A day in the ‘pool

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Today turned out to be a lovely day to visit Blackpool, to show my new Roma friends the sea for the first time, and to test out my new ND8 filter before I need it in earnest in Romania in a few weeks time. The vignette it produces, from stacking on top of my UV filter, gives the resulting images a Holga-esque kind of feel which I sort of like. It could start feeling a bit gimmicky if overdone though. The train journey home felt like it was never going to end but I think a good day was had by all.

(I can’t ever go to Blackpool, by the way, without thinking of another trip I made there a few years ago, just as I was getting into photography:)

Trying to find my groove

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So the gradual immersion into my Roma project continues this week, and I’m still trying to find my groove. I know from past experience that it takes me time to feel really comfortable with these kind of documentary projects, and to find a kind of mental balance which allows me to overcome my own awkwardness. As always I’m full of nagging doubts – have I bitten off too much by trying to spend time with two different women, and how will I achieve the depth I’m after in my images within such a short time. While we technically have until mid November to complete this project I am being forced to spread my shooting out almost until the bitter end – most weeks I can only shoot two to three days in total because the ladies I’m working with are busy with other things, so I need to get motivated and start the academic research now so I can complete it in parallel. Inevitably I’m putting myself under a lot of pressure: I’ve wanted to do this project for such a long time now that I desperately want it to be good. Keep the faith Ciara, keep the faith.

Over the past few days I’ve realised that I’m faced with another challenge with one of my subjects – a large proportion of her spare time and time with her wider family is spent on a computer, skyping, checking facebook or playing games. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, it’s totally normal and is part of her reality, like most of us today. But it does’t make for particularly visual moments. This is where the patience of the photographer has to come in I suppose, waiting like the hunter for those moments in between. My terrible impatience was something – along with my awkwardness at the start of these projects – which I had really hoped to cast aside during the two years of this Masters, but I suppose I shouldn’t have expected miracles. Perhaps these characteristics are too engrained in who I am.

I chose to focus this project on not one but two young Roma women in Manchester because the past year or so has made me cautious to the point of paranoid that access is going to be a problem or people are going to let me down. My experience of putting together a series of written articles on the Romanian Roma community in Manchester (here, top row) was that finding the right people to talk to can be challenging to say the least, while finding anyone willing to be photographed can be even tougher. Then, almost immediately afterwards, my Rethink project on English Gypsies – a very different community despite their common ancestral roots – was mired in access difficulties not of my own making and was only saved thanks to the support of some good friends within that community. So when I was thinking through my ideas for this current project I decided to pitch my plan to not one but two women as a way of hedging my bets. To my astonishment, both said yes. Not only that, both seem quite enthusiastic about my ideas, in their own ways.

I couldn’t believe my luck when Ramona, who I have already worked with on this written story agreed that as well as spending time with her in Manchester, I could accompany her on a visit home to Romania later this month. It will be her first time home since she moved to the UK in 2009. Well, today things got still more exciting when Lida, the other woman I’m working with, invited me to accompany her on a short visit home to the Czech Republic in October. It feels like it may be cutting it somewhat fine in terms of the project hand-in date but this is surely an opportunity too good to miss, and with a lot of hard work and planning before and a bit of luck, it should just about work out.

Operation Major Project

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So this was the first day of Operation Major Project, at least without the weight of other pressures competing for my mind. It’s going to be a gradual process to develop this project over the next few weeks and months as both my subjects have busy lives and I’m wary about pushing too hard in case I put them off. Like many (all?) projects it’s difficult at this point to make too many predictions about what the work will look like and what form it will end up taking. I’m trying follow the advice of Ed Kashi, our external tutor in the planning stage a few months back, and remain as open minded as possible – the word I think he used was ‘nimble’. Not particularly easy for a control freak like me, but that’s something I’m aware I have to overcome or documentary photography is going to drive me mad. I’ve asked myself many times over the past few years why I’ve been so interested in doing a photo story on the new Roma community and what am I trying to say. It’s still not something I find easy to answer but I suppose it’s really just about celebrating their culture yet at the same time showing something pretty mundane: ie that no matter what someone’s background, we are all essentially the same.

