Advice for Young People
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Thanks GrampsVery interesting project
Harlequin565
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Great idea for a project. Can I ask how you tally what was said with who said it when you come to do post production? Do you just write down the phrase, then "remember" who it belonged to?
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- The other Chris
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What a bizarre comment, its Ben's project and he sets the terms.
Ed Sutton
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Maybe he has but hasn't posted the results.
Blue439
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Of course it is, yet Ben chooses to submit it to us, and therefore either expects some sort of feedback beyond sheer mute admiration, or at least is prepared to welcome it. Anyway, that’s my take on it.
And in fact, I tend to agree with Bazza above. It seems odd to ask that question to people who are barely beyond “their younger self” in age. To include some of them is certainly good, but it would have more meaning to ask older people who have had some more time to put things in perspective.
At the moment all the portraits have been prearranged - they're all strangers to me, they all answered a call I put out on my Instagram account. Basically, these people chose to meetup with a complete stranger in town to have their portrait taken! So, I've been able to keep an online list of who I have made pictures of. During the shoot, I will type their answers into my phone notes app and then read it back to them to confirm I've captured it correctly. So that's how I tally them up. I'm very much seeing these as collaborations, with the sitters have control over the words that appear next to their photograph.
'Phase 2' involves me reaching out to local community groups, churches, etc.. to find groups of people - it'll be more efficient or approaching strangers. I want to reach as many groups as possible
I'm very keen to reach as wider demographic as possible, including kids. I want to build a portrait of Swindon. We all have some sort of advice for our younger self's. We all have our own story to tell, regrets, failures, successes, etc.. regardless of age
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DemiLion
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There speaks someone that in 10 to 5 years time will have wished that they had done exactly the opposite!
I think there's been two categories of answer so far, people who are talking to their younger self and people answering with something they're expected to say. The former is more interesting.
realspeed
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Just a bit of helpful guidance from myself who is already 80 years old. So yes experience through life teaches us where we made mistakes and where we made the right decisions. you can't get this from the age group depicted in the original post
Nostromo
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I disagree with you. These are their answers, about their lives, so are relevent to them, up to this point in their lives. Their point of view may change in time, but you won't know unless you ask in 5, 10, 20yrs time.
Harlequin565
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This. My sense (right or wrong) is that this is an exploration project where there are no right answers and no designed result. The irony of what Mark mentioned and Ben in his reply is the whole point of the outcome. [Most] people develop wisdom with age. Some are "old before their time" and some are too arrogant to ever learn anything. My only thought is that by asking for volunteers, Ben is more likely (not 'only') to get thoughtful people whereas just asking random people would get you a very broad brush set of replies. This could be by intent though.
@blakester did a "strangers" project a few years ago that included commentary with the photos and I remember finding the text just as fascinating as the photos themselves. This feels like a real evolution of that into something more defined. It's the sort of photo book I would buy.
myotis
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I really like this idea, and the straightforward style for the photographs.
I have no problem at all with the age groups depicted. My experience is that words of wisdom are not the exclusive domain of the old, and I have come across 10 year olds whose comments on life are far more insightful than those from some 70/80 year olds.
Do you have an audience in mind ? For example if the project had a title like "advice for school leavers" rather than just younger self, it would have a clear direction for the participants answers and the project audience. It would also make a younger cohort of subjects possibly more relevant than an older cohort. There are of course good reasons to have a wide range of ages to taking part, and you might not want a tighter project brief
And I'm not suggesting you change your project in the way I've proposed, just sharing the principle of thinking about the audience for the project.
To go back to the age thing, A Swindon facebook group (I assume there are Swindon facebook groups) might yield some older participants. And, asking some your existing subjects if their parents/grandparents might like to take part could extend the age range and offer an interesting twist to the project.
Edit: I now see your main heading is "advice for young people " so you have identified an audience, but "young people" covers a wide range of ages, so although my post is less relevant than I thought, it may still be worth thinking about what you mean by "young people"
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I think my idea of 'Young people' is relative to the person in the photograph, the question is 'What advice would you give to your younger self', its supposed to be the subject talking to a younger version of themselves. It's not a great title, and it needs reworking.. The Swindon Facebook group idea is great, thanks
The day job has really taken over my life over the last few months. The project is still ongoing and I'm showing some of the work already at the local arts fringe festival... It was great to see people pop in today and react to the work. The fringe is on for the next two weeks, I hopefully I can add to the project during the festival.
