences.
Legacy: The Brownie name continued even with numerous models produced over the many years. This solidified Kodak’s honour in the photography market.
Film/print photography
Print and Film photography are traditional methods of producing and capturing.
Its Cultural Significance
Film and print photography have played and are still playing a crucial role in documenting history, art, and especially personal experiences. The tangent nature of film, onwards with the procedure of darkroom printing, has a tendency to appeal many photographers especially the ones who enjoy the hands-on aspects of the skill.
Even though there is a high rise in digital photography, film and print will always remain popular amidst enthusiasts for their particular aesthetic qualities especially the distinct processes involved.
The photographers that contributed to Film photography were artist like Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre. They were key features the early history of film. However George Eastman played a critical role in making photography accessible to the public.
Digital photography:
Digital photography is something that has been popular for awhile and will continue to be so. It’s the process of catching images using digital cameras which record light through sensors called ‘electronic sensors’. Unlike traditional film photography, where it captures images on light-sensitive film, digital photography transforms the captured light into digital data.
Who Invented Digital Photography?
1975: Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak, made the first ever digital camera. It was a quite bulky device which caught black-and-white images onto a cassette tape. This was the groundwork for the digital future of camera’s.
1980s: This period was the period where first commercial digital cameras started to emerge. Sony and Canon started producing cameras that made use of early digital imaging technology.
1990s: The time where the introduction of consumer digital cameras and the JPEG file format forwarded the popularisation of digital photography.
2000s and Beyond: Increasing advancements in technology guided the development of high-quality digital cameras, and things like smartphones with built-in cameras, and user-friendly editing software.
Salt paper photography
This method consisted of ‘printing out’ which meant that the image would be formed by light rather than developed out of chemicals. The chemistry of this method involves solutions of sodium chloride like table salt and silver nitrate which when combined would convert to light sensitive silver chloride.
For this image, I opened photoshop and pressed new and pressed A4 portrait. Then in Lightroom I exported an image of the harbour and edited the image in black and white. Then using an image from the Jersey archive, I used the objection tool in photoshop to select the two kids in the image and then placed them on the black and white image. I then placed the two kids in the most appropriate place in the image. This was all I did for the experiment. I really liked how this image turned out so I was inspired to produce another one like this and use it for my zine.
Experimentation 2:
What i did:
For this image I did the exact same for experiment 1, I opened photoshop and pressed new and pressed A4 portrait. Then in Lightroom I exported an image of the harbour and edited the image in black and white. Then using an image from the Jersey archive, I used the objection tool in photoshop to select the two men in the image (same image used in experiment 1, just different people) and then placed them on the black and white image. I then placed the two men in the most appropriate place in the image. This was all I did for the experiment. I really liked how this image turned out and was certain that it was gonna be used in my zine.
Experimentation 3:
What i did:
For this image, I opened photoshop and imported the plain image of the three boats onto photoshop. I created another layer to this image and in this layer I focused in editing the sea. I made the sea much greener and intensified the green tones it had. I then selected the first layer and with the objection tool, I selected the boats, took the editing/ colouring that was done to them when I was editing the sea and edited them in black and white by using adjustments and and I also cropped this image so that the focus was the boast and the sea, that’s all I did to this image. I didn’t really like how this image turned out. It was quite awkward and random so this image was rejected. However I wanted to do the method I used in this image differently so I tried it again, as seen below.
Experimentation 4:
What i did:
As stated above, I did exactly what I did for experiment 3 however just slightly different. For this image, I opened Lightroom and imported the plain image of the two men fishing onto Lightroom. I applied soft sepia to the image and then exported the image to photoshop. In photoshop, I created another layer to this image and in this layer I focused in editing the men. I selected the second layer to the image that I created and with the objection tool, I selected the men and took the editing/ colouring that was done to the background and edited them in black and white by using adjustments and filters and that’s all I did to this image. This image was rejected because I didn’t like the sepia colour and the men in black and white. It looked strange.
Chosen images:
Evaluation:
Out of all of the experiments shown above, I chose these two because I thought that they were the best edited and realistic. I liked how the past people were incorporated with the present really nicely. I also thought that it would be perfect in my zine as It could fit the narrative I was going for.
