Further edits:

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

Edited images:

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

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

It has been more than 400 years since the first Islanders crossed the Atlantic in search of work. They went to raid the cod-rich seas of the American and Canadian coast.

When the first Europeans reached Canada is unknown, but it is thought to be Italian explorer John Cabot’s descriptions of ‘new found lands’ and a sea swarming with fish in 1497 that attracted fishermen to the north of the continent.

By the beginning of the 16th-century Basque fishermen were travelling to the region to fish and, by 1580, around 10,000 European fishermen were making the transatlantic voyage to the area each year to fish for cod.

Channel Island fishermen were among these and by the 1750s they had set up lucrative trade routes between Canada, Europe and America, establishing bases on the Gaspé Coast where they could salt and prepare the cod for selling (merchants).

Which ports did Jersey ships sail to and trade with

A Collective effort to build harbours did not begin until the late 17th century, when work began on building a pier on the islet where St Aubin’s fort stands. During the 18th century St Aubin’s harbour proper was constructed and work began on developing St Helier as a port, although the capital had to wait until the 19th century before it really began to develop as a port.

It was during the early 19th century that stone piers were built at La Rocque, Bouley Bay, Rozel and Gorey, to accommodate the oyster boats. The harbour at Gorey also took passenger traffic from Normandy. The primary purpose of these harbours was the movement of cargoes and not people.

jersey fishermen voyaged to coasts such as Gaspé, here was where they salted and prepare the cod for trade and travel. All year round Fishermen could travel and fish, seas held large amounts of fish, nearer the coast proved itself hard for most fisherman who were unfamiliar with shallow waters, changing tided and rocky shores however Channel Islanders had plenty experience with coastal fishing and made use of their skills. Other ports included that on the Newfoundland, South America and others. Main ports which ships travelled to during their trades consisted of Bristol, London, Liverpool.

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

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)?

• No 9 Pier road, is known as the ‘Merchant house’ and is a Victorian townhouse which was built by Philippe Nicolle in 1818 using money he inherited from his great uncles involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
  The building is now part of the Jersey museum.

• John Frederick Gibaut was a Jersey man who owned one of the largest sugar plantations, ran by slaves, in El Salvador during the mid 1800s. It ended up going bankrupt around the time slavery was abolished.

• TW: Peter Pierre, Thomas Mallet and Parry were jersey men who sailed with the captain John Kimber, in 1797 from Gold Coast to Barbados with 409 Slaves. Sadly one of the Slaves passed away on the boat and the captain was accused of killing her because she refused to dance naked.

In conclusion Jersey benefited economically from the slave trade due Jersey men who had businesses involving the trade and ship masters whose boats were used to capture slaves.

mood board/inspiration for up and coming harbour photoshoot

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

Edit set 1:

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

Edit set 2:

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

Edit set 3:

Edit set 4:

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

Edit set 5:

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

Edit set 6:

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

Experimentation 1:

What i did:

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.

Chosen picture 1:

Editing:

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.

Channel Islands Maritime History

The Channel Islands consist of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and some smaller islands which were all separated from mainland Europe as a result of the rising sea levels during the Neolithic period. Following this event, maritime activity commenced due to islanders wanting to earn money through trade and investing capital in maritime business. From the 15th to late 18th centuries, trading became more popular due to the technical improvements of ships and navigation, allowing people to sail for days on end. This increase in trade lasted up until the Napoleonic Wars.

Through trading, the Channel Islands were given concessions such as dried cod from Newfoundland and Gaspe coast, cloth, wine, wool, leather and household goods. After the opening of Grand Bank fisheries, one of the World’s richest fishing grounds (located South of Newfoundland), Jersey and Guernsey formed colonies which would catch fish and dry them. Cod was very valuable at this time and they would exchange this fish in the West Indies and later Brazil too for plantation goods such as sugar, molasses, rum, cotton, coffee and tobacco.

Charles Robin, one of Jersey’s premier cod-merchants, founded the Charles Robin Company in 1766. This was a company based in Gaspe where they produced and sold cod. Robin produced 2 different types of salted cod, green and yellow. Green cod was wet salted cod which was not dry-cured and yellow had been dry cured. Robin would often sell his green cod in markets in the Caribbean or North East Brazil as it had a shorter shelf-life than yellow cod. In exchange for the green cod, Robin would receive plantation goods which he then would trade in the Mediterranean, England and Jersey. For yellow cod, Charles Robin would sell it in markets in Europe, mainly Portugal, Spain and Italy as they had Large Roman Catholic populations. At this time, Roman Catholics had a high demand for fish due to them only eating fish for the day each Friday. This cod-fish was traded for products such as wine, fruits, spirits, spices and salt (used in the curing process). They then brought these goods to Jersey and British ports before returning to Canada.

