Trinity Winchester

What a difference a day can make! Only yesterday I was feeling like a dinosaur and today I realise that age can be a benefit after all!

I am on the onset of starting my second semester project and I have never been so excited or had such high expectations. As I have stated before, my genre of choice is social documentary, and has been since I was first introduced to the "pinnacle of photography" during my A Level. Two years ago I naively wanted my first assignment to be a huge issue based project, looking at the "invisible" members of our society, those we pretend not to see. My intended list included the elderly, obese, disabled and the homeless. I was told that this would not be allowed, for reasons of exploitation, safety and my own novice skills! The thought of exploiting a vulnerable person, of taking an  image for my own benefit, was reason enough for me to steer clear of such a sensitive issue. Instead I tacked other, smaller topics, more personally relevant.

My ongoing studio project is looking at the current economic climate through still life. I have long felt that our society's obsession with possessions would lead to disaster, and believe we are now paying the price for satisfying our ambition to own all we desire through mounting credit. We all claim to be feeling "the pinch" to a greater or lesser extent. Cuts to child tax credits and child benefit for example, have affected both the middle classes and those on benefits. The part of our society that remains largely unaffected are the homeless, for they had little to begin with. I began to combine my aspirations to document the homeless with my thoughts on possessions.

It is this that lead me to contacting Trinity Winchester, a charity that provides practical and emotional support for the homeless and vulnerably housed in Hampshire. It really is a remarkable place. They provide the essentials such as daytime shelter, food, clothing, washing facilities, as well as counselling and learning services, to those we are living on the streets, in hostels, emergency shelters and those whose accommodation issues are precarious. These are people in crisis, people who have lost all that we hold dear.

My intention was to produce a photobook, one page with their own personal stories, the other page an image of their possesions. A reminder to those of us who surround ourselves with the latest gadgets, phones, ipads, 3d televisions, that there are members of society for whom all they own can be carried in a bag. I really didn't expect to be given permission to shoot at the shelter, but I thought it was worth mentioning that I was a mature student and the theme for my project. I was invited in for a meeting, bringing samples of my work and an example of what I wanted to produce. I was told that they get requests by students every week, but she felt that I appeared sensible with a firm idea of what I wanted to achieve. The CEO had been approached and I would be the first student to be given permission to shoot at the shelter. I am reminded once again that with age comes life experiance, and this is fundamental when relating to people. I look at the world differently than I did in my youth, with more compassion and empathy.  I am seriously delighted and looking forward to my first visit next Tuesday. I only hope that my abilities are enough to do the subject justice.