What is coming though clearly in the reading I am doing and the photographers I have looked at is that they have more than just an interest in their subject matter, they have a passion. I assume that for some of them their ‘work’, if they are acting as a commercial photographer may not always be in their passionate zone, but their private work, what they put their heart into is. It’s the passion that fuels the drive to go and take photographs, and then to find creative ways to explore it and show it to others.
Examples would be:
- The environment – Burtynsky
- War – McCallum
- People – McCurry
- Myth and magic – Aase Goldsmith
So – the over-riding question is – what am I passionate about?
It is people and their lives and motives, especially in the field of autism.
What do I almost never photograph – people, why?
I take endless images of plants (OK, I am interested in them, but not passionate), buildings and architecture, (again a somewhat bland interest – probably explaining the somewhat bland photos) and landscapes. The only people I photograph are family (when they let me) and musicians at concerts.
The overarching aim for this work needs to be how to get from where I am to where I want to be.
Things needed
- Technical skills
- Confidence to approach people
- Access
- Ideas about how to show the strain of living without pathos, doesn’t mean without despair, but in a way that means something.
Present problems
- How to gain access – I have a problem in that my work with the health board could compromise access, I might have a major disciplinary action if I was seen to be using this for my own ends!
Expressing Your Vision 