In this image I increased the exposure to give it a more white washed tone to the image so that when I decreased vibrance and saturation which made the image black and white, the image would look more brighter and whiter. I increased the clarity because I wanted the details in the images, that were lost by the gloomy weather, to be exposed. However I also increased blacks because I felt like the image became a little to white when I made it black and white. Finally I decreased highlights and shadows to expose hidden details lost from the darkness in the image. I did all of this to make the image more rustic like.
Chosen picture 2:
Editing:
For this image, I only increased vibrancy so that when I decreased saturation the image wouldn’t be as pale looking. This was all I did for the image because I thought that the image itself was quite good in terms of exposure and detail so I only made the image black and white and was satisfied.
Chosen picture 3:
Editing:
Again, for this image I decreased vibrance and saturation to make the image black and white. I decreased contrast to increase the dark spots in the image but also increase the lighter parts of the image. I also decreased shadows to recover as much lost detail that was lost in the shadows of the image. Lastly I increased clarity to make the image a little brighter and for it to enhance more detail within the image. I did all of this to make the image look from the past.
Chosen picture 4:
Editing:
For this image, I really wanted to enhance the white’s and blacks in the images so I thought that decreasing vibrancy and saturation to make the image black and white would be start. Next, I increased clarity to make the image much clearer and enhance the white in the image and texture to give the image more texture but not too much because I didn’t want it to look too plain. I also slightly increased shadows to make the dark spots in the image more evident and whites to make the whites in the images more apparent. I also increased exposure to make the image slightly white washed. Lastly, I decreased contrast to enhance the blacks and whites in the image, highlights to give it a more matte look and blacks to magnify the shadows within the images.
Chosen picture 5:
Editing:
For this image I increased exposure to make the image brighter and also increased contrast to sharpen the image. I also decreased Shadows to make dark areas even more darker and whites to make the image as dark as possible. Lastly, I increased vibrancy so that when I decreased saturation the image wouldn’t be so pale. I really wanted this image to look old and rustic so I edited the image like this which meant that it came out exactly how I wanted it to.
Chosen picture 6:
Editing:
No editing was done in this image. This was because I wanted the image to show its ‘naked’ self. I wanted it to be quite raw and normal. I didn’t want to alter something that I already liked how it looked.
Chosen picture 7:
Editing:
No editing was done in this image. This was because I wanted the image to show its ‘naked’ self. I wanted it to be quite raw and normal. I didn’t want to alter something that I already liked how it looked.
Chosen picture 8:
Editing:
For this image I did the same thing I did to image 5, which is, I increased exposure to make the image brighter and also increased contrast to sharpen the image. I also decreased Shadows to make dark areas even more darker and whites to make the image as dark as possible. Lastly, I increased vibrancy so that when I decreased saturation the image wouldn’t be so pale. I really wanted this image to look old and rustic so I edited the image like this which meant that it came out exactly how I wanted it to.
Chosen picture 9:
Editing:
For this image I did the same to image 5 and 8 which is, I increased exposure to make the image brighter and also increased contrast to sharpen the image. I also decreased Shadows to make dark areas even more darker and whites to make the image as dark as possible. Lastly, I increased vibrancy so that when I decreased saturation the image wouldn’t be so pale. I really wanted this image to look old and rustic so I edited the image like this which meant that it came out exactly how I wanted it to.
Chosen pictures:
I chose these images for my final products because I thought that not only do they show the more aesthetic part of St Helier harbour, some of the images would also perfect fit in terms of the zine that I am planning to make. I also chose these images because they are high quality and just overall, really good images.
Evaluation:
Overall, I really like the images that I have produced. I’m satisfied with the end products and how I have edited the images.
In my research about taking pictures of a harbour especially taking pictures in the St Helier harbour, I realised that there are many factors that make the harbour. Things like boats, fishermen, lighthouses but most importantly the sea, The cement to the harbour. I think that when it came to capturing what the harbour is actually like and what it consists of, I believe that I did it really well. Its clear that the focus of my photoshoot was a harbour which I made very evident by researching about the compounds within a harbour and then producing images that related to it.
In terms of editing. I strongly believe that my editing really shows my skills that I have developed and improved. With the inspiration still high towards Robert Adams, I wanted to mirror the skills that I learned through Adams and portray these skills onto this project and some of my images. As seen in some of my edited images, I edited in the way that Robert would. He produced images that sometimes where white washed and sometimes really dark. He made some obstacles darker than the background and I really liked that so I applied it to these images. I think that overall, I just really like the editing I applied in each of my images even the ones I didn’t edit. I’m really happy with my edited outcomes.
