SUMMER PROJECT: FAMILY AND ‘UNION’

Next academic year we will explore the theme of ‘UNION’, especially in relation to the unit Personal Study where students develop a personal photographic project. In the past students have derived ideas based on family history and this summer task is developed with that in mind as you may visit near or distant family relatives, which gives you an opportunity to have conversations with members, such as grand parents, uncles/ aunties and siblings etc. These conversations could lead to learning about their past and uncover ‘stories’ you may want to explore as a photography student.

MY FAMILY: Explore your own private archives such as photo-albums, home movies, diaries, letters, birth-certificates, boxes, objects, mobile devices, online/ social media platforms and make a blog post with a selection of material that can be used for further development and experimentation using a variety of re-staging or montage techniques .

Archives can be a rich source for finding starting points on your creative journey. This will strengthen your research and lead towards discoveries about the past that will inform the way you interpret the present and anticipate the future. See more Public/ Private Archives

For example, you can focus on the life on one parent, grand-parent, family relative, or your own childhood and upbringing. Ask other family members (parents, grand-parents, aunties, uncles) if you can look through their photo-albums too etc.

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Family photo-albums
Pictures appear on the smartphone photo sharing application Instagram on April 10, 2012 in Paris, one day after Facebook announced a billion-dollar-deal to buy the startup behind Instagram. The free mini-program lets people give classic looks to square photos using "filters" and then share them at Twitter, Facebook or other social networks. AFP PHOTO THOMAS COEX (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP/GettyImages)
Digital images stored on mobile phones, uploaded on social media etc.

TASKS STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE: 

  1. Either scan or re-photograph archival material so that it is digitised and ready for use on the blog and further experimentation.
  2. Plan at least one photo-shoot and make a set of images that respond to your archival research. This can be re-staging old photos or make a similar set of images, eg. portraits of family members and how they have changed over the years, or snapshots of social and family gatherings.
  3. Choose one of your images which relates to the theme of family (e.g. archive, family album, or new image you have made) and destroy the same image in 5 different ways using both analogue and digital method techniques. Eg. Reprint old and new photos and combine using scissors/ tearing and glue/ tape. In Photoshop use a variety of creative tools to cut and paste fragments of images to create composites.
  4. Produce appropriate blogposts with both family research, archival material and new photographic responses and experiments.

Extension: Choose a second image and destroy it in 5 new or other ways.

Jonny Briggs: In search of lost parts of my childhood I try to think outside the reality I was socialised into and create new ones with my parents and self. Through these I use photography to explore my relationship with deception, the constructed reality of the family, and question the boundaries between my parents and I, between child/adult, self/other, nature/culture, real/fake in attempt to revive my unconditioned self, beyond the family bubble. Although easily assumed to be photoshopped or faked, upon closer inspection the images are often realised to be more real than first expected. Involving staged installations, the cartoonesque and the performative, I look back to my younger self and attempt to re-capture childhood nature through my assuming adult eyes.

Thomas Sauvin and Kensuke Koike: ‘No More, No Less’
In 2015, French artist Thomas Sauvin acquired an album produced in the early 1980s by an unknown Shanghai University photography student. This volume was given a second life through the expert hands of Kensuke Koike, a Japanese artist based in Venice whose practice combines collage and found photography. The series, “No More, No Less”, born from the encounter between Koike and Sauvin, includes new silver prints made from the album’s original negatives. These prints were then submitted to Koike’s sharp imagination, who, with a simple blade and adhesive tape, deconstructs and reinvents the images. However, these purely manual interventions all respect one single formal rule: nothing is removed, nothing is added, “No More, No Less”. In such a context that blends freedom and constraint, Koike and Sauvin meticulously explore the possibilities of an image only made up of itself.

Veronica Gesicka Traces presents a selection of photomontages created by Weronika Gęsicka on the basis of American stock photographs from the 1950s and 1960s. Family scenes, holiday memories, everyday life – all of that suspended somewhere between truth and fiction. The images, modified by Gęsicka in various ways, are wrapped in a new context: our memories of the people and situations are transformed and blur gradually. Humorous as they may seem, Gęsicka’s works are a comment on such fundamental matters as identity, self-consciousness, relationships, imperfection.

Mask XIV 2006

John Stezaker: Is a British artist who is fascinated by the lure of images. Taking classic movie stills, vintage postcards and book illustrations, Stezaker makes collages to give old images a new meaning. By adjusting, inverting and slicing separate pictures together to create unique new works of art, Stezaker explores the subversive force of found images. Stezaker’s famous Mask series fuses the profiles of glamorous sitters with caves, hamlets, or waterfalls, making for images of eerie beauty.

