Following my tutor’s response and suggestions for assignment 2, I am going to shift the images to my alternatives. Under more normal circumstances I could simply redo the original images, taking on board his comments, but that will have to wait for another time.

The second set of images tell a (very) small part of the story of Rich and Janey, an autistic couple I met as part of a long-term project on autistic people and their lives. They were kind enough to let me into their lives and their house. I was not originally going to use it for A2 as they are not studio (either inside or outside) images, but, as pointed out by my tutor, I could consider their living room as the studio, and I did use flash (so artificial lighting).

Janey’s life is not easy, but her principle is “(almost) anything you do I can do too”. The exceptions are things like working a till in a busy store – but who realistically wants to do that. She is an author, and rarely seen without a pencil and a notebook. Rich works with computers. Their most important role is that they are parents and are determined to give their child as much love as possible.

Practice:

• The images were taken inside with a mixture of artificial light and flash.
• I visualised these from the start as black and white – but (as usual) can see both colour and B/W working
  • B/W seems to fit with the narrative tone of the images and reflects early images of people with difficulties, but without (I hope) the negative connotations
  • B/W avoids the concentration latching on to some of the random items in the room such as a very blue bucket
  • Colour is more current, and, possibly, shows more about their surroundings – but do I want that?
• I took some time chatting to them both as it was the first time I had met Rich (and only the second with Janey). Then just started taking pictures of what they were doing and how they were interacting.
• I have shown the images to Janey and Rich and they were pleased with them and agreed to their use.

Where I am:

• I think I have chosen my preferred 5 images, having originally cut down from 68I to 19 (19 shown in contact sheets below)
• Need to decide on colour v B/W
• Need to add some more research about photography of disabilities

Choices – interestingly the B/W images and the colour are not identical pictures:

Contact sheets of 19 preferred:

Black and white or colour?:

Contact sheets of all images: