Photo Blog 9

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

The last one on my list for now, so I’ve made it a big one. Something I’ve mentioned before- last April in fact; is the surroundings project I started a few years ago. I kind of didn’t realise at the start that it was going to turn into a project, I was just shooting.

Here’s a bit more about it from my first blog about it:

“So since I’ve recently moved house and city I wanted to talk about an ongoing project that I started a couple of years ago documenting my surroundings as I moved each year whilst at university, I was interested to see where everything would go in each house, what possessions came with me, where they were placed and what I felt was important to have in my immediate surrounds, not tucked away in a box.”

I mentioned at the end of it that I was coming to the end of the project and would release it soon, but afterwards I realised that I probably won’t finish this project for years. So I have some of the images from the past few years for now here’s a bit more about how I figured out were my urge to photograph my surroundings came from:

“This all stemmed from a documentary project I started about my Grandmother and her move from her home to a nursing home. Again, I looked at what initially went with her, where it was placed, what was left behind, what her house looked like when she left and her new bedroom in comparison.”

My main source of research came from Mari Mahr:

http://www.iniva.org/dare/themes/space/mahr.html

I then tied in a few images from a short documentary experiment I tried out when I was packing to move out from home a second time; images of my memory boxes from school, streets I walked everyday and how they’d changed, all that jazz: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeaninemarteau/sets/72157629089415623/

I’ll probably post up the rest of the images from the surroundings projects up soon on flickr, these are the favourites (mostly 35mm):

“At the time, I was a little obsessed with documenting everything- my thoughts, my room and everything in it, my walks, old haunts, and I think this was due to the fact that I knew I was leaving home so I wanted to get it all down. It didn’t help that my room now had all of my old books and toys in it. Staying up to capture perfectly the refections the windows made on the wall and the pattern the rain drops made, I just wanted everything to be recorded, all the little details. I can safely say I’m not that bad anymore but I still understand this urge to reserve the past, to record everything as it was and as it is now.”

http://www.jeaninemariemarteau.co.uk/?p=148

Photo Blog 8

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

Following on from the last few photo blogs that were themed on photo walks, I’m onto the images from my first urban exploring experience in an abandoned hospital.

I didn’t really know what to expect- I’d seen urban exploration images in books and online and a lot of them involved having people in shot on rooftops or in abandoned tumbling down schools with walls graffitied and filthy, debris everywhere. My favourite types of images in this genre are probably anything shot in an old church (whilst anything involving tunnels makes me feel claustrophobic), you see the original structure, bare and now useless. Colour- or lack there of- plays a big part in these images- it lashes out; cutting through all of the muck. We get a sense of what was once there and remember what this place used to be to people when it was inhabited. Large scenes of grand halls are always beautiful- in colour or black and white, these images serve as a documentation of a structure even if it isn’t in use any more, at least it’s not being ignored.

So anyway, my expectations. I didn’t know a great deal about the place, in fact I was a bit scared. Excited but nervous- what if it was unsafe? Everything was fine, of course, once I got there the camera took over:

I took a few more, but these are my favourites:

I loved the colour in the place- you could see the layers of paint coming away to reveal more underneath. It was the same with the building itself- there was something new around every corner. As something I hadn’t done before it was a great experience; it broke the mold of my usual days out my usual photo walks consisted of landscapes and street scenes!

Afterwards- I’m not sure how long- I found the book “Beauty in Decay”. I loved a lot of the work in there and the spaces they were in, how they composed their images and used the lighting, but I was a bit disappointed that a lot of the work had been digitally manipulated. Don’t get me wrong- they all looked great and I appreciate the amount of work that went into them but for me it kind of took away from the beauty in decay- it wasn’t so much about the space but instead what they could do with it, I would have liked to see the original image as well as the edited, then it would have been great to see what inspiration they took from the place and what aspects they wanted to enhance. But hey that’s just me.

So anyway, photo walks and exploring are great outlets and practice for photographers

Photo Blog 7

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

A holiday special!

Seeing as the sun’s out and I’m looking forward to summer especially going away to new places

One theme that has ran through my last couple of photo blogs- and it’s probably been discussed before that- is photo walks; going out specifically to take photographs or taking your camera with you wherever you go, just in case. It’s even better when you’re going somewhere new- I’ve always taken this as an opportunity to document, and it’s exciting different culture, unknown streets, new food.

