I chose to capture my flatmates for this project as we all moved into our accommodation together and instantly bonded, each of us came from a different place all around the UK so for us to instantly bond and become friends gave me a real sense of home and I wanted to embrace that and capture it to the best of my ability. We all act like a family and come from different backgrounds and friendship groups, we all have different interests and personalities but when we are together we push our differences aside and get along perfectly. A sense of place for me has never been about a certain area, it is about belonging, whether it be around friendships or family, as long as I have people around me who make me feel like I belong that’s what is most important to me. Within my pictures I wanted to not only convey our bond but show our everyday life as a group, not just our flat and the university but the places we commonly visit together, I also wanted to convey feelings and struggles. For the majority of us, we have moved very far to be here, it is draining mentally and physically being away from our family and friends and I wanted to show the emotion we face and how we deal with it together. I know that many people who move into university accommodation struggle to bond with their roommates, so I am even more thankful to have bonded with such kind people. I put much thought into how I would capture these thoughts and feelings I have about my friendships, I researched other photographers who capture still life and show people’s emotions through pictures and discovered just capturing freely would be the best way to show this, it’s always more obvious when pictures are staged and I wanted to show emotions as they are felt, not as they are staged. I am very pleased with the way my pictures reflect this, and hope those viewing them understand the importance of my friendships, too.