Kirsten Lewis

Kirsten Lewis is a photographer that has expanded her art into the commercial market by providing hourly sessions of documentary family photography. This doesn't really fit into my project however, the family photographs themselves are very good and something I wanted to incorporate into taking my images. She focuses on emotion and family expression. I want to photograph the ways in which self sustainable living provides positives and negatives to living and the childrens upbringings so this type of photography is a brilliant way to express that.

'Kirsten, a former BA of Child Psychology graduate, elementary school teacher, and Cards Against Humanity champion, is considered to be one of the best documentary family photographers in the world. While living and working in the Outer Banks, NC for 8 years she developed a unique type of beach portrait that not only was never before available, it created an unprecedented demand for her work, shooting over 90 families in a 3 month time period every season. Since relocating to Colorado, she has focused on her highly sought after Day in the Life and Vacation sessions where she spends up to 72hrs with a family documenting their daily life with humor and compassion alike. Although her families are completely diverse, the majority of the clientele happen to be fellow photographers including Susan Stripling, Daniel Aguilar, Tyler Wirken and Lanny & Erika Mann, just to name a few.' 

first edit

Here are a selection of images I have called my first edit. I have taken well over 800 pages so there will have to be several edits from this collection in order to get my final edit together.

A bit about my time there...

The journey to Scoraig consisted of an hour long boat journey from the isle of wight to southampton, a bus from southampton docks to the coach station, a two and a half hour long coach that went from southampton to London Victoria. From there I then waited an hour for a coach to inverness that then went on a fifteen hour journey with two 15 minute comfort breaks before finally arriving there. From there I was met by my uncle Luke and baby cousin Finnian who took me to Tesco to get their two weekly shop. Although they live a fairly self selfsustainable lifestyle they can’t rely souly on what they grow to live off of. They currently grow rhubarb, potatoes, onions, broccoli, Carrots, apples, pears and cherries and cannabis (for adult consumption!) their Tesco shop normally includes anything that is reduced for quick sale as well as treats for dinners. For example some nights they do ‘fake-away’ nights that consist of food they may once have had that they can’t order in now they live on a remote peninsula. one of the meals I had for example was a Chinese fake-away which included soya covered chicken thighs with noodles and rice and mixed vegetables. Once we left tesco, we drove for two hours to get to the jetty and then into a knackered old fishing boat that took us with all of the shopping over to Scoraig. We got to the house and were eagerly met by all of my cousins. Tyler, Nathaniel, river, meredith alys and their mother Pixie. Once i had settled into the Bothy (small house in the garden of the main house for visitors) i was then shown around and taught the way in which they live. I was taught how to make a fire which was a must in the temperatures they live in, as well as where to search for sticks and where I can wash. The fires are what heats the water. No fire. No hot water. So keeping a fire going was essential. I was also informed on how they make their electricity. The house has two sources for electricity, solar panels and a wind turbine a little higher up the mountain. There is then a gage inside the house that tells you the amount of energy they have for the day which they then dish out for the different appliances. Often, using too many appliances at once can trip a switch which will turn off all electricity. 

The first few days of my visit were mainly spent playing with the kids. They showed me their favourite spots to play at and took me right down to the edge of the Loch. What interested me is just how in touch they are with their environment. The kids were happy to climb huge boulders that went out to sea and climb trees right to the top. The had full on mud fights with one another and put mud down each others backs for fun. Play time here is all about the use of imagination. electrical devices for the children are few and far between and they like it that way. If the children want to watch something, they are given a portable DVD player with a selection of david Attenborough documentaries to choose from. It was very evident just how much they watched Attenborough by how much information they had about the world around them. Before coming to Scoraig, I was interested in how the kids dealt with having little to no friends here and only having their siblings as company and it turns out, they prefer it this way. The children are used to having no busy life around them, they dislike other people, and cars and anything noisy. They are out of their comfort zones surrounded by new people. The children sometimes have visitors from their closest neighbours that come round to play. Its important to point out however that the only way to get from place to place here is using your feet. There are no roads, only tracks to walk on, so any visitors have to brave whatever weather is thrown at them on the journey too and from their destination. 

Here, wealth is determined by ‘crofts’. There will be an owner of the entire piece of land expanding across Scoraig, there is then a crofting committee that distributes parts of the land to certain people who want it. As recently as the late 70’s a croft worth the same amount as a large piece of land in England could be bought with something as little as a bottle of wine. But recently, Scoraig has changed slightly. the more people that come over here to live, the more that money is introduced. For example, Pixie and Luke currently rent their property for 500 pounds a month. This includes several acres of land, a home that can house 12 people and a Bothy. If Luke does general maintenance to his property, he can invoice the owner (currently living in Switzerland) and his expenses and a wage will be taken out of that months rent. This is incredibly different to the beginning of inhabiting Scoraig. 60 years ago only two people lived on the entire peninsula and they only maintained contact for their business venture. They grew organic carrots that were distributed across the UK. Post is rare here so in order to get the carrots out they had a postman walk sacks of organic carrots around the mountains. More recently, the peninsula is inhabited by a few families that prefer a self sustainable lifestyle.   

