Question: What are the differences between photographs that are windows and mirrors?
Mirror photographs are romantic expressions of the photographers sensibility and shows a reflection of the photographer. Mirror documentation in photography provides an insight into our inner world, projecting our own subjective interpretation or attempting to reveal our inner world to an outside audience.
Window photographs show the exterior world in all its presence and reality. They document the world around us and provides the viewer with a window on that world.
The difference between these two images is that the first one clearly looks staged, and it is reflecting the artist as if it is a mirror. Whereas, the second one looks more natural and it is an example of viewing the exterior world in all it’s reality, through a metaphorical window.
John Szarkowski
John Szarkowski was an American photographer, curator, historian, and critic; best known for his role as the director of the Museum of Modern Art’s Department, from 1962 through 1991.
We went to Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive and St Helier Harbour to take pictures.
For this edit I wanted to try and leave it black and white but also add some colour to it to see how it turned out. I edited it by decreasing all the colours on HSL saturation and luminance expect orange. I also decreased the contrast, highlights and the shadows.
For this image I decided I wanted to make it have a high contrast and shadows and decrease the white and black in the image which I think turned out really nice. The black and white in this image makes it looks more interesting and detailed with all the mix shadows and shaded of black and white. I would say it’s my favourite image.
Since I really liked the black and white version of this image I wanted to try out giving it a bit of colour by using HSL which was quite interesting. I was hoping that all of the top part of the mountain would turn green but only most of it did but didn’t turn out as bad as i thought because it lightens up at the top and blends in well with the whit and black.
These are the best edited images I have. I edited all of the best images to black and white because I love the way it looks and how there is so many different shades of black and grey. The black and white photos makes the imagine looks more dramatic and with black and white images it’s never has over-expose highlights, makes the image more exiting in a way because of the dramatic dark colours in random places in the photos. Coloured images are beautiful most of the time but so is black and white images, and in black-and white it expresses reality better.
A sentence: I plan to tell a story throughout the harbour on fishing and a fishermen’s footsteps, on how we get our fish.
A paragraph: I took a very long time to decide until I realised I liked a lot of my portraits and found some images correlated well with each other, My zine will tell the story through the book of fishermen, and how there is lots of jobs to do to the boat before evening heading to the sea, it will clearly show the things you have to do on land until you enter the sea, it will then show things that fishermen collect from the sea and how they collect them, what they use. Of course the story will still be subjective and I hope everyone can find their own story within it but the clear main story is of a fishermen life, which helped as we met Captain Brain who comes into my story a bit, nothing is clearly said but I hope my images and the order it is done is clearly shown.
NARRATIVE:How will you tell your story?
I plan to tell my story by carefully ordering the images throughout my zine book, there will be portraits and full bleed images to especially show the importance and main idea of every image and to hopefully highlight what story I am trying to tell.
I will have my own produced images . At the beginning of my zine, I will have an introduction of St Helier harbour. throughout my entire zine pages will be landscapes of St Helier harbour or portraits, I also plan to have black footprints walking through all the pages.
I plan to have my font-types a friendly playful tone as it isn’t in the book much but think it works well with the image I have thought for my front cover so they will compliment each other. The cover of my zine will be one large portrait that is in colour and edited to be a bit of a warmer tone, the title will be right above the man in the photo and my name will be in the right hand bottom corner, in black so it all stands out.
Mood board of images I will use:
Text I will add in my zine
As it is all to do with fishing and fishermen and their story I will have a small introduction in the beginning that is presented in sea shanty form.
Narrative is essentially the way a story is told. For instance, you have the option to narrate various versions of the same tale. It is a highly subjective process with no correct or incorrect answer. Whether your photographic story is of good quality is a different question.
A narrative takes shape as you establish connections between multiple images (and/or text) and display them together. The way you choose and arrange images in a story is crucial for shaping the narrative. The photo-zine’s structure and design also reflect this idea. Yet, it is crucial to determine the nature of your story before deciding on the approach you want to take in conveying it.
How to Plan:
Create a detailed specification outlining your approach and strategy for exploring A Love Story. You must plan to complete a minimum of 3 photoshoots within the next 2-3 weeks, which may involve specific photo tasks. What kind of appearance and atmosphere do you want your images to have? Incorporate artists and photographers’ visual references regarding style, approach, intentions, aesthetics concept, and outcome. Keep in mind that the end result should be a 16-page photo magazine, so you must edit a final set of 12-16 images that, when sequenced together, form a story that visually represents your love story.
Lewis Bush discusses various books he has created that offer diverse narrative structures, ranging from straightforward to avant-garde. Books that reinterpret the stories from other books, books that allow for reading in both directions, and books that have no predetermined storyline. I am currently developing a narrative that moves back and forth in time simultaneously, as well as another book that will not be real, meaning its narrative will not exist either.
‘One story can spawn many narratives, a fact that, in contrast to photography, is well understood in literature and cinema….when I say ‘I’m going to tell you a story’ I actually tell you a narrative of that story.’
In a follow article titled ‘Photographic Narrative: Between Cinema and Novel,’ Lewis Bush discusses various examples from cinema, literature, and photography, identifying the unique strengths and weaknesses of each medium.
