Photobook

Link to my Online Photobook: An Island Coven; Jersey’s Witches from Ritual to Trial

Virtual Gallery

Written Evaluation

I think that this project was highly successful as I have been able to create high quality, strong images that tell the story of Jersey’s witches. I performed 6 separate photoshoots that were all meticulously planned, and I believe that my best images came from Mont Orgueil Castle. By working with a single actor and lighting assistant, I was able to produce images like:

The majority of these images are monochrome to force the darkness to control the atmosphere created by the image. However, I do believe that I could have created more colourised final outcomes.

I did however, use photoshop to create double exposed images that combined both monochrome portraits and colourised landscapes that provide deeper stories and meanings behind each photograph.

My intentions from the beginning were to tell a story using historical documents and evidence as well as specific sites that were prominent during the infamous witch trials. I believe that I succeeded in displaying this idea through my photobook, finding creative ways to combine the images that I gathered with the information collected from a wide range of resources.

By using Andrea Eichenberger’s series of images from ‘Le Milles Briques’ as a basis, I was able to create emotive photographs in the dungeons of Mont Orgueil Castle, gathering both portrait and landscape images that could be presented together to develop the story.

Bernd and Hiller Bechers’ typology techniques are utilised to their full extent when creating my typology study of the dolmens and megalithic remains around the island. I also kept these images monochrome to not only create a historical atmosphere but also because at the time when the Bechers’ were creating images, they were restricted to monochrome imagery.

Some of Sesh Sareday’s images directly influenced some that I used in my project but I feel that they would have better suited a more paranormal study, incorporating slow shutter speeds and shadows more so within the project. Despite this, I believe that the overall project was a huge success in how I took the idea of witchcraft and developed into a personal, historical study, directly relating it to my own interests and the island’s history.