Week 4: Collaboration
- Laura Marsh
- Oct 18, 2020
- 3 min read
Abandoned
When the collaboration forum opened this week, I wanted to post an image that would allow my peers to have their own interpretation as to where the project could lead. I chose an image I had taken the previous week of a woodland path in Nonington, Kent. I found myself being drawn to this path as it was so clearly set out, undisturbed even by the carpet of Ivy that covered the woodland floor. I started to think about our relationship with nature and how it reacts to our actions and presence.
I went for a short walk after posting the photo and observed the areas around me, I noticed a lot of climbing plants covering walls, such as Ivy and it started to lead me on to think about how nature takes land, and manmade objects back if we leave them.
I hoped to pair up or create a group by Monday, as I knew it would be a rush Monday evening once I returned home from work and by Sunday evening I had paired up with Robin Caddy, who had shown interest in working with me. He had also come up with a similar idea about nature taking back land, so we settled on that idea quickly. By Monday evening Lynne Cameron emailed me asking if we had space in our group, she liked my photograph and was looking to work with people that would bring her out of her comfort zone of Sport photography.
Following discussions between us on Canvas, we wanted to show the difference between the North/South divide and how this idea takes hold, with myself and Robin in the South of England, Hampshire and Kent and Lynne in Cheshire. Both Robin and Lynne used a website called 28 Days Later to find locations near them.
I had already decided on a location near me that I have wanted to shoot previously. I had chosen a road called Millennium Way in my hometown of Broadstairs. This road had originally been built to allow access to the neighbouring retail site as well as a new build for the college I currently work at, this was over 10 years ago and due to unknown reasons the build did not go ahead. This left this piece of land abandoned, with two roundabouts and access roads leading into fields. Over the years it has been misused and often used for fly tippers and as a lorry stop off for drivers using the nearby ports of Ramsgate and Dover. The land is now for sale, which leads to the question, what will happen to this land once it is sold, will nature be allowed to continue, or will man take it back?
My group and I kept in contact via our discussion group on canvas and emailed throughout the three days we did this project, I had already booked a webinar slot for the Thursday evening, which Robin joined me in. This then allowed both he and Lynne to use that time as deadline to get the work to me so I could create the PDF. I offered to this, as I knew I would have time on the Wednesday and Thursday.
We worked exceptionally well as a group, keeping each other updated on how we were progressing and offering feedback on our photographs as well as editing support for which images to use. We all settled on a uniform number of four photographs each, which we intermingled in the presentation to show that there was not a difference between the locations.
The feedback we received was positive and our project was well liked amongst our tutors and peers, with many noting that the locations worked well together, the edit of the images, the layout and relationship with each other and how you could not tell that three different photographers took these images. In Lynne's webinar, she was given two references that our peers linked to our work; Anne Hardy and Edgelands by Roberts and Farley, I will look into these further.
It is my understanding that this project was beneficial to us all, with the possibility of continuing this project in our own practice, as well as allowing us to come out of our comfort zones. I have worked on my own for a number of years with my own personal photography, this project helped me step outside and push myself to deliver for my group, as well as sharing ideas and practice and enhancing my communication skills.
Laura Marsh, Millennium Way Series, 2020
You can find our full collaboration presentation below, which includes the work of Robin Caddy and Lynne Cameron, who collaborated on this project with me.
Bibliography:
Websites:
28DaysLater.co.uk. 2020. 28Dayslater.Co.Uk. [online] Available at: <https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Anne-hardy.co.uk. 2020. Anne Hardy - Artist. [online] Available at: <http://anne-hardy.co.uk/> [Accessed 17 October 2020].
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