The Conservation Volunteers

For my final first year University project I had a self directed brief where I can choose the subject I document over 5 weeks. I am very interesting in conservation photography and documenting the change of the environment for the better. I looked at local volunteer projects in Cornwall like Surfers against Sewage and Wildlife Trust. I decided I wanted to volunteer myself and show my journey and the environments journey through the project. I came across TCV a group that work all across the country, helping to make the environment better with various conservation projects. They mainly go around nature reserves and public country paths creating paths, bridges, gates and trimming away dead trees/bramble. This helps nature by making habitats better for wildlife and plants grow. It also brings public in and makes them more aware of the environment.

The project I was working on is called 'Linking the Lakes', it's a project not far from campus in Penryn, they created a path linking College reservoir and Argal Lake as they are only joined by a very busy road at the moment and to get to Argal Lake you have to walk up the side of that road. It's not safe for the public and their children/dogs. This group of volunteers, including myself  cleared away brambles, rubbish and dead trees and created a gravel path. This took around three full days to complete and I not only help out but documented the work and volunteers.
This project worked well and when I arrived first I was nervous but helped out straight away the main guy Ben set this group up and has worked all over the world doing conservation projects. The other volunteers had special needs and they feel it helps to get outside and help which was really heartwarming. I started clearing brambles and sawing dead trees to clear a path. We had a lunch break where we spoke about tattoos and news and it was nice to get to know them. By the end of the day i felt more comfortable and got to know the volunteers better. We had cleared a whole path of brambles and started to make a soil path for gravel to go on. It felt great to see the progress and it didn't seem possible in the morning that these brambles would go but they did and the transformation was remarkable for a days work

Inside a Dutch nursing home for drug addicts...

I also looked at what to me were articles that showed fragility, this one wasn't an elderly person who has an illness and is lonely. It is a Dutch nursing home for older people who are drug addicts, a powerful story which incredible imagery. Angela Shoemaker is the photojournalist who visited HVO De-Aak, a retirement home in the Netherlands designed to help the country's aging drug addicts.
This is a question from a Times inteview.

Q: Why did you choose this topic, and what was your goal?

A: After my previous project fell through, I started researching new story ideas and decided to work on a project related to Dutch drug policies. The Netherlands is known for having a more open approach to drug use, and I was looking for a unique story to tell that could only be told in the Netherlands. I started with several different aspects related to Dutch drug policy but ended up focusing the project entirely at the nursing home because it was so unexpected
This article shows a variety of older people who are all addicts trying to get over their drug use issues. Most of them have cancer or other serious illnesses. They are cared for in this home and it is one of the many in Netherlands. People think that they are really lenient on drug use but really they do care about helping people get over their addictions.

Alzheimer's & Dementia,

For my five picture story project I chose the subject of an old woman with arthritis who lives on her own. I looked at other photographers that focused on other diseases older people are prone to. I also looked at other articles that I thought depicted fragility.

The first one I looked at was about photographer Mark Edwards who captures his and his mums journey through her having the terrible illness of Alzheimers. This story is his way of coping and it helps to understand what she's going through. He also wants to raise awareness with these images and help other families who have an elderly relative with this horrible disease. 'The father-of three wants the images to help shed light on a disease that he said has been 'left in the shadows.' He said: 'Alzheimer's is a devastating disease as it takes away the very soul of someone. This issue is too often locked away and there just isn't the same amount of research and funding as there is for something like cancer.'

This article really spoke to me in raising awareness of how alone old people are, especially when they have these illnesses, this was really heartwarming as at least she had support, some people do not unfortunately.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1362475/Alzheimers-disease-Portrait-dementias-effect-photographers-mother.html
The images are beautiful and the tones really contrast well.

  


The other article I found was one about a Dementia ward where the journalist tells about his mother who also suffers from this illness. The photographer Maja Daniels and writer Andrea Gillies reflects on the journey
there and what lies beyond the locked door. It's an interesting piece where they document the patients and compare them to Andrea's own mother-in-law Nancy. He sees that she has a better life in her nursing home as this one is very different.

'I think that Nancy has a better life than the people pictured in this dementia ward. That is to say, the obvious aesthetic conditions are better than this world of grey paint, ugliness and hard surfaces. The tiled and shiny floor pictured here is about giving the staf.f an easier life, not the residents. It’s easy to connect the evident distress of some of these people with the prison-like austerity of their surroundings

The images are well shot in unique ways, sometimes not showing faces which shows more mystery aabout the ward. They show the hard living these old people have and the fact that these places are like prisons. The patients have Dementia so are confused about surroundings and ofren try to break out of the ward.

Margaret

Margaret showing Smokey's prize winning ribbons

One of my latest projects and one of my favourite ones so far is a five picture story piece. We got given two words fragile and touch, with these we would choose a subject we thought represented these words. For fragile I kept thinking about old people and how they're on their own towards the end years of their lives. Most of them have illnesses and aren't visited at all by relatives. I know this as both my grandparents were like this and my nan still is, although we visit her, she's on her own and has many illnesses but refuses help.