One last positive about my final outcomes, is that fact that I was able to closely edit images so that they looked antique and past like. I was able to show the present harbour as the past. However, I could have added texture to the images in black and white so that it would look even more realistic
However, I do think that my images could have some improvements. For an example, I could have been more creative with colour. I could have produced more images of colour and I could have also thought more creatively when editing the images. I could have used AI in photoshop to add people or boats. I could have been more creative in many ways so its something that I will take into consideration for my next project.
What was the involvement of Jersey mariners in the Canadian cod-fisheries and the Transatlantic carrying trade?
By the 1750s the fishermen of Channel Island had set up lucrative trade routes between Canada, Europe and America where they established bases on the Gaspé coast where they could prepare the salted cod.
A jersey merchant, Charles Robin ,operated one of the biggest companies on the Gaspé coast where he set up the fishing post at Paspebiac in 1767 right after Canada passed to the English.
This included Jerseys lieutenant-governor sir George Carteret, who was the founder member of the royal Africa company which traded ivory, golf and enslaved people in the early 17th century.
People like Captain François Messervy of Jersey who was murdered in 1722 during an uprising on board his slave ship off in the coast of Africa and the Jersey trader Josué Mauger who in 1752 advertised enslaved people for sale in Nova Scotia, Canada, where his business was based were involved in the enslavement of slaves.
Which ports did Jersey ships sail to and trade with?
The earliest harbours known in the island were areas such as Havre des Pas, St Brelade, St Aubin and La Rocque were used as ‘mini’ harbours. There was mention of an apparent Spanish ship taking on a cargo of wheat “in the harbour of St Obin”.
As ships became increasingly larger, Gorey, which is first mentioned as a port in 1274, began to grow its importance and on the year of 1685 Dumaresq map appeared a small pier was shown although a survey, Dumaresq describes as it being decayed. On the map it also appears a simple stone pier at St Brelade. However there were no type of facilities in St Helier at this time.
Effort to actually build a harbour was actually acted on, in the late 17th century, when work began on building a pier on the islet on which St Aubin’s fort stands. Then, during the 18th century, the St Aubin’s harbour was constructed and then the construction of the St Helier port, although the capital had to wait until the 19th century before it really began to develop as an actual port.
St Helier was the main harbour that was used for ships to sail and trade with
What type of goods did Jersey merchants exchange for cod-fish?
Jersey had loads of ships which in peacetime held on two separate types of trade. The largest would go to the Newfoundland or the thereabouts in early spring or summer for cod, and returning in autumn, which was usually via mediterranean or Spanish ports.
The goods the Jersey merchants exchanged for codfish were things like tobacco, sugar, spices, ivory and many more
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)?
Due to the cod trade and related shipping industry, the spawn of shipbuilding industry with a significant number of shipyards on the south and east coasts of jersey. Initially, fishing vessels for the jersey fleet had been built in the outposts in Canada. This activity then shifted to jersey, with the large scale commercial shipyard starting operation in 1815. In that year, 69 vessels with the total tonnage of 7,519 were registered in jersey and by 1865, these figures had increased to 422 and 48,629, about 80% of the tonnage having been built locally. It is estimated that in the 1860s about 6% of the total tonnage of wooden fishing fleets built in the British Isles had been built in the Channel Islands, mainly Jersey
The best indication of the growth of the economy in the first half of the 19th century was the doubling of the size in population from 28,600 in 1821 to 57,020 in 1851.
This rapid immigration led to significant changes in the composition of the jersey population however after the Napoleonic wars, there was an influx of English speaking British army officers retired on half pay who found life in Jersey cheap due to this a demand in housing that was met largely by the expansion of St Helier.
Then, additional English speaking immigrant labourers, which many were Irish, came to work on the major building schemes such as the Esplanade, fort regent, St Catherines harbour project and the harbour development. The unskilled workers were underpaid and exploited which meant they lived in the poorest parts of town where they were exposed to cholera epidemics of 1832 and 1849. Other nationalities began their print on Jersey due to the work opportunities.
Way before the 17th century, St Helier had no actual and decent harbour, although a map in 1545 says otherwise. It showed two stone piers in the area under Le Mont de la Ville, near where the South Pier is today.