His ‘Dark Star’ series turns publicity portraits into cut-out silhouettes, creating an ambiguous presence in the place of the absent celebrity. Stezaker’s way of giving old images a new context reaches its height in the found images of his Third Person Archive: the artist has removed delicate, haunting figures from the margins of obsolete travel illustrations. Presented as images on their own, they now take the centre stage of our attention

There are different ways artists and photographers have explored their own, or other families in their work as visual storytellers. Some explore family using a documentary approach to storytelling, others construct or stage images that may reflect on their childhood, memories, or significant events drawing inspiration from family archives/ photo albums and often incorporating vernacular images into the narrative and presenting the work as a photobook.

Rita Puig-Serra Costa (Where Mimosa Bloom)  vs Laia Abril (The Epilogue)> artists exploring personal issues > vernacular vs archival > inside vs outside

Rita Puig-Serra Coasta, Where Mimosa Bloom
Laia Abril, The Epiloque

Carole Benitah (Photo Souvenirs) vs Diane Markosian (Inventing My Father) > family > identity > memory > absence > trauma

Carole Benitah, Photo-Souvenirs
This is the closet thing I had to an image of my father. A cut out of him in my mother’s photo album.

Ugne Henriko (Mother and Daughter) vs Irina Werning or Chino Otsuka > re-staging images > re-enacting memories

Ugne Henriko, Mother & Daughter

Read article in The Guardian

Irene Werning,Back to the Future
Chino Otsuka

Picture Story Two

This was inspired by café culture in St Malo.

This is the title

This is the text I have put and it explains café culture in France.

This is my first image and it shows one café that I liked.

This is my second image and it shows an ice scream parlour in St Malo.

This is my third image and it shows a different side to café culture in France.

This is my fourth image and this was taken from a café.

This is my fifth image and this is were the workmen are paining a café.

This is my sixth image and there is a server giving drinks to people.

This is my seventh image and it shows a server taking someone’s order.

This is the final picture story.

I love the black and white detail in this picture story.

Saint Malo Trip

Contact Sheet and Image Selection

Edits and Successful Images

While Editing

Virtual Gallery with Final Images

Picture Stories

Mood Board

Analysis and Deconstruction

Picture Story Process

Final Picture Story

Topographics- Photoshoot

-Inspired by Stephen Shore

Mood Board

Examples of Stephen Shores Images:

Stephen Shore, 46°11.409946N, 110°44.018901W, from Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape (2023). Courtesy of the artist and MACK Books
Stephen Shore, 45°40.185653N, 111°1.104876W, from Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape (2023). Courtesy of the artist and MACK Books
Stephen Shore. Double Dip, 1323 S. Polk. 1971
Stephen Shore. Civic Center, 3rd & Buchanan. 1971

Photoshoot Plan: New Topographics Inspired by Stephen Shore

Concept:
The photoshoot will focus on capturing the theme of urban and suburban spaces in their most mundane, untouched form. Drawing inspiration from Stephen Shore’s work, particularly his exploration of empty and often overlooked places such as car parks, empty garages, and other man-made landscapes, the goal is to document these spaces with a sense of neutrality, evoking a feeling of detachment and observation. The photographs will highlight the ordinary, unromanticised side of urban life.

Location Ideas:

  1. Empty Car Parks: Look for large, open car parks that are devoid of cars. The empty spaces, lines, and surrounding environment will help evoke the sense of isolation often seen in Shore’s photographs.
  2. Empty Garages: Industrial or residential garages that are empty and perhaps slightly worn-down, showing traces of human use without any actual human presence.
  3. Abandoned Buildings or Industrial Spaces: If accessible, these types of locations can also serve as great spaces to capture large, empty areas with elements of decay or wear.
  4. Suburban Streets or Pavements: Capture empty roads, curbs, or pavements that represent quiet, everyday suburban life.

1. Human-Altered Landscapes

The New Topographics movement is focused on showcasing how landscapes have been changed by human activity, whether through urban expansion, industrialisation, or suburban growth. For my photoshoot, I’ve chosen to focus on spaces like empty car parks and garages, which are clear examples of environments shaped by human use.

These spaces are often overlooked, yet when they’re uninhabited, they take on new meaning. The human impact is evident, but the people themselves are absent. This reflects the New Topographics approach of documenting landscapes that are transformed by human hands, without idealising them. These spaces—though simple and ordinary—serve as a reflection of how humans have reshaped their environment, making them an ideal subject for this project.

2. Neutral Style

Stephen Shore, an influential figure in the New Topographics movement, adopted a detached, observational style, steering clear of romanticising his subjects. He approached his photography as an observer rather than a storyteller, and I plan to use a similar approach.

  • I will be using wide-angle shots to highlight the scale and emptiness of these spaces, allowing the viewer to experience them as they are, without exaggeration or distortion.
  • My focus will be on neutral colours, such as muted greys, faded parking lines, and the subtle tones of concrete. This avoids any dramatic colouring, staying true to the unembellished aesthetic associated with New Topographics photography.
  • By concentrating on empty, mundane spaces like car parks and garages, I aim to achieve a documentary-like quality. The absence of human figures in these settings emphasises the detached, observational style, which is a key characteristic of Shore’s work.

3. Suburban Development

The New Topographics photographers were concerned with how human development—specifically suburban growth and industrialisation—was altering the landscape. My photoshoot ties into this theme by exploring the quieter, often unnoticed aspects of urban and suburban life.

By capturing spaces like car parks and garages, I am focusing on environments that have been significantly shaped by modern development but are often overlooked. These spaces may appear unremarkable, but they reflect the larger trend of human intervention in the landscape, a topic that was central to the New Topographics movement. I aim to subtly highlight how everyday spaces are products of the growing influence of urbanisation and suburban sprawl.

4. Sense of Detachment

A defining feature of New Topographics photography is its emotional neutrality. Photographers like Shore sought to portray landscapes without evoking strong feelings or making dramatic statements. They simply observed and captured the world around them, allowing the viewer to form their own interpretations.

For my photoshoot, I plan to adopt a similar approach by focusing on empty spaces such as car parks and garages. These places, typically associated with human activity, will be devoid of people, creating a sense of stillness and detachment.

This lack of human presence invites the viewer to engage with the space itself, rather than the people who might typically occupy it. The emptiness encourages reflection on the environment in its raw state, without imposing any emotional bias. This aligns with the New Topographics approach of presenting the landscape in its simplest form without sentimentality or nostalgia.

Styling & Composition:

  • Focus on Symmetry: As Stephen Shore often uses formal compositions, ensure your framing is centred and balanced. This can mean straight lines in the foreground, like parking spaces or road markings, leading the viewer’s eye through the image.
  • Neutral and Cool Tones: While Stephen Shore is known for his use of vibrant colour, aim for a somewhat neutral colour palette to emphasise the emptiness of these places. Aim for soft or muted tones (grey parking lines, pale concrete, and washed-out colours) to give a sense of stillness and quiet.
  • Depth of Field: Use a deep depth of field to keep everything in focus, capturing every detail of the space, from the foreground to the background. This will create the sense of clarity and documentary feel typical of Shore’s work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my photoshoot aligns with the principles of the New Topographics movement by:

  • Documenting human-altered landscapes like empty car parks and garages, which reflect how human activity has reshaped the environment.
  • Using a neutral, objective style with wide-angle shots and subdued colours, staying true to the unembellished, observational approach typical of Shore’s work.
  • Commenting on suburban development by focusing on the overlooked spaces that are a direct result of modern growth and urbanisation.
  • Creating a sense of detachment by photographing spaces that are empty, inviting viewers to reflect on the built environment without emotional influence.
  1. First photoshoot inspired and influenced by New Topographics. (+100 photographs). Remember to include examples of work by photographers associated with that exhibition/ movement that have influenced your work.
  2. Select, consider and decide on best images (show contact sheets)
  3. Develop ideas through digital manipulation (ie: cropping, contrast, colour balance etc.)
  4. Realise a final outcome.

Contact Sheet

My First Location

I chose to photograph this green metal shed in the middle of grassland because it captures the quiet, everyday quality that Stephen Shore is known for. The shed isn’t dramatic or traditionally beautiful, but that’s exactly why it stood out to me, it feels ordinary, yet out of place in its setting.

The contrast between the man-made structure and the open, natural surroundings reflects Shore’s interest in how humans shape and interrupt landscapes. The shed feels isolated and slightly neglected, which adds to the atmosphere of stillness and subtle tension that I wanted to capture.

The green colour of the shed blends slightly with the grass, but still stands out enough to catch the eye, much like Shore’s use of soft, natural colour palettes. I composed the image in a straightforward way, without exaggerating perspective or lighting, to reflect his neutral, observational style.

This image fits into my wider New Topographics theme by showing a functional human object in a natural space, asking the viewer to notice and reflect on how we leave marks on the environment.

