The first week of the MA Photography has been simultaneously challenging and stimulating.  The enormity of the amount of work that the MA entails has become real now and it has been challenging trying to balance the demands of full-time work, life and studies during this first week.  It has taken a little bit of time to understand the online learning environment but the available tutorials and introductory webinar have been excellent.

The opening lectures around the theme of the Global Image really got me thinking about what needs, questions and perspectives I bring to my own photography and also when viewing the work of others.  I had never really given this much thought previously so this was insightful and I realised that whether conscious of it or not, we do bring to our work a set of perspectives that shape what we choose to photograph and the context in which we do so.  This catalysed some deep internal searching that wasn’t necessarily easy but which was revealing and has brought new depth to my understanding of my photography. 

I can definitely see in my own work that I have a need to explore and discover the urban environment because it is relatively new to me and perhaps this is how I try to gain an understanding of it and find my own place within it.  I have questions about the inequality so prevalent in the world at this time and the way in which I see this occurring within the city I live in and other cities that I visit. These questions arise because on a daily basis I encounter how there are different realities and different experiences of these cities depending on the level of affluence and security of the individual. 

I question our very humanity in an urban setting that can be an extremely hostile environment and also one of isolation.  My perspective is that of social commentary in which I identify more with those communities which are being fractured and displaced, pushed to the outskirts of the cities as rapid commercial development and gentrification become the norm.  At the same time, I look for beauty in the ordinary, in the small details, in the often overlooked and forgotten things, or those we take for granted within our urban environments.  I can see that it is necessary for me to find these things as a way to balance the darker realities of urban life and inequality in Britain today. 

I learned this week that photography is both window to the world and mirror to the inner aspects of the photographer and I understood how this impacts on our position and practice as photographers, on the viewpoints we present to the world and the context in which we do so.  This is a theme I will continue to explore within my own photographic practice and when analysing the work of others.  I understood the global impact that photography has as a medium and how the photographic image is imbued with a catalytic power which makes it even more important to understand my own position and practice as a photographer.  The tremendous self-questioning this week was challenging and at times brought up emotions and deep feelings but this is exactly what will add greater depth and meaning to the way I approach my work.