Reflecting on the journey this project has taken…..
As we work our way through the lifting in ‘places’ of lockdown, a photography project I started back in mid April sits patiently in my lounge ready to be installed today in one of the towns empty shops.
Alas a victim of COVID, the changing retail landscape has become a canvas for my photos of locals within the community.
What feels like a million moons ago now began back in March, hurriedly returning from America I self isolated upon my return and within a week the UK was in lockdown too. I grappled with jet lagg, the stress of actually getting one of the last flights out of America and isolation. The abrupt stop of working came as shock like no other and I ping ponged between enjoying the new found time to panic about not working - I love what I do and felt like my arm had been chopped off.
In a bid to keep my sanity I started photographing my garden, a step towards digging out my beloved and very much under used film camera and pondering just what was ‘special’ enough to warrant loading it with film.
My ‘routine’ as lockdown progressed began with early mornings, sipping coffee in my small garden listening to the birds + a walk within my allotted hour - this combination seemed to set me up for the day ahead and during one walk whilst pondering life I saw two friends who mentioned ‘Simon’ at Cassandra’s Cup, a local tea room, had turned the tea room in to a grocery shop for locals - a brilliant idea and back then, venturing to the supermarket was a nightmare.
THAT was my ‘TA-DA’ moment, photographing people who were helping within our community, looking out for each other and doing good on my walking route, I set about brain storming and figuring out logistics. I ordered film from Speedgraphic, a local company and collected it from the owners house, again on my walking route and from a safe distance. It was David that asked if I was going to process the film too - I poo-poo’ed the idea but he’d planted a seed!
I chose the Bergger Pancro 400 film based on just two things, hmm, maybe three, firstly I’d loved Bergger paper at photo school and looking at the reviews it seemed appealing, (Brand loyal I am a marketeers dream!) then the film speed, changeable weather + previous experience, then price point.
Foolishly I thought using my camera again would be like riding a bike, you never really forget and to some extent it was BUT there were many fun challenges along the way too.
I ended up shooting 6 rolls of film, each roll holds just 12 frames and then purchasing everything above in order to process the film - it was daunting BUT also I had the time to dedicate, which was lucky bcos it took FAR longer than I remember to even get the rolls of film on the film spools.
NOTE: temperature + time is key in the processing of film, too hot/too cold. too long, not long enough could all screw the film negatives up and so to everyone I photographed I explained, I’m using my old camera, it’s been YEARS AND I’m processing the film, it might go tit’s up so I might be back! Everyone was super lovely and I must have looked like a right bumbling fool! Undeterred I continued.
I started to create small video diary entries, just for fun as a memory of the time and if all else fails to look back upon and think, well, I gave that a try. It was also important to reconnect with the ‘Craft’ of photography and the ‘CREATIVE PROCESS’. Processing the film over my kitchen sink and drying the negatives in the bathroom isn’t perhaps ideal but it was indicative of using what you’ve got and carrying on too!
Ahhh the fun we had……LOL So whilst I captured these amazing people doing wonderful acts of kindness and support for the local community I also captured moments + events : VE celebrations -socially distanced + quintessentially British, #BLM peaceful protest, support for key workers, elements of daily life that had changed during this time, along with some of the signage and shop window’s showing humour and support.
AND THEN came not being able to really ‘SEE’ what I had photographed…….my scanner, which I thought could take 120 film, could not and so just about ready to give up I asked twitter for advice, someone suggested the ‘Film Scanner Pro’ app and tapping the negs to my window became a past time lol
AT LAST I could see and it was exciting! Above shows the negatives, the red images from the app and then those images run thru my phone and turned to Black & White - HALLELUYA!!!!!!!!!!!
The issue with negs against a window is that you have to get at a particular angle to see anything clearly and so in a bid to give the negatives a completely clear background I lugged my coffee table in to the garden to lay under and shoot through - it was like being in a sauna lol but the results worked.
As we neared the end of lockdown I started to finally see my project and after venturing out to get some cheap print outs I started pondering everything. Again one morning walk it occurred to me that displaying them in one of the empty shops in town might be nice thing to do and then extending it out to the community to capture others who helped during this time too.
Tanya at ‘Wildly Upbeat Printers’ suggested talking to Annie at ‘Blendit’ and the next day I had a shop window and just needed to get the images ready, printed and good to go……..
And so….TODAY at 10.30am I’m meeting Annie to hang the installation/Exhibition (it was suppose to be yesterday but things and keys got moved around so today…) I’m excited to see the images fill the space and shout out to other people to get involved, this whole ‘process’ has been twisting and turning and a true ‘process’ in every sense of the word. It has also NEVER been this straight forward to get work displayed and I am super grateful for this opportunity to share just this tiny snippet of our community spirit amongst a challenging time for us all x
The images will be up from today in the old Calliope store, 12 Westbrook Walk, Alton.