Experimenting with Editing

I edited The images in slightly different ways, but I found that the images that have minimal editing just a slight warmness actually make a bigger impact compared to the over edited ones as it shows the contrast between the industrial looking shed and the natural landscape that surrounds it.

Here I used one of the filters on lightroom to subtly edit the sky and make it slightly warmer toned as it creates a softer appearance.

Experimenting with photoshop

Editing

My Second Location

I photographed an abandoned petrol station/ garage and an abandoned car because it perfectly fits the New Topographics theme of human-altered spaces that feel overlooked or in transition.

This setting reflects Stephen Shore’s interest in ordinary, functional places and how they age or lose purpose over time. The overgrown bushes and natural regrowth surrounding and amongst the garage shows how nature slowly reclaims man-made spaces. Which adds an ironic aspect to the image, what once was a site of fuel is now slowly being overtaken by plants.

I kept the composition clean and neutral, with natural lighting, to reflect Shore’s straightforward, documentary style. The image invites the viewer to consider the relationship between technology, space, and abandonment without romanticising it.

My Third Location

I photographed the abandoned building, possibly a workshop because it reflects the quiet decay of once-functional spaces. It fits the New Topographics theme by showing a human-altered environment that’s no longer serving its original purpose.

The workshop’s empty, worn-down feel creates a sense of stillness and abandonment. Like Stephen Shore, I was interested in capturing the dullness of the everyday, focusing on natural light, muted colour, and a straightforward composition to let the scene speak for itself.

My Final Location

The abandoned mental hospital stood out to me as a powerful symbol of memory, and neglect. It connects to the New Topographics by documenting a place with deep human significance that has since been left behind. I aimed to present the hospital as it is—quiet, empty, and unsettling in its stillness.

Shutter speed and movement

The shutter speed is what controls how much light enters.

You use a low shutter speed for more light, you get an outcome like this, it takes a lot longer to capture the image and you need to put it on a tripod.

Fast shutter speed can capture moments precisely, it shoots really fast, you don’t need a lot of light.

Typology

In photography, typology means taking a series of photos of similar things—like buildings, faces, or objects—shot in the same way, to show how they’re alike and different.

Photographers often:

  • Use the same angle, lighting, and framing.
  • Show the photos in a grid or series.
  • Focus on patterns or comparisons.

Typology in photography started with Bernd and Hilla Becher in Germany in the 1950s. They took photos of similar buildings, like water towers, all in the same style to compare how they looked.

Their work inspired many other photographers, and this way of taking photos became known as photographic typology.

here is an example of one of there pieces called “water towers”

I went down to Gorey in the Jersey Channel islands to attempt a typology photoshoot, I went in with the original plan to get photos of trees but ended up getting drawed in by the various road signs and ended up doing a typology photoshoot of them.

Here are the photos of trees i got but didn’t end up really liking:

Then i noticed a couple street signs and switched to taing photos of them:

Street Photography Photospread

Here are my newspaper inspired photospreads that I made from my street photography images which I took in St Helier Jersey CI, I made 3 variants…

This is my first variant:

This is my second variant:

This is my third variant:

Here are close ups of the text I used

I only ended up using my second and third variant as I thought they worked well together, here is both of them printed and framed.

This is my second variant of my photospread

This is my third variant of my photospread

Picture Story One

First I started with deciding a title.

This is my first image I have placed on my picture story. This is the establishing shot which explains what the image is about.

Next I added text to explain what work there is in St Malo and France.

This is the second image that I have placed on my picture story.

This is third image and it shows two people that are at work on a construction site. I have added a caption to explain what is in the image. The person at work image shows what people do in their daily live and what they do for a job.

This is the fourth image in my picture story and it shows a different sector of work in St Malo.

This is my fifth image in my picture story and it shows hospitality and restaurant work in St Malo.

This is my sixth image in my picture story and it shows harbour work at the ferry port to keep travel flowing.

This is my final picture in my picture story and it shows work in cafes and hospitality.

This is the final picture story and I have added a light blue sphere in the background to add more colour and so it matches the different shades of blue I have used.

This is the complete picture story.

I have added gaps between the images so they don’t look squashed and so there is a balanced amount of negative space so the picture looks balanced and proportional.

Feedback On The Picture Story

Original picture before feedback.

This is my picture story which contains feedback. On how to improve my images and the picture story as a whole.

I have now added some space between the images. Which was part of my feedback.

I have now added one caption, to further explain one image and to show what they are doing.

This is now the final picture story and the picture in the top left is the establishing shot, which will set the scene for the picture story. All my images link to the title which means ‘working in St Malo‘. All images show people working in different ways which includes construction, retail, building and cafes.