Overall, the Island benefitted from the profits made in the British Empire at this time, which were highly built on the slave trade during the Industrial Revolution. This is due to slaves being the ones who would farm the goods to be traded. Additionally, there is evidence that ships would leave St Helier Harbour with supplies to be taken to slave stations in West Africa. An example is Cape Cod Castle on the Gold Coast of Ghana. This was a fort which was highly involved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Since the prehistoric days to today, the sea has been Jersey’s way of connecting to the outside world. We are surrounded by water meaning people would use our maritime routes to people travel and settle making new families and communities. For the island communities, their ports and piers are symbolic and practically significant.

The islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, were separated from mainland Europe with rising sea levels in the Neolithic period, which is when maritime activity commenced.

Needing to trade, the islanders were innovative. Over time they built up skills, earning money and investing capital in maritime businesses.

Jersey merchants sold and bought cod from Canada. Many merchants were engaged in the Atlantic trade, referred to as the ‘merchant triangle’ with commodities of manufactured goods and agricultural products.

They sailed to and/or traded with the British Empire, other European colonies in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, South America and even going to Hong Kong and Australia.

Sugar, molasses, rum, cotton, coffee and tobacco were all different good which Jersey merchants exchanged for cod-fish.

Jersey cod-merchants also exported cod-fish to British colonies in the West Indies and later Brazil in exchange for plantation goods, which it brought to markets in America, Europe and the UK (including Jersey). Because of this, Jersey benefitted from the profits made in the British Empire build on a capitalist model of a slave-based economy.

Stories of the sea, about voyages, encounters and even shipwrecks holds mythological and romantic notions in the imagination of humans. For centuries, artists, writers, poets and filmmakers have been inspired by the see and the unknown secrets of it.

Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa.1818–19. Oil on canvas

Jersey’s Harbour History

St Aubin harbour in early 19th century

St Aubin used to be the main harbour for Jersey merchants. St Helier then became the central maritime hub. However, St Helier harbours were too small for the larger ships and increasing tonnages, with both drying out at low tide. So, Jersey added a few piers to its harbour, such as Victoria and Albert Piers.

View of St Helier Harbour, 1903 © Société Jersiaise

St. Helier Harbour and Waterfront, present day

Saint Helier Harbour is the now main harbour in Jersey. It’s on the south coast of the island, and occupies most of the coast of St. Helier.

Going to the maritime museum helped open my eyes and get a perspective of jerseys past, there were many interesting interactive item in the museum which made it fun and entertaining to explore. There were many picture of important people with little descriptions to help identify and understand how and why they were important to jerseys history. the museum also had many boat models that we could look at and identify the main reasons they were used and what they looked like. I really enjoying exploring the museum and understanding how each of these items have a historical meaning and representation. This photoshoot helped me learn songs and stories of the sea, and investigate the island’s myths and legends. I would say that this was a really good experience even though not all of my photos are usable but they do show some historical and important pieces that represent an important factor to the museum.

links I used to help me write about the maritime museum:

https://www.jersey.com/things-to-do/attractions/listings/maritime-museum-and-occupation-tapestry-gallery

My photoshoot took place down at Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive and St Helier Harbour in order to show the history and development of Jersey’s maritime culture and how the fishing industry substantially benefits Jersey’s survival.

CONTACT SHEETS:

Due to the weather conditions being poor, I took multiple images of the same thing in order to ensure the wind and rain didn’t make the camera go out of focus or blur. This meant that I could go through each selection in sections and choose which images had the best composition.

MY EDITS:

I think these two images are really successful as I have been able to make the seagulls, birds which are very common to Jersey as we have hundreds surrounding the island (alongside them being native to the sea), the main focal point of my image by making my background of the harbour become blurred. I feel that this has worked very well because, although I am still taking images of the harbour, this makes the image more interesting and tell a better story as its a quiet nod to the type of environment these people are working in every day, with the gloomy weather contributing to that.

For this, I used a horizontal cropping technique after completely zooming out my camera lens in order to not only capture the vastness of ships loading and unloading, but also make this appear as a panoramic as this meant that the harbour was the sole focus of the image and not taken up by negative space – a large amount of the sky or sea.

