November 2015
Assignment
3 Spaces to Places
“Within a series of up to 12
photographs, explore a landscape, or small part of a landscape, which you
believe to have some kind of significance. This may be a landscape with which
you have a personal relationship, or it may be somewhere that is more widely
known.
The object of this assignment is to
engage with the question of how a “space” becomes a “place”. Your project
should put into practice the idea that a “place” is a constructed, subjective
term, that for whatever reason is imposed upon, or becomes associated with a
particular “space”. This may be a very specific location or it may be a more
generic type of space.” OCA Course Material
The
Oxford Dictionary defines space as “a continuous area or expanse which is free,
available or unoccupied” http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/space (accessed Nov
2015) whereas a place is defined as a “particular position, point or area in a
space or location”. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/place (accessed Nov 2015)
Usually a place has an interesting landmark with which people associate,
a historical reference (where something happened) or the area has a present day
use. Places can be linked to the past through history or mythology,
environmental or political concerns, all of which have involved or involve
people.
There
are many different types of places. Military and historical places include
battlefields and air bases such as abandoned RAF bases e.g. RAF Newton,
abandoned cold war sites e.g. RAF Steingot, Queens Sconce Civil War earthworks,
War of the Roses battlefields e.g. Bosworth. Memorial places include roadside
shrines, the National Memorial Arboretum or local War Memorials. Places of
worship both historical and currently occupied include abbeys, churches and
minsters. Mythical places trace the
legend of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. Industrial places include local water mills,
metal box factory, coal mines or power stations.
For
this assignment I explored the original World War 1(WW1) trenches and
reconstruction in Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire. Last year saw the centenary
of the start of the WW1 in which Nottinghamshire commemorated with a project
called “Trent to Trenches”; a series of exhibitions and art displays to share
and rekindle memories of the event. In 2013 I noticed the beginning of a new
excavation at Sherwood Pines. I watched with interest as it turned into a
replica WW1 trench. I began exploring the forest to discover the original
trenches and started to research the significance of the place.
Clipstone Camp World War 1 Trenches
At
the outbreak of the World War 1, Clipstone Heath was just that – an area of
heathland owned by the Duke of Portland from the Welbeck Estate in
Nottinghamshire, used for shooting partridge and sports. Lord Kitchener was a
frequent visitor to Welbeck. Three of Nottinghamshire’s estates; Thoresby,
Wollaton and Welbeck already had temporary camps in preparation for training
soldiers. Marples (2013 p22) suggests that it is not known why this area was
chosen for siting a permanent hutted training camp, although under the Defense
of the Realm Act, the War Office had the powers to “take land or building or
construct works” if needed.
The
camp was located between Forest Town (a new mining town) and Clipstone (a
hamlet) on an area which had been bought by the Bolsover Colliery Company. The
mine (sunk in 1912) had been planned with a new village of 700 houses. Instead,
Clipstone Camp was built here to house 25,000 soldiers until 1920 when it was
sold off. Work on the mine was postponed when young miners were recruited as
soldiers. Also the war made importing goods such as wood more difficult and
prices increased. As a result, the Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 to
manage supplies of timber, often depleting large areas of forest and changing
the landscape of the area. The pit was completed in 1920. Soldiers moving to
the area had not seen coal mines before and Mansfield Colliery became a tourist
attraction with evening trips organised down the mine shaft for the soldiers
stationed there.
Marples
(2013) a local historian, interviewed locals who recalled the trenches becoming
play areas for children after demobilisation. Whilst exploring the unmarked
trails in the forest, I came across some of the old trenches. Mountain bikers
who explore off the beaten track recall the area known locally as the “bomb holes”
and have often practiced their skills there. The purpose of this place changed
from training soldiers to entertaining folks, the place left to nature, sometimes
forgotten and waiting to be rediscovered.
I
discovered the Forestry Commission were managing the area where the original
trenches are. Huge swathes of trees have been harvested and others are colour
coded waiting to be felled. Where work has already taken place, poles mark out
the trenches. I found the trench reconstruction fascinating as it has recreated
and brought the past to life from photographs for future generations to explore
especially as the WW1 veterans are no longer with us.
My
research
Vest
pocket cameras were invented by Kodak in 1912 and marketed for soldiers to take
to the Front. Britain, forbade them, although photographs survive from Corporal
Hackney and others of daily life in the trenches. The risk of court marshall if
caught may have impacted on the choice of subject e.g. only portraying comrades
rather than officers. However, these stand as a historical record which
supplement official photographs and oral histories at a time when memories of
such a place are being forgotten.