My last holiday was to Berlin in 2011. But as well as the holiday pics there was a lot of historic aspects of the city to capture, all on 35mm film. It turned out to be a photo holiday with the amount of photo walks this year I’m hoping to have a mixture of galleries, hills and beaches

One of my favourite days of this holiday was when we went to the Bauhaus museum researching this movement back at GCSE stage was one of the main things that inspired my photography and made me want to continue creating, so going to visit a museum dedicated to it inspired me all over again. I often find that when going somewhere new- everything gets refreshed with a change of scenery: that’s partly why I’m looking into mini-breaks this year; more new places

That’s also what I love about photo walks- you don’t know what’s going to influence you. Even the place; there’s nothing stopping you from going back at various times- at sunset, in autumn or in the rain.

Two more photo blogs lined up- themed this time; urban exploration and surroundings.

Photo Blog 6

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

A 35mm special I was inspired my my last photo blog to keep typing away about photo walks and landscape photography. The images on my last blog were all digital, taken on my old D50 when I was still learning/ practicing when out and about on day trips, taking my camera with me.

These images below are from occasions when I went out specifically to take photographs. At the time I had come to grips with using 35mm cameras and wanted to shoot something I’d had a lot of practice in. By this time I’d finished studying and I was burning through film- I needed the outlet of being able to shoot whatever whenever (also I was unemployed), I was nearly desperate to go out and shoot- mainly because I didn’t want my camera’s just sat doing nothing after my degree. I didn’t want to loose a past time and wanted to keep developing skills in something I’d come to love doing.

I was lucky enough to have this practically on my door step in Liverpool. A trip to manchester below, especially to capture streets like this. Autumn is by far my favourite season to shoot in.

It was great working on film as well- I still used digital for plenty of photo walks, especially when I got my new DSLR and began my surge of night photography walks around christmas time. But working on film felt a bit more.. I dunno.. authentic I guess.

In the same batch of film I took a couple of trips back to Lincolnshire for visits and photographs of new places, including Cleethorpes and Twigmore forest:

Some of my favourite images very proud of them! I enjoy seeing how far I’ve come too, and all from going on walks

I’ve got a couple of photo blogs left in que- images from Berlin, my surroundings projects, and urban exploration themed one. Happy I’ve got three blogs out in one day! Next up will be a research blog and a casting call at some point this month

Photo Blog 5

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

Long time no see, Photo Blog.

Today I thought I’d do a multi-blog with several similar images I’d like to write about- not similar in the sense that they look the same, more in terms of similar circumstances, more specifically; photo walks. Photo walks from a few years ago in cumbria and lancashire and north wales and derbyshire and anywhere else we went out as a family on day trips and I took my camera.

I got my first DSLR for my 15th birthday- my old faithful Nikon D50. I was studying photography at GCSE level and took a real shine to it- I’d decided it was what I wanted to do. Of course there was not a lot of work for a 15 year old photographer (people still aren’t keen now on having a 22 year old assistant/ tag along) but I still looked for internships and apprenticeships. There wasn’t much. So it became clear education was the way to go!

So it came down to initiating my own photography projects after I’d finished the GCSE- at this point I was studying Art and Design at college and incorporated photography as much as I could. Even then, I took my camera out at every chance- each road trip or school visit.

I got a lot of practice at landscape photography! These are early days- still learning and perfecting composition, using natural lighting, conveying texture and displaying colour.

I remember during the first couple of years of using big silver camera in public that I’d sometimes get a bit self-conscious; I felt like I was being watched. I think compact camera were more popular than DSLRs and I felt like I had a giant monster compared to others. I dunno, it may have just been me being paranoid and insecure. But I remember telling myself that compared to the others- I had a proper camera and this was to be my career, so it didn’t matter and I’d never see these people again.

Have some more early photo walk work:

I don’t think they’re the best quality, my apologies. Do you ever look back on your old work and see how far you’ve come and how you’ve improved? I always enjoy looking back and remembering the days out and hopefully the many more to come!

How Absurd!

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

oo some pics of the 2012 olympic torch for you in my next blog but until then I’ll have an update on some work in progress. The first project I’ll talk aboot is a staged series of a children’s poem called “Fancy That!” or otherwise know as There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly. If you know it you’ll be aware that involves a multitude of animals.. animals that I don’t exactly have access to at the moment.. So I’m making do with what I can and may actually be completing the series with toy/ model animals and there’s also been talk of using illustration and digital manipulation. I am determined to do this project again with the real animals before I die but for the time being I have done a test shoot of one image only- specifically the part of the poem where the old woman swallows a bird, how absurd to swallow a bird! She swallowed the bird to catch the spider that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, she swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don’t know why she swallowed the fly, perhaps she’ll die.

Anyway here it is, I will be doing a re-shoot very soon (the final series will be on medium format as well) as I need to make myself look a lot older, and I was kind of sunburnt on this shoot… but you get the general idea:

The bird was found on ebay, I don’t know whether to find something a little more common looking though- a sparrow or something with brown feathers instead of blue. We’ll see. It’s not real by the way it’s a clip! Either way this whole series has been heavily influenced by Sarah Small.