                                                                         

Family life is interesting here. Each child is given chores to help with the run of the house. Pixie spends the majority of her day baking fresh bread and cooking for both lunch and dinner. Luke normally spends his day doing general DIY to improve food growth or ferrying for anyone on the peninsula who needs to head into mainland Scotland. Although the children swear and curse and fight with one another, they have a general respect for their parents. If their parents ask them to do something they do it with no questions asked. if the children fail to eat their dinner, it is served up to them the next morning for breakfast. Something the children were very happy with as I walked in whilst they were chowing down on cold spaghetti and meatballs. They also have strict rules where TV is concerned. They watch TV on a small portable plug in DVD player. Each child takes turns in choosing the DVD of the day, when that film is over and the children still want to watch something as opposed to playing outside, their only other choice is to watch a David Attenborough documentary. Pixie does this to educate the children on the world around them.    

Julliette Mills

'Juliette Mills is a British photographer based in Dartmoor, South West of England and has been taking pictures since the age of 12. She grew up in a private zoo, surrounded by endangered species, with parents fired by passions for conservation and music.'

I wanted to include Julliette Mills within my blog because she focuses a lot of her work on documentary photography of families. I would ideally like to take influence from the way in which she reports on family life so I can get a clear understanding of how to project family relationships and reflect them delicately as to not obstruct the bond that families already share. However, I won't just be photographing the family whilst I'm in Scoraig, I will be looking at what influences them to stay and live the life they do, one major contributing factor being the scenery around them. The beautiful mountain style hill tops and water surrounding them.

The interesting thing about Julliette Mills is that she almost blends and merges the two into one single photo, the family relationships and the scenery surrounding them. I don't feel like I necessarily need to merge the two, this is an in-depth project, not a series of candid shots of different families. I want to photograph the family life but I also want to photograph their habitat, their surroundings, what their children do in their spare time and anything in-depth and analytical of the nature in which they live.

The trip

I will start the trip from my home, the Isle Of wight because for some strange reason to which I still don't quite understand, it takes less time and costs less money to go from southampton docks to Scotland, than it does to go from Cheltenham Spa to Scotland.  So, I will leave the isle of wight and take an hour long boat to reach southampton docks. I will then be picked up by coach at southampton docks and make the 15 hour journey from Southampton to Inverness. I have chosen to travel via Coach instead of flying because I no longer have a valid passport due to its expiration in January, and renting a new one means more money out of the Scoraig budget to fund it and I'd rather souly occupy my spends with the major project. Once I arrive in Inverness I will then travel the 2 hour journey to Scoraig with my Uncle who will then take me to their home ready for the project to begin.

Another addition to the projects unique characteristics, is the idea that I will be travelling from the most southern point of the UK to one of the most northern points of the UK. The length of travel shows the dedication to the project and will allow me to explore places I have never been to. The most northern point I've really stayed in is Birmingham so I have a lot to take in, it won't only be educational for others looking at alternative ways of living, but educational for me because I'm exploring new parts of the UK.

preparing/funding

In order to carry out this project, there are several things i need to think about before heading to Scoraig. Most importantly, I need to think about how to financially back myself for the several weeks that I will be working on the project. To travel to and from scoraig, Im looking at just under 100 pounds a trip. Working weekends in a pub doesn't quite cut the mustard for this one, so i have to think about other ways to financially support this final project.

Funding is one of the avenues I have gone down to try and raise money for the project. Several funding projects online ask for a fee of money just to enter your images for a chance to win some funding. I however have tried to source funding opportunities that don't ask you to put your hand in your pocket to ask for money. I don't quite understand that concept.

I came across the Scottish Arts council when I was looking at different places to possibly exhibit the work once I had completed the project and found they did funding of up to £15k dependant on project type. I initially submitted a proposal for a small amount of funding for just £500 pounds but I was very quickly answered with the problem that the lowest they could fund to a project was £1000! Well i guess the only thing to do was a resubmission of a £1000 application for funding. The issue with this, is that the funding application process for the Scottish arts council takes up to 8 weeks. My thoughts were, if i continued to try and make the project happen on my basic earnings and won the funding, I could put that towards exhibitions and book making after the project was over. I'm not thinking about this project as a university submission, I'm thinking of it as a professional work. So planning for after university is vital to push the project forward.

I next applied for the Quay Arts funding programme which is a smaller funding programme in my home the Isle of Wight, I was excited to receive a great reception from my project idea, the organisers asked me to show them the final project once it had been completed, however, I had sent my application apparently a day after the deadline, and to consider mine would be unfair to other applicants!

I am waiting on the reply from the Scottish arts council funding programme to see if i have been successful but if not, I will have to continue working hard in my pub job to save up the funds for Scoraig trips one at a time.

photo inspiration

I will be staying in something very similar to this when I begin my project, it's called a 'Bothy' and i will be supplied withy own firewood and coals to keep me warm throughout the night.

The Guardian has recently run a story on Scoraig trying to find a teacher for its school of  5 pupils that age from 5-10 years old. Above are the five pupils and the two girls and the tallest boy happen to be my cousins. This is how I am gaining access to the location. A few of my loose family members up and left their 'normally' structured lives to move to Scoraig away from everybody, this project won't just look at alternative ways of living, but look at the way in which such a huge move to such a contrasting area has effected the children. Their only friends now are the two others in the school and their siblings which must be quite a restrictive way to grow up.

Pictured is the jetty that connects mainland Scotland and Scoraig to one another, this is the jetty that is used to get the post and any other important things needed on the peninsula. This is where I will arrive once I am picked up from Inverness.