I promised to tell you about my Toddington People project. Thinking I have got off to a reasonably good start, it has been enjoyable so far but not without a little bumpy patch.
The Toddington People project is about making a record of how we live, how we look and how we work in this day an age. The product of the project will be a book, which I will present to the Archive Office in Bedford, also know as the Record Office. If the project goes well and I manage to produce a good number of nice photos, I could make the book available more widely and maybe even an exhibition in the village hall, or perhaps the library.
Perhaps like all things in life, we shouldn’t be surprised if we hit a little bumpy patch from time to time. Already I have had three people decline my request of being photographed and this is a real shame as they would have photographed well, with interesting surroundings. Rest assured, I’ll press on and perhaps approach them once again, when the project has built up a bit more momentum.
I am aiming for 50+ photographs. Each time I take a photograph of someone, I ask them to nominate someone else – this will hopefully widen the scope of people, to add to the diversity and variety of people. As an example, Jonny in the above photograph has nominated a car mechanic who will nominate someone else and so on.
One of the things I’ve needed to do is produce a ‘model release form’. Thing is, I need to have permission to publish people’s photographs and any caption is considered “personal data” in relation to the Data Protection Act 2018 and its implementing of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations. This is where it has been important to get this sorted from the start and the Archive Office have been helpful to me, along with a friend who is in the Royal Photographic Society.
After taking the photographs, I look at them on the tiny screen at the back of my camera. They generally look okay. It is when I upload them onto my computer that I get to see the detail and take it in. Does it look like I saw it in my mind’s eye? Does it convey something about the person – who they are, how they live or work? I look at the photographs – I am my harshest critic. The photograph of Jonny will need to be retaken as the focus was slightly off. I am cross I didn’t notice it at the time, it’s only when I saw it on my computer screen I saw it was slightly out of focus. Grrrrr.
One important thing has occurred to me already. Each person will have a valuable story to tell. I have learned something about each one so far, a fascinating story, perhaps something of a journey in life. We know from history how we can learn important lessons in life and perhaps that’s what I’m trying to do now – recording a some personal histories for as a valuable source in the future.
I am excited to see where the project takes me.
Some other photographs produced so far:
