For documenting contemporary life, I would like to incorporate all of the ideas in the mind map below. I had already put a lot of thought into how I would go about the project before I created this mind map, so have included all of these, but I am sure as my work and research progresses I will come up with other new ideas that I would like to try too. My documentary will be based around the animal rescue centre Mutts In Distress, where I will photographically document the large amount of physically demanding and time consuming work that the staff and volunteers undertake there. I will try to capture how the shelters work continues for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and how the care of the animals is done whatever the weather, taking place in the cold, rain, heat wave, whatever, the work must be done regardless. It is a never-ending cycle of care. There are many routine tasks that must be completed, some several times a day such as preparing and feeding meals, cleaning and disinfecting kennels, mucking out stables, washing bedding, administering any medications, exercising dogs, so I will try to photographically capture the staff doing these routine tasks as they go about their daily work. Other work that is done is the repairs and maintenance of the buildings, as well as time spent trying to help rehabilitate dogs to make them less nervous around people plus taking any dogs to the vets for appointments, vaccinations etc. I will try to show how the work starts very early in the mornings with some staff arriving at 6:30am and continues to the evenings, and this is at weekends too, it does not stop even on Christmas day. It is a 24 hour operating shelter. I will also try to show that sometimes as the work is so physical that sometimes people get hurt, I haven't quite figured out exactly how I will photograph this yet, but I am beginning to think more thoroughly about this. In addition to the amount of work and the physical toll on the workers, there are many safety and security aspects which have to be followed such as always locking/padlocking doors and gates, being careful around any new dogs until they have been assessed for behaviour around men/women/ other dogs/cats etc. This may also be something I will include in the documentary.
I would also like to capture how rewarding the work is, I am still thinking of the best way to show this photographically. But working with dogs who are desperate to show you affection and get attention from you in return gives you a great feeling of doing something good. It is also a great feeling when one of the dogs find a forever home with new owners. The work that is done at the shelter is physically demanding, with long hours and having to work rotas on holidays and weekends, it is also poorly paid with workers being on minimum wages. Yet the staff go about their work contentedly. The centre is a charity dependent on donations and money raised through fundraising, and has little money to spare. I feel passionately that the staff and volunteers are 'heroes' and are part of contemporary life that deserves to be documented. It is fortunate that there are places that are dedicated to care for animals that certain members of society just throw away. I want to document these caring people as they go about their daily work showing how physically demanding the work is and how it is undertaking in all weather at all times. Showing how the rewards that they get are emotional rather than financial.
This mind map is on Self-Identity. I would focus on body image, mental illness and peoples belongings and pets. Body image I would probably use photo manipulation or use make-up and paint- either before or after the photo is taken. I would also show how mental illness can be seen by those that have it and those that don't. I would try to show how mental illness can be stigmatised as being 'crazy' and try to break or reduce this stigma. I could get people to put their belongings or favourite items onto a surface and photograph them with the person. In this way the photograph could show how different people live. Those who are materialistic, those who are not. Those who are wealthy, those who are not. I would try to capture the differences in importance people place on material processions, perhaps comparing them to mine.
Overall, I think Documenting Contemporary Life is the best option for me. Self-identity is an idea that I would like to explore, however, this would take a lot of creativity and good ideas. So I believe that this is more suited to when I have a longer period of time as creativity cannot be forced, and I may be under time constraints with studying for the rest of my AS levels exams. Also, taking portraits of people is not one of my preferred type of subjects, I am more interested in landscape, nature and animal photography. In the documenting contemporary life I will be photographing people in a particular context anyway so will not miss out on developing my photographic skills in this area. I am also more knowledgeable about the work that takes place at the shelter compared to many aspects of mental health. Although I have personal experience suffering from anxiety, I would have to do much more research into the stigma that surrounds it and other mental illness in general, and how to display this. Also the negative feelings that some people associate with mental health may annoy or upset me, while I feel there are only positive sides to doing the project on document contemporary life. Therefore this hold more interest for me and the documentary will be my preferred project. I will enjoy looking for creative ways to photographically document the daily work of people that I admire who stoically go about the physically demanding work and care that is undertaken 24 hrs a day in running an animal rescue shelter.
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