show opening

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It was really nice to see a number of Hightown residents come down to tonight’s show preview at Oriel Gallery. Some seemed a little bemused to see their likeness on the wall, while I had to disappoint others whose photos didn’t make it into the final edit. All were represented in some way though, through an additional slideshow and in my little book. This project has been a great experience on many levels – being forced to work quickly on a well defined body of work was a useful exercise and the fact that people were generally happy to talk and have their photos taken has been a timely confidence boost, especially after some of my projects this year, particularly this one, have been difficult to pull off. I’m now looking forward though to moving on and dedicating myself full time to my final MA project.

the best thing about doing a community project…

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…is receiving lovely and interesting comments like these from those who know the area:

  • John Howell says:

    I found Ciara’s book of photographs and interviews very interesting reading.
    Although I was born and lived in Tuttle Street until 1971, (when my family had to move due to demolition plans),as children, most of our playing together was done around there or Willow Road together with the field on Madeira Hill which was owned by Harry and Hilda Squires. However, occasional visits were made to the playing field which stood between Kingsmills Road and Brynycabanau Road. Many of my classmates at St. Giles school were from the Hightown, Whitegate and Huntroyde areas……happy days!!

  • David Roberts says:

I was born in Saxon Street in 1953. We moved to Gwenfro the following year, then returned to the Hightown area in 1964. Between those years I remember walking, and later cycling, back through the old terraced houses to visit my Grandfather, Oliver Beard. I remember shopping at Mrs Parry’s and at Miss Bell’s and playing on the swings, the roundabout, the big rocking horse and the field, before the flats were built.
Now that you’ve jogged my memory with the photofilm and the photobook, I must look out some old family photos and will definitely visit the exhibition.

If you happen to live in/be visiting Wrexham then please join me at the exhibition preview tomorrow evening. Failing that the show is up for almost two months….

See the full project here:

major project is go

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So I guess my MA major project has kind of started, although at this point it’s still something of a soft launch, while I try to get some other loose ends tied up. I’ve been looking forward to and dreading this part of my course in equal measure – excited about the idea of getting my teeth into a subject I’m really interested in over a period of months, and paralysed by the fear that access problems could prevent me from focusing on what I really wanted. I’ve wanted to centre my final project on the UK’s new Roma residents since I applied for this MA in 2009 and for the first time it feels like this is going to actually happen. Assuming all goes to plan, I’m going to be spending time over the coming months with two young Eastern European Roma women who have moved to Manchester, to document their lives. They are from different countries – Romania and the Czech Republic – live in different parts of the city and don’t know each other, and their traditions differ in many respects. As far as possible the project is going to be a collaboration, perhaps one which will manifest itself in different ways with each woman. My number one concern was access – to their families and wider communities – but after meeting and talking through ideas with both my subjects this weekend, I’m feeling much more comfortable about the whole thing. At this point, both are pretty enthusiastic about taking part and recognise the value of challenging some of the stereotypes about their culture. What a relief.

Leeds Gate

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I’ve spent the past few days tagging along with outreach workers from the organisation Leeds Gate, which helps the city’s Gypsies and Travellers to access services and navigate the system. I’ve been trying to persuade community members to let me take photographs when we visit them in their houses, permanent sites and on a roadside – ie unauthorised – camp next to a busy dual carriageway in order that I can document what Gate does. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in another few days over the coming weeks as well.

Highs and lows – photofilm

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I made a little photofilm featuring some of the voices of Hightown folks I have met over the past month on my project for Wrexham’s Oriel Gallery, and supported by Arts Council Wales. The Blurb book I’ve made of the same work can be previewed here. Both the photofilm and the book are personal additions to the project, which I feel make it more complete, and have not been commissioned by the funders.

The exhibition begins in two weeks time. Details here:

Highs and lows – Hightown project

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I’m in the final stages of preparing, editing and sequencing the work which will be shown in my exhibition at Oriel Gallery in Wrexham, of the work I’ve shot in the Hightown neighbourhood over the past month. The show will open on 28 July, to tie in with the National Eisteddfod, a week-long Welsh cultural festival which will take place in the town in the first week of August, and will remain in the gallery for a further two months. This has been a really brilliant experience – local people were extremely generous with their time and thanks to the help of a few key figures and community workers, I managed to find willing subjects without too many difficulties. The project is simply a snapshot of a small number of residents but it’s been great fun to do, and a learning experience in many ways. I’ve also made a book of the work, which can be seen here.