My intention for this documentary project is to look in detail towards photographers who have done similar work series based on documenting family/families, as this theme is what I aspire to do throughout this project. I’ll be exploring and analysing the work of artists such as Richard Billingham, Tina Barney, Larry Sultan, Nick Waplington and Phillip Toledano for inspiration ideas and style of their work that I could utilise myself in my photography.
I chose to go down the route of documenting my family as I find the idea itself to be compelling as families are quite the same but also different to one another at the same time and it’s a personal and quite an intimate project between the photographer and the subjects which intrigues me and would like to experience this relationship. As well while generating and researching ideas to do for the project I came along the work of Billingham in two ideas I had and found his series ‘Ray’s a Laugh’ to be fascinating and that pushed me into the idea of choosing this theme.
As confirmed, I’ll be portraying the life of the Thompson household back in Grimsby, which will focus on my immediate family (dad, mum and brother) and what happens within the four walls of the house. At the end of the day, we are an ordinary family, like most families but the relationships and interactions with each other could be different to the viewer’s family, to other families. I want to keep the project simple and capture the true nature of these three people, their daily routines, conversations and reactions, facial expressions, how they spend their day’s off, their evenings etc.
Initially thinking for the final piece, as requested to have between 6-10 images mounted onto a3, my initial thought is to achieve either 6 or 8 photographs as I feel that 10 prints would be too much and having an odd amount to me, doesn’t feel right, I think the amount of final images should be balanced so 6 or 8 prints feels to be enough to portray my ideas and subjects in a suitable manner.
Ideas Generation:
Audience:
The audience of this project can be related to pretty much everyone as the subject itself is relatable to the fact that everyone has a family. Everyone knows that not every family is perfect, is happy, is exciting. So by being able to see what happens in the Thompson house, the audience should feel connected in a way to the images as they should be able to recognise the situations and moments that are portrayed in the work, as we’re just like any other family; Two parents who both work with two grown kids (even though I won’t be in the images as I’ll be taking them) and a family cat; and the opportunity to see into the life of my Nana and her Husband within their house when I go visit, which this will give the audience a sense of life of an elderly couple who are still quite set in their way of their generation. The audience may find the work boring as it is just of a standard family or something they might find quite appealing to them of how the Thompson’s live and communicate compared to their own families.
The Family:
David Thompson, 50, father, Venue Manager.
He’s the old man of the house, has a bad sense in humour in making dad jokes and mostly bad puns, however my mum will find them funny and always laughs.
Tarina Thompson, 46, mother, Teaching Assistant.
She’s only 5ft but has the biggest heart going, she has always put all of our needs and wants before her own, especially for her husband; always gets up with him for work even when she has a day off, makes sure his work clothes are ironed the night before for him ready for the next day and that his tea is cooked on time when he finishes early from work. She’s crackers at time with things that she comes out with and has the most distinctive laugh which can be embarrassing when out in public, but that is just one of her many quirks.
Luke Thompson, 24, brother, Retail Assistant.
He’s most of the time an idiot and likes to wind people, but in the house he tends to stay out the way in his room then sit watching Tv with the everyone else on the evening, and is sadly a GTFC fan and hooligan.
Millie, 9, four legged family member.
She’s the beloved family cat, likes to spend most of her day curled up asleep either on a nice comfy bed or on the backroom sofa looking into the garden, then being outside. She’s very much apart of the family, she is the baby of the family, as they do say pets become like children.
Other family members who have been apart of this project when visiting;
My beloved Nana – Wendy Jagger (David’s mother) she’s a bit nut’s and is always comical in a conversation as she’s almost deaf, having to repeat yourself about 3 times until she hears you correctly.
My Aunt – Tracey Baker (David’s older sister) she’s quite reserved person, and can sometimes have a quirky sense in style.
My Godmother – Christine Stevens (Tarina’s oldest friend) when together with my mum, those two just bounce off each other, always laughing.