I wanted to show how fragile old people can be and that the public should care for them as much as they do children and pets etc. I was going to photograph my own nan but she wasn't comfortable with that so I got into contact with a few other old people I knew of. The one that came through was Margaret my friends nan, she is a lovely lady who lives on her own in a three bedroom house.

Margaret still plays the piano even though she has Arthritis
and has had to change the way she moves her fingers

As soon as I met Margaret she was so welcoming and offered me tea, biscuits and sweets. I explained to her what my project was for and that I just wanted her to relax, watch the tv & tell me about her life as I took photos. She was completely fine with this and introduced me to her cat Smokey who came trotting down the stairs, he was beautiful and she told me that he was a prize winning cat but now they're both too old to compete. She told be about her other cat Tinker that died quite old which shows she looks after her cats really well. I asked her whether she'd like to move into a bungalow or smaller house and she said unfortunately she can't afford to and she had this house with her late husband and kids, so too many good memories for her.

Margaret lives in her three bed house with just w her cat Smokey,
she had another cat Tinkerwho died recently. 

Aside from being on her own in a big house, Margaret also suffers from Arthritis quite badly and finds it hard to climb up and down her stairs. Even though she has this illness she still carries on with her hobbies like gardening, collecting trinkets and playing piano, she told me that she has had to change her way of playing as her fingers cramp up and swell. I asked her if she could play a tune and she was brilliant. Margaret told me of stories where she used to play piano for pantos in Weedon (a little village) and has been playing all her life.

I think it's incredible that although she lives on her own and has this illness she still lives her life and keeps up with her hobbies, most old people today just watch their tv and sleep but she makes sure she still has interests. I think Margaret is fragile physically but mentally i think she's strong.

An old photograph of herself and her late husband Jim

Leah, Electric Om Tattooist

For my female portraiture subject I wanted to capture an artist, someone who spends their time creating something for someone else. I thought a tattooist would be perfect and one that has done work on myself is Leah from The Electric Om in Falmouth. She is a lovely girl who creates amazing work, I wanted to show her personality aswell, she's into Buddhism and pirate music from the chats I've had with her. I think it's important that female tattooists keep at it as it's a very male dominated career like most creative subjects.

Black Dog Hairdressers

For my third subject on relationships I chose to photograph hairdressers and in particular one in Falmouth called The Black Dog. They are a very friendly and offer you great customer service, their shop is retro and stylish with pinball machines and movie posters. I think it's important when you have a hair cut to feel comfortable as it's an awkward thing normally. I wanted to capture how the hairdressers can either be very chatty and you have a good experience, but also how sometimes it's annoying and hard to talk to them as you can't hear them because of the hairdryer! I also wanted to show the special relationship you have with them as they're cutting your hair which is quite a responsibility.

Music photographer - Jim Marshall

Jim Marshall is one of the most iconic music photographers of all time, he has captured Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash and many more iconic singers/bands. He captured Woodstock Festival and showed the atmosphere and pure love of the festival. In his images he manages to show the musicians emotions and characters.

Dirty Dike Rap Gig

For one of my relationship subjects I thought I'd go to a music rap event and capture the relationship between the singers and the fans. I wanted to show how much emotion and dedication these rappers out into their music and fanbase. I photographed a rapper called Dirty Dike who also performed with Edward Scissortongue and a couple of others. They're quite obscene rappers and like to sing about their 'hobbies', I like that they get the crowd excited and involved. It was quite dark in the club so the photographs that I took aren't very light and have little detail but I think that goes with the rappers and the people that go to them as they're always quite intoxicated.

Street Photography Relationships

For one of my relationships subjects I decided to do some street photography and see what moments I could capture. I wanted to show the split seconds that would have otherwise been unseen, such as people having lunch together or mums having a chat in town. I think that although these photographs aren't exactly documentary they show the humanity of the world with just little moments.

Street photography inspiration...

I find that street photography is one of my favourites as I get to people watch and capture moments that you would otherwise go unseen. There's quite a lot of pioneers of street photography that I look up to and find inspiration from such as Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand. These are photographers that have made documentary and their work captures emotions, stories and are composed beautifully.
Garry Winogrand is an inspirational photographer and his work has given me ideas for my street photography. I wanted to capture peoples relationships that they hide away to the public but I can capture those split seconds of a couple have dinner or someone having a chat in the street.

 Winogrand was known for his portrayal of American life in the early 1960s. Many of his photographs depict the social issues of his time and in the role of media in shaping attitudes. He roamed the streets of New York with his 35mm Leica camera rapidly taking photographs using a prefocused wide angle lens. His pictures frequently appeared as if they were driven by the energy of the events he was witnessing.