Book

I have decided to finalise my coursework within a book of which will feature two new series' of photographs that represent this body of work as well as descriptions and a bibliography. For the book I focused on two different aspects of my coursework, both the Christening and the care home of which I visited in order to show both the young and eldery and how they come together to provide a community and are big parts of a community as a whole, showing the start and end of the life cycle and how you age both physically and mentally between these two stages.

Changing faces

Getting with it

Anna

The next few photographs are of a women called Anna, of whom took me under her wing for the few hours a day I was at the rest home. She told me of her life stories and how her grandchildren used to run along table-top mountain and how her life progressed throughout the time she lived in Kenya. She showed me most of her family photos and I felt joy that she was sharing this with me as she was reading out each of the family members name's as well as a small back story that came along with each one.
        I had a tour of her room as she pin-pointed everything within it and told me of how she came to own the items as well as what they meant to her, as well as her religious values and the visit of the priest to the home every Sunday. I also had the pleasure of talking to her about her small bugalow in which she lived before transferring to the home as well as meeting her husband in spirit as she talked f him as though he were present within the room.


I suppose I chose to approach Anna as she looked quite timid and friendly as well as colourful when sitting in the corner of the rest home, buried amongst all of the other residents.
However once meeting I found her not to be timid but a real character in which I could have stayed and talked to for days.

Always looking at the floor

Expressing herself through a pen and paper

Rhoda is both deaf and blind and so she communicates through the sense of feel.

I sat with Rhoda for sometime, holding her hand as she scribbled on this piece of paper, of which to the eye cannot be read, but to her husband means a whole world of communication as he sits there day after day with his magnifying glass, convinced that he can understand and read what she has written.

Portraits of their new-self

Hannah, her name is changed for confidentiality, believes she takes her dog, Bruno, out for walks, she feeds him her biscuits and bath's him, of which is her companion within the home. She doesn't talk but communicates through smiling to other residents and to the nurses. 

A rest home

From these past experiments in which I have studied the church community and it's surroundings, I decided that all of this is due to the older generations of which have built and developed these communities and which we have them to thank for it.
     I decided that I wanted to visit a rest home over a period of days in which I would observe and document both the atmosphere and the beings of the residents so that I can realise what they've been through and what they have now become within aging. To show how these people were once what was the youth and who were here through the hard times of the past. These people are the ones that we look upto and who we have come to respect.
     I believe that within every blemish, wrinkle and scar you can see into someone's life and past as well as their experiences, good and bad and what they have had to go through throughout their lives. Every wrinkle and face expression tells a story and by getting to know the person within, you can then begin to know them from when they were younger as well as what they have become. Every person is different and most of the older generation have the best stories of which can have real impact on a person such as myself.


With ageing comes beauty and a life's story.

I knew that I wanted to capture these photographs in a documentry style with a detatched and yet personal approach towards the people within the rest home.

Before going to the rest home I decided to look at a few different photographers of which may inspire my photographs as well as showing myself through them. I wanted to know of different ways of taking photographs in which could inspire people and make the viewer intrigued with the people within the photographs and want to know more about them.

I looked at Richard Billingham's series of photos entitled 'Rays a Laugh' in which were taken on the cheapest film he could find, in which provided brash colours and bad focus adding to the authenticity and sharpness of the series. Ray, his alcoholic father, who is drunk on his own 'home brew', and his mother Liz, an obese chain smoker who has a fascination for nicknacks and jigsaw puzzles. They appear at first glance as grotesque figures but as you look more into the photographs you can see their destined way of life shining through as well as their troubled yet deeply human and touching personalities in the way that they communicate with each other through the photographs.

I shortened the shutter speed for this photograph so that I could capture th fire ball once it had left the baton. Shot at a shutter speed of 1/200.

Shot at a shutter speed of 1 second, giving the fire enough time to escape from the flaming baton, in which has created a fire ball. The patterns captured within the fire are beautiful and ones that couldn't be seen anwhere else.

Experimenting with shutter speed

These photographs were both shot at a shutter speed of 3 seconds, unfortunately I wasn't able to capture the stillness of the background due to the bumpy ledge the camer was rested upon. However i find the way I have captured both the man's face within the first photograph and the woman's body within the second very intriguing and captivating as it appeals to me as though they are caged within their own creation.

Experimenting with different natural lighting compositions within a portrait at night

These photographs in particular reminded me of my 'Wimbourne in bloom' series of photos in which are portraits of the church community taking part in activities outside of the church. The way I have taken these photographs above and the revealing essence of them are very similar to how I have captured the light and expressions on the faces with the 'Wimbourne in Bloom' series as well as capturing this man on both occassions.

Wimborne In Bloom Post

Shot at a shutter speed of 1/200 secs

Shutter speed - 1/30

These photographs are experiments of different heights of myself and the camera:

1. On my knees

2. Crounching down/ bending my knees

3. On tip-toes