Magnum photos ran an exhibition in March 2018 called the home project where a selection of photographers, photographed their home/idea of home. Magnum quoted ‘”Home” is not only defined as a space for physical living. It holds various other associations that are emotional, biological, cultural and societal’. They allowed the photographers to openly interpret this idea surrounding home and explore what this meant to them personally. Mark Powers was one of those photographers and he photographed his family home in Brighton. I connected with Mark’s work on home a lot as he exlpored this idea of leaving home as his daughter was packing up and getting ready to move to uni. Having recently moved to uni myself I could really connect with the different feelings and emotions that the pictures expressed having experienced those very same emotions when I packed ip and left for uni. The project sees Mark photograph portraits of himself, his wife and his children as well as aspects of their home and the place they live. You can see the final selection of images chosen by Power through the link below:

https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/mark-power-leaving-home/

I plan to use Mark’s techniques to create my own story behind the pictures of my family and my homecoming over christmas.

In todays photography session we looked at aperture and shutter speed. We had to figure out the correct exposure to fit with the correct aperture/ shutter speed we were using. To practise this we used autumn leaves and captured the motion of them falling after throwing them in the air. We had to create a fast shutter speed in order for the camera to freeze the motion of the leaves falling from the air. You can see the way the leaves are more out of focusses and blurred due to the movement of Jess throwing them.

We also looked at depth of field and Capturing the leaves in a shallow depth of field and a wide depth of field. You can see in the picture of the leaves that the brown, crispy leaves are pretty equal in terms of focus, where as the green leaves focus in on different parts of the leaf showing more in depth texture. I plan on using shallow depth of field in some of my final photos to really focus in on the subject and smaller details of my home.

In the pictures of Jess below I used a wider depth of field but still kept the focus on her which I like as it reveal slightly more in the frame but brings a slight mystery to the picture as we can’t see Jess’s face.

In reference to the brief ‘Sense of Place’ i looked at my home and how for most of us this is one of the first senses of place we experience. I initially looked at corners of my own house and bedroom, experimenting with different lighting and exposure. I particularly love the dining/living room in the evenings as there is soft/low lighting in these rooms due to the fairy lights. The living room makes me feel very at home as it is where we spend most of our family time, either watching tv or playing games.

Each room in the house has special memories in it. My dad used to live in our house when he was a little boy so its got lots of different memories for him. The dinning room in particular has memories of my late Grandmother as we kept the original carpet that she picked out when she lived there. We also have photos on the walls of all us kids but also grandparents and my parents wedding photos, all which add substance and make our house a home.

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After inspiration from Sally Mann, I decided to practise taking my own Portrait pictures of my family. These photos are Portrait pictures I have taken of my Sisters. I tried to capture natural photos of them going about their business in and around our home and in Bristol. My family are a very important part of my sense of place as home would be a very different place without them. I have grown up making memories with my siblings which is why I want to capture them in my project. I particularly like the picture of my sister with her face mask on as she is very natural looking and caught in the moment.

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I also like the below photos, meeting a new family member. I feel it represents those feelings of love and protection towards family members, and you can see that expressed through my sisters facial expressions in the photos.

I also love spending time with my friends from home as they are also part of my sense of place in Bristol. My experience of home and my love for it wouldn’t be the same without my friends and family who I have made the memories with.