In Bush’s view, photography’s narrative strength is:
‘It’s sheer power of description.’ A single photograph can depict a scene with a verisimilitude which pages of written account would still fail to capture. It is this quality which led photography to be first employed for practices like crime scene and incomplete , in place of the unreliable memory and incomplete notes that had previously been relied upon.
MY STORY:
My story will be the looking at the history of jersey by looking at the photos and seeing how the harbour is now.
NARRATIVE:
Decided to keep most of the images black and white because it makes it look more interesting since the harbour is pretty old. For the second page of my booklet I’m going to talk a bit about Jersey Marina and on the 4th page I am going to talk a bit about Brian Nibbs who is the CEO of Jersey Harbours All the other pages are going to be portraits or landscapes of the harbour.
These are the images I am thinking to use: (10 – 16 pages)
A zine (short for “magazine” or “fanzine”) is a self-published, often small-circulation work that typically focuses on a specific topic, theme, or subculture. Zines are usually created by individuals or small groups and can take many forms, including pamphlets, booklets, or digital formats.
What will my zine be?
Theme:
Tradition and Heritage
Focus on the historical significance of fishing in St. Helier, showcasing the practices and lifestyles of local fishermen. Highlight the importance of preserving these traditions in a changing world.
2. Connection to Nature
Explore the relationship between fishermen and the sea. Consider themes of sustainability, environmental impact, and the beauty of the natural landscape surrounding the harbour.
Labour and Craftsmanship
Emphasize the hard work and skill involved in fishing. Document the tools, techniques, and daily routines that define the life of fishermen, celebrating their craftsmanship.
Tone and Style
Zines have a distinct tone and style for several reasons, zines are often created by individuals or small groups, allowing for a unique voice. The tone reflects the creator’s personality, beliefs, and experiences, making the content feel more intimate and relatable, The tone and style are often tailored to resonate with a specific audience. Whether it’s humorous, serious, or experimental, the approach helps to engage readers who share similar interests or values, and Many zines address social or political issues, and the tone can be used to critique or challenge mainstream narratives. A bold, confrontational style might be employed to provoke thought, while a more reflective tone might invite empathy.
What would be the tone and style of my zine?
Nostalgia – Evoke a sense of history and connection to the past, celebrating the traditions of fishing and the stories of local fishermen.
Warm and Inviting – Create a friendly, approachable atmosphere that draws readers in, making them feel a part of the fishing community.
Visual collage – Incorporate a mix of photographs, hand-drawn elements, and text to create a dynamic layout. This can reflect the eclectic nature of life in the harbour.
Minimal text – Use concise, poignant captions or snippets of narrative alongside images, allowing the visuals to speak for themselves while providing context.
I took 392 photos around jersey St Helier Harbour.
i started editing the 43 photos i selected.
Harbour Photoshoot 1 edited
This is my first photoshoot from around st Helier harbour, I edited them on Lightroom, never did too much mainly changed exposure and lighting or cropped the images, next to most of them you can see how I edited them, the last few are main ones I was very pleased about and was fairly certain I was going to use for my final product.
Harbour photoshoot 2
We went around the harbour again for a second time to take even more photos.
we started in the maritime museum to have a talk and look around to take photos.
In this photoshoot I took around 351 photos, very similar to last time, I then went through and selected which ones I liked the best, and also to limit down on ones I had to edit.
What are the differences between photographs that are mirrors or windows?
According to John Szarkowski, Photography falls into 2 categories of either being Mirrors or Windows. As Szarkowski states “The distance between in terms of their conceptions of what a photograph is: it is a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?”. To explain it simply, when creating a photograph, does it capture/represent you as an artist, either abstractly or normal (Mirror). Or does it show the exterior world, with all its natural elements (Window).
Other words that can be used to describe Mirror photography include:
Subjective
Reflective
Interpretation
Personal
Characteristic
Individual
Unique
Staged
Non-Candid
Aesthetic
Tableaux
Romantacism
Fiction
Manipulated
Other words that can be used to describe Window photography include:
Documentative
Non-fiction
Realism
Candid
Aesthetic
Naturalisltic
Unaltered
Genuine
Objective
Straight
Optical
Views
Artists that include Mirrors and Windows:
Henri Cartier Bresson –
Henri Cartier-Bresson, previously studied for his use of the decisive moment when taking photographs, can be said to be create windows within his work. With many of his images taken on the street, with candid shots of the everyday passer-by, Cartier-Bresson can be said to show the world around us within his work, with no images of himself within his projects, this shows his aim is not to explore his own identity as an artist but the others around him. His photobook ‘Europeans’ is a good example as this collection documents aesthetically people all other Europe in the years from 1930 -1980.
Nan Goldin –
Representative of her own life, Goldin first displayed her work within Bars and nightclubs in the 80’s and 90’s to audiences, for her photos her subjects consisted of “entirely of the people in the slide show, my lovers and friends.” as Goldin states. Through photographing these people close to her this contributes to the mirror aspects of Szarkowski’s photography concept.
