Gap in the storm and an environmental portrait - Reflections on location shoot 3
On my second day shooting in Cornwall the storm was still in full effect, however there were moments in between the thrashing rain in which I could venture out shortly to photograph.
Before coming to Cornwall I had organised to photograph a friend of mine who has lived in the same house his entire life and grown up around the area in which I am focusing this project on. I thought of him as an important subject to photograph due to him being a close friend of mine and having meaning to me, but also the fact that he has lived in the same house his entire life and that he works within three miles of his house. To many the concept of only living in one house is alien, and also the idea of working within three miles of that house. However this is all he has known.
Tom is 20 and a teaching assistant at the local college, he lives in an old converted farmhouse with his mum, her partner, his two sisters, and his younger adopted brother. Growing up around these people I have extremely fond memories of them. Their house is filled with so much character and they are extremely family oriented. During the summer they have swingsets, play houses, bikes, and all sorts that are expected of a family with young children. However during winter the natural elements encroach upon the swingsets and toys that have been left out. This creates an extremely eerie and rundown feel to the place. It is truly representative of how these desolate areas of Cornwall can seem like a paradise during summer, but in the winter it turns into a run down, dark, wet depressive place.
I started photographing around his house and the garden, trying to capture the feeling of true surrender to the elements and the unique lighting of harsh sunlight against the dark corners of the rooms.
I started by photographing outside, I used a tripod and a small aperture, typically between f/11 and f/16 this was to capture as much detail as possible when taking landscape-esque photographs. I noticed when I was photographing how run down certain elements of the place looked, this was due to the moody lighting created by the heavy, rain filled clouds and also the effects of high winds and extreme weather conditions battering everything. I contemplated how some would find this very disturbing and uncomfortable, but to me it was home and everything I have grown up around. I had a moment of appreciation for the place and everything it stood for.
I then went inside to take Tom’s portrait, I didn’t engage in the conversation of photography or what the project was about. I was simply there as a friend, this was to get him to forget about the camera and just be his natural self so I could capture his authentic self. Eventually after a couple of hours he started to look at the newspaper on his kitchen table, the strong light bleeding through the window creating a silhouette really stood out to me. My camera was already set up on a tripod in the corner of the room. I quietly went over to it and started shooting. I wasn’t too sure if these images would fit in with the aesthetic and feel I had in mind. I then realised that actually it did. I was photographing a place and its people and this was it. It wasn’t posed or forced, it was natural.
Overall I feel like the narrative of the project is starting to form itself slowly but surely, I am shooting somewhat openly and accepting what comes of it.