Welcome to the participatory photography blog. My name is Clare Henry and I started the photography project a few weeks ago. I will be working with some of the volunteers who are involved with the Ecominds community garden. They are doing gardening work and other valuable activities around the farm. There is a wide age range among the volunteer group and differing life situations. Some of them are dealing with mental and physical health issues. I’ve started with 3 volunteers and I will be teaching and sharing camera and photographic skills and facilitating participants to make personal photo journals/albums around the general theme ‘The Farm Through My Eyes’. There may be an exhibition of work and I hope to involve more of the volunteers at a later point.
This is a participatory photography project where other final outcomes, apart from the personal journals will be fully negotiated with participants. It is the process which is important.The healing potential of the arts and their value in supporting mental and physical wellbeing has been recognised and photography has a valuable role. As well as developing photographic skills I see this project as therapeutic photography. Offering an invitation to play, explore, and discuss – photography can also be a way of creating order and taking control. When taking pictures we need to think about what to photograph, why and how things or people and places relate to each other. It provides a contained framework for ideas. I trained with Photovoice last year and have a lengthy background in social/community work. Photovoice sees some of the strengths of therapeutic photography as encouraging storytelling, sharing, making sense of our world and our place in it or simply distracting us from worries.
During the first weeks we have been learning about focusing, framing, composition and experimenting with portraits as well as having lots of fun.
More soon…..Clare