Next is the “Breaking Point” idea that was born through an Ideas-generation scribble in one of my sketch books. It stems from one of my old tableau ideas of looking into moments of people in their relationships – their situation, personality etc and it was literally just a side note until Graham noticed it and picked up on it’s potential as a series of it’s own instead of a situation for a couple in a staged piece. So we’ll be collaborating on this series which revolves around annoyances that are encountered in the home and with other people and as it’s title will suggest, it will capture the moment just before the protagonist breaks.

These annoyances will range from the little, everyday things that build up until you crack to bigger things that happen in the home or with your partner and will explore themes of pressure and patience in a variety of situations and with different personalities/ characters.

And as you can see here this is a very big annoyance. A roof leak is probably one of the biggest and most difficult situations that we’re going to tackle on this project (and may return to this a well) as it required a lot of editing to get the drops juusst right. As for the character, I wanted it to look like he had been sat for a fair while- almost like he had sat through the whole process of the rain falling in and the heaviest of the leaks in his ceiling, as you can see by the half filled pans and glasses, and was now just about to, well, let go. As an added frustration I also wanted it to look like he was just getting ready for work when this incident occurred which is why he is dressed in a now damp shirt and also why the morning sun is so bright on the curtains. In actual fact we shot at night, I got to use my new flash kit for this so once I got the composition and the light right it was quite a fun shoot, I got to spill water and everything haha and Graham and I have always worked well; he knew what expressions I meant for his character to have, the most difficult aspect of this was getting his reflection right in the mirror and even that wasn’t a strenuous task. Which I why I’m now thinking we will do some more bigger annoyances/ situations.

I picked these two of my many projects to start off with because a. they require next to no money, b. I have everything I need ready available- location, people, props etc and c. because it means I have one narrative I can create myself and one that is already written for me. I generally stick to creating my own stories but currently I have a few on the back burner that are interpretations of scenes from novels etc which I am looking forward to getting on with. Whether you re-invent an already existing story/ idea or go out and find your own story is a never ending debate for me, and I hope now I’m beginning to find the right balance.

Mini photo blog 4

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

“Taking influence from Henri Cartier Bresson and his realistic documentary style of Street photography, I gave myself a project of exploring similar themes in my home city and its streets, photographing it as I saw it. Always looking for lines/ shapes in my compositions from years of my interest in the Bauhaus, I found this abandoned area with its litter, graffiti and bricked up windows and was caught by the geometric patterns and shapes that resided there.

After looking further into the genre of street photography, more specifically, derelict areas, I became more focused on “Urban Decay” and the more eye-catching elements of these run-down, abandoned areas that most people overlook or dismiss.

I still look for these areas in every new place I visit, as, to me, they are captivating in the sense of that they are all around us but are often disregarded or not perceived of as being appealing.”

For an extra little lovely I’ll leave you this: http://thefocusproject.co.uk/2012/02/18/photo-blog-50/ ; a giant photo blog in which a few of the Focus members submitted an image and short paragraph of info about their work

I’ll have to get back into the routine of writing regularly!

Mini Photo blog 3

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

The last installment of my previous photo blogs from my blogspot page (I’ll start writing some new ones very soon) it’s short and sweet and whilst reading through I found two more that I had written over a year ago. So now I’m thinking I need a “photo blog” tab on my website I even found my first “inspiration blog”!

“This was taken in a little place called Betws-y-Coed (yes it’s spelt right haha) in north Wales, a place my family often visits during the summer holidays every year for a random day trip or a quick drive through stop. I know that mum and dad used to drive here a lot on dad’s bike when they were younger and they’ve continued to come here years later to show their kids, and it does remind me of being young- I get deja vu every time. This time it was pretty late on in the day, it was cool and a bit windy, but lo and behold there were still children and dogs paddling whilst mums shouted at them to be careful, dads ate the left over fish and chips and the older brother was skipping stones narrowly missing their little sibling. Though it was still a bit calmer than previous visits, for us especially. I set out to finish my roll of film in a cheap point- and- shoot charity shop camera and when this image presented itself to me- I felt that it pretty much summed up how my family was feeling: calm, relaxed, back in a familiar and comfortable place where we knew we’d been happy before- a get away. I wanted to reenact that year my sister nearly fell in the water but she wasn’t up for it for some reason. I don’t know the girl in the red, but I knew I’d have to have her in an image with that colour and the way she, like us, knew every stone to step on to get further into the river and how she looked at her surroundings with the same contentment and misty eyes, past memories running around her mind, and like everyone else getting the last bit of sun before autumn slipped away.”