The harbour was recorded to be constructed in the early 19th century where previously ships that came into town had only and small jetty at the site which is now called the English Harbour and the French harbour. The Chamber of Commerce urged the states assembly to build a new harbour however they refused so with the refusal, the Chamber took it into their own hands and paid to upgrade the harbour in 1790.
St Helier Harbour trip:
On Tuesday the 10th of September, we met at the Societe Jersiaise where we had a presentation for nearly 2 hours. In these two hours, we had a speaker talk to us about all the famous jersey photographers especially photographers who photographed the harbour and jersey harbours but specifically St Helier Harbour. The speaker showed us a variety of photos which were all produced by jersey photographers. The speaker also went on to describe how photography spawned in jersey and how jersey became an attraction to those who were in middle class who wanted to take pictures for a more cheaper price. After this we went on a walk around St Helier harbour and took a series of pictures of the harbour, making sure that recaptured different angles and perspectives. After the photography session, we had two speakers meet with us where they spoke about the St Helier harbour in more detail and how it all started.
Reflect on your final design ideas and explain in some detail how well you realised your intentions and reflect on what you learned/ What could you improve? How?
Picture story 1:
After editing all the images seen above, I realised exactly what I wanted to do for my first picture story. I really liked the blue in the right picture so I knew that I had to have blue and I also liked the images that I produced in black and white so I also knew that black and white had to be included in my picture story. I learned that boarders make the picture story look better so I applied this realisation towards all of my picture stories. I realised that I had produced many pictures of people and landscapes of St Malo, so I knew that for this picture story I wanted to include loads of people and little landscapes as I thought that St Malo was about the people. However making the landscape in blue meant that even though it was the only picture in this picture story that had no people, the colour attracted attention towards the image. The title was definitely my highest point. I really loved the contrast of fonts in the title and I think that it look perfect. However I think that the placements of images, especially the ones in the left, could have been better and more spaced out. The picture story could have been more colourful to attract even more attention. Like putting the boarders around images as the colours of the french flag.
Picture story 2:
In all honesty, I don’t really liked this final product. The random shapes and colours make it look quite tacky and strange. My intention towards this paper story was to make it as colourful as possible to show how bright and important the French are, hence the title. I wanted to have the images in colour with the people highlighted to highlight the ‘aura’ they have. However I think it looks quite random and boring. Although I like how colourful the picture story is, I don’t like the different colours. I feel like if I had used different shades of the same colour like pink, and placed the shapes more strategically, the picture story would have looked bette. However I do like the contrast between the people being selected in colour and the background being black and white. It looks really unique. I learnt that I should have taken more time and patience towards this picture story so that it would reach the potential it had.
Picture story 3:
For this picture story, I realised that most of the images I produced for this picture story, had brown tones, so I knew that I wanted to make a picture story that had a brown theme. However I soon realised that I shouldn’t have decided a brown theme as the two photos on the bottom had nothing to do with brown so those two images look quite random and out of place. I should’ve looked for images that had brown tones or brown obstacles. I definitely knew that I wanted to make the title brown and French so I did and I really liked the outcome. It makes it ‘authentic’. The two images above were one of my favourite images I produced and edited. I loved the tones and aesthetic of the images. I loved everything about it. This picture story would have been perfect if I had all the images in it with a brown theme. I do like this picture story but I think that this picture story could’ve had many improvements.
Evaluation:
Overall, I’m satisfied with my final picture stories. My images are high quality and edited nicely. I also think that I had good concepts and ideas towards my picture stories.
In summary, my picture stories has many improvements to overcome, improvements that I need to take into consideration in the future. My picture stories could’ve been more creative and out of the box and so could’ve my titles. I think that my second and third picture story, specifically, lacked creativity. I need to incorporate different styles and techniques like cropping and maybe presenting the images differently, like formatting the images into shapes.
However, I think that when it comes to simplicity, I was really good at doing that even though it is something that I need to change. I feel like the simplicity of my picture stories make them quite firm and willing so I have to admit that I am satisfied with that.
Lastly, I should have thought better about my picture stories, I should’ve planned them better and I should’ve made sure that I knew exactly what I was doing and what I was intending to do. Having this certainty, would mean that I would be more confident and maybe even more creative as I would have more time to create a plan of what I really wanted to do, especially in creativity terms.