Medium
format (35mm glass plate) cameras were developed by Leica. Roberts (2014) http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/photos-world-war-i-images-museums-battle-great-war/?_r=1 (accessed November 2015) explains that “The First
World war is the conflict in which the concept of documentary truth first
evolved. Prior to that, because of the scarcity of press photography in
general, picture desk editors from newspapers were quite happy to use
photographs which were merely representative or illustrative of a point rather
than showing a genuine event itself.”
 |
Official photograph taken on the front in France.
View in captured German Trench in Gommecourt.
(Ernest Brooks)
|
 |
Official photograph taken on the front in France.
View in captured German Frontline Trench before Gommecourt.
(Ernest Brooks)
|
Ernest
Brooks was the first appointed Daily Mirror official war photographer and
worked in monochrome although two official WW1 photographers Hans Hildenbrand
(German) and Jules Gervais Courtaillemant (French) used the process of
autochrome lumiere to produce colour photographs at the Frontline, developed by
the Luminaire brothers in France in 1904 (a process of adding red, green and
blue violet coloured potato starch grains (4 million per square inch) to the
glass plate. Light passes through filters as the photograph is taken and when
processed,the image becomes colour. One disadvantage was a longer exposure
time,
 |
Hans Hildenbrand
|
 |
Jules Gervais Courtaillemont
|
I found several photographs on the internet
taken by Ernest Brooks during the Battle of the Somme at Gommecourt. “Gommecourt
was a position of immense strength and a place of psychological if not
strategic importance to the German Army.” http://www.gommecourt.co.uk/plan.htm (accessed Nov 2015) Whilst many of Brooks’ images
were documentary and included troops from both sides, I found these images
described as taken after the English troops captured the German lines. These
could have been used as propaganda or illustration of the progress made by the
British soldiers, because after the first 12 hours of fighting, (July 1916) the
British Army had 57,740 casualties and Battle of the Somme lasted until
November 1916. There is not date for Brooks’ photographs and Brooks had
previously been accused of faking images. In 1916, Britain imposed a policy
regarding no faking or staging of photographs. However, for the German and
French photographers working in colour, there was no option but to stage the
photographs. Did this imposition limit the technological advances of British colour
photography?
To
a modern day viewer Brooks’ images are factual showing perspective, height and
construction of the trenches although Brooks’ inclusion of troops adds to my
understanding of the living conditions but not the action. The Battle of the
Somme ended in November 1916 with atrocious weather. Even in monochrome, Brooks’
images look like the weather is foggy or wet. As the weather leading up to and
including Remembrance Sunday was foggy I experimented using the weather
conditions to add atmosphere to my images although I saturated the colours a
little increase the contrast.
I
experimented using Photoshop to create replicated autochrome lumiere images to
use for the reconstruction images. (see
exercise 3.5 https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3236350692233930171#editor/target=post;postID=2177828894755869644;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname) Reviewing my images though, I preferred the fog and mist (shown below), as it adds atmosphere and reality to the images. Shooting through the fog gave less clarity and less contrast than usual. The season also helps with less contrast and provides earthy colours.
In
July 2014, the Daily Mail published a series of computer coloured WW1 photographs
based on actual colours of uniforms. Whilst these photographs are interesting,
how does it affect our memory of the historic event? Monochrome is seen as
authentic and truthful and when genuine coloured images come to light, they
have a place in history reserved. As David Levi Strauss (2003 p9) wrote “the
idea that the more transformed or “aestheticized” an image is, the less
“authentic” or politically valuable it becomes.” It changes our understanding
of the facts. Thus the market for photographs coloured one hundred years after
the event could be questionable and destined for the newspapers, in which case
we have come full circle with publishing fake coloured images.
Existing
critical writing
Liz
Wells (2009 p88) argues that photographs taken in WW1 do not really give the
viewer “a sense of the nature of trench warfare, and the poetry, films and
paintings of the time are often more moving and revealing.” Sontag (1979 p168) backs
this up suggesting that “the feeling of being exempt from calamity stimulates
interest in looking at painful pictures, and looking at them suggests and
strengthens the feeling that one is exempt. Partly it is because one is “here,”
not “there” and partly it is the character of inevitability that all events
acquire when they are transmuted into images. In the real world, something is happening and no one knows what is going to happen. In the image world, it has happened and will forever happen in that way”. Maybe because the veterans are no
longer around to add the oral history to the photograph and bring it to life,
it lacks meaning to us. Barthes described studium as having enough interest in
the photographs to look further at the subject and this is possibly what is
meant by Well’s statement.
My
images
Clipstone
lies a few miles to the east of Mansfield. The WW1 trenches lie in an area now
managed by the Forestry Commission – a working forest and recreational space
known as Sherwood Pines.