…Poetic, Jeanine, just poetic. Cheese. Oh well

Anyway, one of the blogs I referenced earlier is similar to one that I’ve already talked about on this website about my grandmother, but this goes into more detail about research and the actual series of images:

http://thefocusproject.co.uk/2010/10/17/photo-blog-7/

I’ll pop the next couple into photo blogs of their own x

Photo Blog 2

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

So I’m carrying on with the previous photo blogs before I type up any new ones, this one’s only from February but it seems further away than that! And the image itself was taken months before. Oh well, here it is:

“This image is from my many roles of out of date kodak colour film, I can’t remember if it was actually taken with the disposable camera itself of whether I popped it into my prakitca.. it may have even been in the freezer for a bit… Either way the room isn’t that green

it was taken in the Bluecoat gallery- it must have been the democratic promenade exhibition.

I regularly visited the bluecoat for many reasons: one; I love the building and the lattes

two; the exhibitions are either cheap or completely free, and three; most importantly- because I came here for inspiration and for subjects for Focus Project articles. I haven’t been there for a while

i should get back into the routine of going now and then. It was great while I could go- the weather was nice and at the time all i did was write, paint, go to town, job hunt, drink coffee, take photos, go to the gym.. i think its because i landed a work experience position then never got back into the habit of going to the bluecoat galleries. I’ve been to the tate a few times since but there’s been a lul in that too. saying that i should really be saving my monies too.

At this time I’d been home for a few months back from uni then back from Berlin. It was a great time- for the first time ever i was out of education and i had very little responsibilities and no worries at all, i wasn’t even worried about the future because i was satisfied and happy with what i was doing then and there. yes i was job hunting and i was aware that this wouldn’t last, as some day i would need more money and want to move out (so, the point i’m at now really) so it just made that time all the more, well, better.

I do enjoy the grain in this image, i think it looks like a film still and slightly painterly. a lovely green film still hehe! I liked it so much that I even entered it as part of a series into a big competition. I was fond of that whole series actually; i took an image from 7 of these out of date rolls of film and entered it with a similar description that i’ve given here, about moving home after the first time in three years, re-visiting places that had changed and others that hadn’t and had been frozen in time etc but as you can guess it didn’t get me anywhere lol i’ll get it next time

I think my favourite aspect of this image is the composition: the horizontal working with the vertical lines, the repetitive geometric shapes that lead you into the image along with the light and shadow contrasts, it pretty much sums up everything i loved fro my earlier work and initial influences from when i first took to photography; the likes of the bauhaus being the foundation of my photographic journey.”

Obviously a fair bit has changed since I wrote this only two months ago, the big difference being that i did actually move out and did land a job so looking back on this really did please me

happy days x

Photo Blog 1

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

A few months ago I started writing Photo blogs about my own images on my personal blog, admittedly I didn’t get far with it but it’s still something I’d like to carry on with. I think it was because I also write photo blogs for the Focus Project and my personal ones were put on the back burner, so I’ll head back to them and until then here’s what I have previously written about my work:

For starters, this is the first one I wrote back in April last year of my initial Staged piece, the university project that introduced me to the world of the narrative image in the first place. Here’s what I wrote;

“I’ll start it off with an image that kick started the genre in which I have specialized in, which is “Staged”/ Tableau or narrative: Images that tell a story. This was a second year uni project in which we had to stage a scene from a non- lens based source, for example a poem, play, book or painting etc etc. I chose Serov’sThe Girl with Peaches, 1887 to re create and modernize. I decided to keep the pastel colour palate, the composition, and the lighting to the best I could. Using a round tower room, I found a similar set to this painting’s era and dressed it accordingly, props included. I also styled the model and since I knew her well, she needed little direction and we could work together with ease.

As a Russian Impressionist, Serov concentrated on the spontaneous and curious expression of the girl as well as the effect of light and how that developed colour in the frame and on the subject. The picturesque nature of the image gives a sense of a fresh atmosphere, capturing a spontaneous moment when the world around them is completely at ease.”

Not the best written synopsis but I’m sure I’ve written about it more in depth here somewhere. Either way, as it was my first go at this type of photography I really enjoyed the process and outcome, and now I can pick this image apart and hope to improve it as I have learned from this experience to improve my current work.

Here’s more from last year;

http://neeneenoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/2011.html

Jeanine Marteau Photography

Category Archives: Photo Blog

Photo Blog 9

Photo Blog 8

Photo Blog 7

Photo Blog 6

Photo Blog 5

How Absurd!

Mini photo blog 4

Mini Photo blog 3

Photo Blog 2

Photo Blog 1