I’m in a slight state of nervous anxiety about the project I’m about to start in Stalybridge, which will ask questions about place and belonging. It’s partly the feeling of not having very much lined up but having to deliver something – this is familiar to me from my newspaper days (it was a daily occurrence then). This time it’s compounded by other factors though – particularly the fact that it’s school holidays and my childcare is pretty limited. And I’ve just realised the submission date for this work is earlier than I anticipated (within the first few days of school returning, in fact). It will be fine, I just need to crack on and make it work. It’s just added an extra layer of stress on top of the usual project anxiety.

The best remedy is action. Tomorrow I’m going to Stalybridge to start making connections. My initial thought with this project was that I’d like to make portraits of people in one location – perhaps of shopkeepers on one street – and ask them questions about their relationship with the place. I then remembered I know someone who grew up in Stalybridge and asked her advice and something unexpected happened – we ended up arranging for me to meet her mum and nan tomorrow, and apparently they have old photos. So this is a project which could go in various directions. It could start with them and maybe they will introduce me to other people, and them onto other people and so on. I quite like that idea actually. Or, I could them move on to a more street based project after tomorrow, where I try to do portraits of people as I meet them walking around the town. We shall see. I’ve put some visits in my diary over the next few weeks and I’ll see what themes or images emerge. My plan is to ask everyone I photograph the same few questions. I’d just feel much cooler about the whole thing if I didn’t have the extra factor of summer holidays… the juggle is real.