Now my MA project is finished, I am pleased with the results.  I have learned a great deal on this course and by getting involved in the photography projects over the past eighteen months.

I would like to thank all the nightworkers who participated in this project.  It showed a great deal of trust on their part, allowing me into their workplaces and homes and letting me photograph them in the way I did. I always wonder if I would let a stranger come into my place of work and spend half an hour of my work-time taking snaps of them.  I think I would, as I know the effort that is required in locating and persuading companies to participate. 

I have found this project hugely enjoyable, although it was exhausting and frustrating at times, and have met extremely interesting people in the process.  I would like to carry on this style of photography, as I am very interested in people, their opinions and what they do.  I have gained invaluable experience in documentary photography and photojournalism and have a couple of projects in mind that I am thinking of pursuing which are also social documentary/photojournalistic in nature.

I had to remove one of my Nightworkers from my website and this blog as they have decided not to participate for personal reasons.

So far, so good …?

I am satisfied with the images for this project.  Some work better than others and I may drop some for the book if the flow isn't right.  I like the fact that there are clues to the work these people do in the photographs, without being too obvious (apart from policeman, fireman, etc), which makes you wonder what sort of jobs they do without being told outright.  I am awaiting a couple of interview responses and one model release form from a nurse (although we have a verbal agreement that the image could be used).

More Night Images

My attempt at startrails was unsuccessful and I will  have to wait for another clear, dry night and the chances of that may be very small, so I have taken a few abstract images for the chapter headings of the book.  I have decided to use the first two as they are suitably intriguing. They don’t much show  a sense  of time, but rather a sense of timelessness.  I like them within the book, but are they suitable?

 

The Hospital Site Manager

Decided on a change of scene for the Hospital Site Manager.  He was able to pose a bit longer for me.  I photographed him in the reception area to begin with, as his construction staff were fitting a new floor, but it wasn’t successful.  I took him outside the hospital main entrance and used the construction workers’ barriers as a backdrop.  It doesn’t exactly say ‘hospital’, but this is the area where he was working.

The Hospital Porter

Photographed a hospital porter too, another person who plays an important role in hospital life.    I like the wheelchair in the background which also provides a splash of colour.

I was also delighted to discover that he is the lead singer in Wigan’s Ovation:

The Hospital Domestic Supervisor

Visited Royal Bolton Hospital on Thursday night and photographed four people.  A doctor and nurse practitioner said they would participate, but work became very busy for them, but I am more than happy about getting four.  I was given a room to photograph in which had low ceilings, which wasn’t ideal, but I understand the difficulties with photographing in hospitals – confidentiality and contamination, so it was fine.

I am satisfied with this picture, but as I already have a cleaner, I am not sure that I will be able to use it.  However, a cleaner is a vital component of the hospital machine – making sure everything is germ-free and ready for patients and staff to use.