In response to a growing sense that the ‘place’ of Jaywick was an increasingly important element behind any portraits I might do, I sought to photograph people in places that mattered to each person.
Homes or favourite areas, such as beaches or eateries, were introduced in an attempt to see not just Jaywick but the Jaywick of the people in the project.
Visually, the project now looks more ‘messy’, with its mix of head and shoulder portraits and people-in-place shots – but for the time being I am comfortable with that. In fact, I’d suggest that lack of visual uniformity might even be preferable as it better reflects the place itself – where each building differs from the next.
But while my visual survey of Jaywick is growing both in faces and places, it is increasingly dawning on me that it largely that – a survey. The visual territory of the project is expanding, but not getting much deeper. To put it bluntly, where is the story?