I selected this image because not only did I think the vertical angle makes the focal point of the boat look extremely large in comparison to the men working on the boat, but I feel that this juxtaposes images of teams of fishermen in the past working on large ships with little equipment at all towards this image of two men on a modernised sailing boat using high level technology to manoeuvre it.

Similarly, I feel that this boat suggests the same idea.

I liked this image because of the way the diagonal angle makes this image look more dramatic and mysterious, as if someone is slyly moving through the harbour trying to remain unnoticed. As well as this, it means there are many ambiguous lines moving and pointing in all directions, creating a cross-hatched type of pattern scattering across the screen and making the viewers eyes be signalled all over the screen.

I selected this image as I felt it tells the story on how these cargo ships and loaded or unloaded, as well as showing a contrast from how fishermen used to have to manually perform these acts at great difficulty in comparison to this industry becoming more modernised and using heavy machinery through Ports of Jersey in order to complete jobs and tasks with more efficiency.

I took these images of the Ariadne steam clock because, not only is it the largest in the world, it is a full-scale replica of the centre section of a paddleboat. I thought it would be useful to incorporate this into my work because it resembles a ships funnel and reflects Jersey’s long association with the sea.

This image here is a memorial dedicated to the RNLI, a crew of dedicated volunteers and staff concerned with the dangers of commercial fishing and keeping fishermen safe whilst at work. I wanted to photograph this as I felt it was really important due to this company being one of the main helpers in times of danger, for example if a fisherman is experiencing trouble at sea during rogue weathers, possibly in a storm.

These images are of an abstract structure of three block coloured anchors spiralling up into the air.

These two images depict a ships anchor, put into both monochrome and colour as whilst in the colour it has rich shades of red, I also liked the way the black and white version looked more modest.

I took this image of the roof of the maritime museum, crowded by a statue of a woman which would have been seen on the bow of an old ship, accompanied by a weather vane. I felt these two factors were relevant here because not only does it note the history of the structure of ships and shows the modernised change in the way they are manufactured, but also a weather vane which would’ve been important for fisherman to use in order to see the strength and direction of the wind before setting off to sea. As well as this, I feel that this is very important to show because the fact that a woman was placed on the bow of these ships shows the way traditional roles and social norms were – the men working doing these dangerous jobs whilst the wife sits at home looking after the children.

In this image, I really liked the way the buoy in the foreground, used in emergency situations when someone is in the water, and puts the harbour behind it out of focus. As well as this, I feel that this shows the extensive length of the harbour and makes it look bold.

I took this image facing down the stairs into the harbours waters, where many sailing boats and dinghy boats used to sail out to them, because this would be the perspective of a fisherman when going down into the boat to set sail.

In this image, I took it at a diagonal angle in order to capture the red buoy with the long stretch of harbour following behing it. I think that this worked really well because of the way the smaller boats are piling on top of eachother in the foreground, however as the camera pans back the boats are in a more relaxed state.

Typologies:

During my photoshoot, I took some images of structures created for and around the sea, in use and not, which are used for communications of fisherman at sea and with the island. I took them in this style because I felt as I feel that the anonymity this style provides makes the image more powerful as it is the focal point in the image and placed in the centre, showing significance and importance. As well as this, I feel that its a minimalistic way to show how, as a society, we find ways to update and advance technology, being applicable here through the way Jersey’s maritime history has gone from voyages at sea for months on end with no practical way to communicate back to the island, to a consistently developing fishing culture.

History:

This image is of one of many plaques placed on a benches, stating the name, weight and date of which one of the many sailing boats were in use within the harbour. I wanted to include this within my work as I feel that this acts like a memoir to the past, showing the kind of language these fishermen used and the old fashioned manor of which these boats were spoken about. I also think that the use of a harsh font portrays a viewpoint of strength and power, announcing that these boats were of high status at the time and extremely significant to the advancements made.

I selected this image of a reconstructed cannon because I liked the way I took it from a low angle, following upwards through the spine of the cannon. This is because I feel that this shows the depth and length of this weapon, and gives a powerful and bold feel to the images, specifically in black and white.

Down on the side of the lighthouse within my other images, a plaque dedicated to a person during concentration times and tells a story about this. This is important because it’s informative of Jersey’s history and stands as a idolisation of someone, fighting for their country.

This mural on the wall of the car park overlooking the harbour depicts a story of World War cargo ships and fisherman working to import and export cod in a black and white tone, contrasted against bright solid colours of red, cyan and yellow showing our society now and the simpler way these jobs are carried out now.