Providing Paradise - New Book Publication

HaVe Photography are extremely excited to have published their second 'Portfolio Edition' book, through the online publisher 'Blurb'. Exploring the dedication and hard work of those who work behind-the-scenes in the Maldives island resort of 'Royal Island', it shows just how 'paradise' is brought from concept to reality. To view the images within the book, click this link.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Margaret

Margaret is 'Egg Number 6' within the Major Project. This photo-shoot was arranged for the Friday morning before the children went back to school. In discussion with Margaret, we decided that the Friday morning offered two possibilities: (1) because she was off work, it would allow me to photograph her daily life (which, in essence, is looking after the house and children), and (2) it was a 'special' moment for her, as her son (Alex - who was due to attend secondary school the next week) was going to try on his school uniform for the first time. I took a variety of shots (in a close-up, reportage style), but the shot below was my favourite, capturing not only the wonderful relationship she has with her son, but also her great sense of fun.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Angela

This was an interesting shoot in that it was very spontaneous; it had not been pre-arranged, but I had my camera with me because I was taking my Mother out for the day at a National Trust garden and I wanted to get some shots of her. Angela decided that she would come along, which I was extremely pleased about as I thought it would be nice to spend some time together (and get some shots of her as well). Angela does amateur dramatics, and therefore plays to the camera a lot; in fact, trying to get her to be completely herself whilst a camera is around is quite difficult. Although I captured a few 'candid' shots (which could only be captured if she really didn't realise I was lining up a shot), I like the image below because of the texture and detail within the image. It is posed (naturally - by Angela - as opposed to any intervention on my part), but this is all part of Angela's character, which I was pleased to document.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Graham

To represent Graham (Egg Number 3) within the Major Project, we decided that rather than any specific 'moment', it should be more of a general portrait session. Graham leads a simple, almost 'introvertive' lifestyle; when he is not working as a fork-lift truck driver, he is found in 'his chair' watching TV or reading a classic car magazine. His main hobby (aside from reading about classic cars or watching F1) is fixing bicycles, which he does from his shed, or on the bench, in the back garden. Other members of the family, when asked how to sum up Graham, have all said, "sitting in his chair, putting the world to rights". This seemed the logical perspective for this shoot. The image below represents Graham as everybody knows him. The image is full of texture and detail, and (as Roland Barthes comments) has a series of punctums for members of the family viewing it - from the graduation picture, to the photograph of the dog, to the yellow plate on the bookshelf - details of familiar items, bought and gifted by others who are the focus of this project.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Self-Portrait

This has been, by far, the most difficult part of my project. How to represent oneself! I have discussed this in detail within my written logbook, so I won't dwell too much on it here, but self-representation is a very difficult thing to do. As well as challenges with the shooting itself, there are a myriad of decisions that need to be taken into consideration, mainly in terms of how I fit into this project successfully. I am, by its very nature, the only one of the 'eggs' that has made a conscious decision to create an album representing myself to others, and the decision of 'intimacy' and 'how much to reveal about myself' is a consciously slow and purposeful act. It is something I will be working on over the next few months. I have included a couple of shots below as a starter. These represent precious moments that I have at home - playing with the dog and enjoying a coffee on a Sunday morning - simple pleasures that are rare in my life because my work keeps me away from home for 5 out of 7 days.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Mother

I recently shot some images of my Mother, for my major OCA project - A Dozen Eggs. Whilst the images will not be going into the final project itself, one image will be used for the 'cover' of the project (as a representation of 'Mother Hen'). I have chosen the following shot, which was a candid shot taken in the grounds of Speke Hall in Liverpool:

My ideas for representation of the project (which may well change) is currently as follows:

1. A large eggbox (for a dozen eggs) will be used as the 'case' for the images. This will have the project title (etc) (as well as the image of my Mother, shown above) on the top of the box.

2. Each sibling (egg) will be represented by five images chosen from a selection of images shot to represent a specific 'moment' in the individual's life.

3. Each sibling will write a short account of the images, which will be included as an introduction to their 'section'.

4. The images will be contained within a small folder - the likes of those given by street-side photo-labs. This represents the 'snapshot' nature of the family album. Each folder will contain 6 'eggs'.

5. The images will be developed as 4"x6" prints (as per the 'family snapshot' of old). These will be C-Type Metallic prints, published for this project as a 'one-off Portfolio Edition'.

In addition to my Mother, I have shot the images for myself as well as 2 brothers (Godfrey and Steven) and 1 sister (Linda). Over the next few days I am planning a further 2 shoots, with 6 more to follow over the next couple of months.

Major Influences on OCA Advanced Project

Of all the photographers that I have been looking into over the past few months, I think the most influential to date has been Stephen Gill. I have commented on his work rather extensively within my Learning Log, so will not add too much here, other than to point any readers to his work via the link. I own quite a few of his books (and was recently gifted a copy of his ‘Field Studies’), which I have found enlightening. More than anything, Gill has made me realise that I can steer away from ‘conventional’ thinking, and simply explore ideas in the way that I feel is the right way to explore them – without fear of conforming to an ideal of what photographic critics may think. My photography is becoming more and more conceptual and artistic, using photography as a vehicle to attain what I am trying to say, rather than the photographs themselves being ‘all-encompassing’. That is not to say that I’m averse to standards photographic ideals of composition, but they do not ‘bind’ me anymore; if they do not allow me to ‘speak’, then I will ignore the rules in order to say what I need to say.

My personal project, ‘A Dozen Eggs’, focuses on my family and explores a private world of interaction and familiarity amongst 12 children (my siblings and I). There are many ‘moments’ explored – some private, some emotional, some celebratory and others – an intimate portrait of a family that is at once familiar, but also becoming less familiar with one another as we age and drift. As well as the likes of Stephen Gill influencing this work, I have also been exploring the works of Paul Graham and KayLynn Deveney, as well as the likes of Bruce Davidson (whose documentary work I hugely admire). I have also recently come across the work of 3 photographers that I shall be exploring further over the next few months: Christian Sunde, Tom Zimmerman and Arthur Freed. All three have made a point of exploring their private world in order to deliver photographic insights of what verbal (or written) communication could never achieve, and I am fascinated to see what I might discover.