Alison (or Ali as she likes to be called) is an exceptional documentary photographer, specialising in conflict and the impact it has on people around the world. Her work is widely published in the national press and she is a regular speaker at seminars and debates.
The day started with a few teething problems but quickly got underway. Ali's work is amazing as she is regularly sent to far off corners of the world at a moments notice. On her way to Newcastle on the morning of the workshop she had received a call to say she could possibly be travelling to Gaza that evening - what an exciting life!
During her talk she told us about the people who inspired her, Jacob Riss, Bill Brant, Vivian Maier and Larry Burrows - all brilliant social documentary photographers. She told us of what she considered to be the five most important shots which make up the visual narrative :-
1. Portrait
2. People at Work
3. Establishing shot
4. A Moment
5. A Detail shot.
All of these she considered important to the building of a photographic essay and explained that communication with the subject was of paramount importance as the more information you have the better you are able to tell their story.
In the afternoon we were sent out to find our story. Very daunting for me, I hadn't a clue where to start. The weather was very wet so most of the group headed to the indoor Grainger Market which was also the subject of a previous assignment of mine during the People and Place module. I did think of revisiting some of the stall holders which I had befriended during this last project but though maybe that would be an unfair advantage so I wandered around until I came across something that caught my eye. So this is what I came up with.....
Did I manage to tell her story well?