Topographical surveys undertaken
by the Forestry Commission in 2011 depict the earthworks.
My
images start by looking at the area which contains WW1 trenches and the replica
built for the centenary in 2014 by Philip and Courtney Wilkinson.
 |
| View from Vicar Water Viewpoint looking out over Sherwood Pines |
Clipstone
is now dominated by the twin headstocks. The slag heap was turned into a
viewpoint within a country park which shows the type of heathland familiar to
the soldiers. This is near the original site of Clipstone Camp. Clipstone
forest (modern day Sherwood Pines) is in the distance – a 3 mile march for the
soldiers to the training trenches.
 |
| Clipstone Forest WW1 trenches in clearing |
The site of the WW1 trenches is
around the patch of clearing but also extends in the direction of the visitor
centre.
 |
| Original WW1 trench |
In
Clipstone Forest which extends to the south of Clipstone the locals find the
original rifle, pistol and machine gun trenches, possibly used by many battalions
including the UPS Royal Fusiliers, the 16th Service Battalion of the
Kings Royal Rifle Corps, 17th Service Battalion (first footballers)
and 18th Service Battalion (1st public works) . Over time, the sides have collapsed and they
are not as deep as they once were. Trench construction was zig-zag or circular
in shape.
 |
| Original WW1 trench |
The
Forestry Commission are in the process of felling the trees in this area,
although no-one works on Sundays, making the area accessible.
 |
| Position of reconstructed WW1 trench |
The
reconstructed WW1 trench is situated just off the main fire road extending from
the visitor centre. Philip and Courtney Wilkinson (who worked on Stephen
Spielburg’s War Horse set), use reclaimed timber found in the skip.
 |
| Land surrounding the reconstructed trench |
The
land surrounding the reconstruction is designed to look as if it has been
involved in a mortar attack.
 |
| The reconstructed trench area |
Areas also
included in the trench are an office, privy and kitchen. The ground is
completely uneven suggesting bomb holes.
 |
| The shape of the reconstructed trench is comparable to the original. |
 |
| The curved trench |
Part of the trench is accessible to visitors enabling them to witness the scale of the place.
 |
| Inside the trench |
 |
| The trench |
Hugh
Mannall, Heritage Manager with the Forestry Commission (Chad 2013) “This is
something which we have been thinking about for the last 20 years and it has
been in planning for the last 3.” http://www.chad.co.uk/features-columnists/clipstone-camp-brought-back-to-life-1-6107692 (accessed November 2015). Following my study of WW1 trench photographs, I
think this modern reconstruction bears resemblance to the original WW1
structures and see it as a great educational resource within the Forest. I hope
it can illustrate to school children the size of the trench and type of
buildings found within it and how vulnerable the soldiers felt, although
without sound, smoke and weather it will not replace life on the battlefield. I
compared it to images I took in 2014 and the wood has weathered plants grown,
although with the surrounding fence it does define it as a place.
How
I could extend the project?
I
became interested in the area’s history and involvement in WW1 whilst watching
the reconstruction take shape and discovering the old trenches. This project
could be extended to look at other aspects of the war. I could take some of the
images from Marple’s “Clipstone Camp and the Mansfield Area in WW1 (2013) and explore
today’s landscape, layering one over the other as Shimon Attie has done in
“Writing on the Wall (1992-4).
References
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com
(accessed November 2015)
Marples (2013) Clipstone Camp and
the Mansfield Area in World War 1; The impact of a large military presence in a
North Nottinghamshire community, Forest Town Heritage Group, UK
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/photos-world-war-i-images-museums-battle-great-war/?_r=1 (accessed November 2015)
http://www.gommecourt.co.uk/plan.htm
(accessed Nov 2015)
Strauss DL (2003) Between the
Eyes; Essays on Photography and politics, Aperture Books, New York
Wells L (2009) Photography: A
critical introduction, Routledge, UK
Sontag S (1979) On Photography,
Penguin, UK
http://www.chad.co.uk/features-columnists/clipstone-camp-brought-back-to-life-1-6107692 (accessed November 2015)
Bibliography (All accessed November 2015)
Local history
Marples (2013) Clipstone Camp and
the Mansfield Area in World War 1; The impact of a large military presence in a
North Nottinghamshire community, Forest Town Heritage Group, UK
Trenches and WW1
Photography
Sontag S (1979) On Photography,
Penguin, UK
Strauss DL (2003) Between the
Eyes; Essays on Photography and politics, Aperture Books, New York
Wells L (2009) Photography: A
critical introduction, Routledge, UK
General
No comments:
Post a Comment