For me, the success of the project was always dependant on the sharing of knowledge and involving other local people in the project. Therefore, it had always been my intention to work with a group of young people - using the need to create an archive as an opportunity for young people to learn skills that might benefit them in the future. I am very glad to say that this is now underway.
Re Entry is a charitable organisation who act as a ‘probation’ service, taking responsibility for young people who have been unable to attend school for various reasons and ensuring that they continue their education and development.
Some months ago now, I was contacted by David “Cookie” Cook of the All Saints Re Entry base who had heard about the project and was interested involving the young people they work with in the project. We met (at the pub) discussed our visions for the project and what we hoped to achieve and found that these were compatible and decided to try to work together.
I’ve now been working with ReEntry for several weeks and have so far loved every minute of it.
More importantly - the young people really seem to enjoy it too.
I’ve so far been teaching my pupils using only manual film cameras. This lead to one or two blank frames in the earlier lessons but now the results that have so far been produced have been hugely impressive. Using manual cameras mean that the young people have to think about aperture, shutter speed and focussing the camera as if they don’t, they don’t get the photograph.
I’ve found that the method of learning that is required with photography - one of exploration, creativity and experimentation - is one that suits these young people very well. For people who have found the classroom environment difficult, being given freedom to learn by doing out in the field rather than being told to sit down and listen, these classes have given them a new outlook on learning, much as it did for me when I started learning photography. Many of the aspects that make a great photographer aren’t the kind of traits that lead to people excelling in standard education, and I am so glad that it is helping them in the same way that it helped me.
The benefit was summed up to me last week when Shania, one of the girls who had been involved in the programme, spoke to me on her last day at the centre before she went back to full time education. I asked her if she had enjoyed it and she told me that she had and that she intended to study media at A level so that she could do more photography. This was a great thing for me to hear. Whether or not she went on to make a career of photography, the experience had been something which she had enjoyed and felt as if she was good at and it had given her the confidence in herself - a belief that she was capable of achievement in the field of education.
I will be working with ReEntry once a week for the remainder of the school year, and possibly even beyond. I am really lucky to have found such a good group of young people and an organisation as wonderful as ReEntry, whom I am extremely proud to be working with and am sure that together we can meet our goals for the project.
