Photography Project: Initial Ideas & Plan

This term, one of my tasks in Creative Media Production is a photography project that includes a series of portraits. My first idea was to take a set of photos showing homeless people on Leicester's streets. I even did some initial research and found photographers dealing with the problem of homelessness in the UK, such as John Gill (2019), whose photo I've posted below.

Homeless Man By John Gill

Unfortunately, after speaking with my tutor, I gave up on this idea because, in her opinion, photographing homeless people exploits their difficult situation and is unethical, which I agree of course. 

That is why I chose to go after another project idea: to create a series of portraits of Polish emigrants in the United Kingdom. I decided to deal with this topic because it has always annoyed me that we Poles are perceived in the United Kingdom as cheap labor or criminals. In my project I would like to show that stereotypes about us are not true and the average Pole can be more than just a plumber or a warehouseman.

My plan is to make a series of studio portraits depicting 10 Poles living in the UK. I would like my models to be diverse in terms of age, gender and time spent in the UK. I would also like each of my models to show their true personality in the photos. I'd like to make my session in next week and optionally reshoot in one or two weeks later.  

References:

Gill, J. (2019). Photographing the Homeless. [online] JOHN GILL. Available at: https://www.johngill.photography/photographing-the-homeless/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2024].