I've taken all my pictures

I've taken all my pictures now comes the hard bit of deciding which ones to use and why.  These are the 12 images I will be producing, hopefully at size A3.

1.     Shop Panorama

2.     Opening shop

3.     Recycle day

4.     First customers

5.     Donations collection

6.     Sorting goods

7.     Steaming clothes

8.     Administration

9.     Staff briefing

10.   Stocktaking

11.   Cleaning shop

12.   Locking up

When I took the panorama of the street to show where the shop is situated, I can't believe with only 6-8 images the width of the combined picture was 60".  The only problem with that was that the height was about 12".  I've managed to reduce it down to an A3 size and extended the height using Canvas Size in Images to be better viewed.



This panorama makes it look like the shop is on a corner of the main shopping street, but in fact it stands in line with the other shops around it.

When I was waiting for Sam, the manager, to arrive one morning I took another set of images and managed to get the shop to look more in a straight street rather than on a bend.

This is much better and gives a better idea of the position of the shop in the main shopping street.

Background information on charity shop

Weldmar Hospice Trust

The Weldmar Hospicecare Trust is an independent charity working in Dorset. All services are provided free of charge with 75% of the funds needed raised locally and the NHS gives the rest. The hospice trust is the only agency providing specialist palliative care in north, south and west Dorset.

The job of the Trust is to support people in Dorset affected by cancer and other life-limiting diseases, largely at the end of life and they work both with patients and their families. They also provide respite services for people with complex long-term progressive conditions. As the only specialist agency in the area the trust also educates colleagues in primary care and the acute and independent sectors on how to deliver high quality generalist palliative care.

Patients can live at home with specialist nursing support services, social groups and day hospices in Weymouth, Dorchester and Shaftesbury. People needing in-patient services come to Joseph Weld Hospice in Dorchester for symptom control, respite or end of life care.  Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a chaplain, complementary therapists, art and music therapists, social workers, bereavement workers and over 250 patient care volunteers work with patients to provide care and support.

The Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees headed by Chairman Dr Geoffrey Guy and supported by an Advisory Council. The Care Quality Commission regulates their services and the Charity Commission and Companies House regulate their business.  There were originally three charities, CancerCare Dorset (formerly West Dorset Macmillan Service), Joseph Weld Hospice and Trimar Hospice and the services merged between 2003-2004 to form Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.  You can read about the Hospice Trust here

Funds come from legacies, Friends of Weldmar Hospicecare Trust fundraising activities, community fundraising, major events, a chain of shops and investments. The NHS also funds a small proportion of services.  The trust runs 19 shops and three furniture outlets throughout Dorset, read about their activities here 

As I am a volunteer in my local Weldmar hospice charity shop, I thought I would base my assignment around it as it is a good example of a well-run profitable outlet.  The staff profile at the majority of shops consists of the following: one full time paid manager and one part time deputy manager, with a bank of stand in managers who work when needed.  The rest of the staff is made up of unpaid volunteers who work in four-hour shifts from Monday to Saturday.  The hours for each shift are 9.00 am – 1.00 pm and 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm.  On Sundays the shop is covered by a separate deputy manager who opens from 10.00 am – 4.00 pm as regulated by Sunday trading laws.  The hospice shops are open every day except Christmas and Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday.  Most volunteers work one or two shifts per week depending on their other commitments in and around the town.  

The Lyme Regis hospice shop has on average one or two volunteers per shift making a total of 15 volunteers associated with this shop.  Their ages range from a 16-year old youth, one man in his 50s, approximately three or four women in their 40s and the rest are women in their 50s/60s.  The age profile has changed over the past 18 months since the introduction of a computerized till system and a new manager who is in her mid 40s.  When the new till system was introduced to the shop several older women were unable to grasp a new and more complicated way of working and left.  New volunteers are always being encouraged to join by way of adverts in the shops themselves, appeals in local papers and now the use of Facebook social media.

The duties of the volunteer can consist of some or all of the following:

• Using the till
  

• Advising customers where to find articles

• Hanging clothes and tidying the shop including sorting clothing on the racks, arranging bric-a-brac on the shelves,

• Accepting donated goods, registering donors under the charity Gift Aid scheme and allocating their registered details to donated goods

• Sorting clothing for sale and recycling

• Preparing items for sale by washing or steaming, pricing, etc.

• Packing and receipting goods at the point of sale.

 

Assignment 1 items I need to produce

This is what I have to produce to complete assignment 1 which, for me, is entitled 'dispelling the myth that only little old ladies wearing pearls work in charity shops'.

Advice from Katrina, my tutor, on what she is expecting me to send/email/Dropbox her to complete it.

"I usually receive via email your blog and / or written reflection on each image you send me. I prefer to have the final images printed and posted to me (A3 ideally) in order that I can give feedback on the quality of the print. Alternatively, you can email me (via Dropbox) your digital images if you are not able to print for whatever reason."

As I see it there are various parts to consider, ie, background to hospice in Dorset and in particular to Lyme Regis.  I plan to feature a day in the life of a charity shop, from opening the door to locking up in the evening, including the various members of staff and customers.

The areas I will feature will include: 

Run through of every day events from opening up at 9.00 am until closing at 5.00 pm.

Order:

1.    Shop Panorama

2.    Opening shop

3.    Recycle day

4.    First customers

5.    Donations collection

6.    Sorting goods

7.    Steaming clothes

8.    Administration

9.    Staff briefing

10. Stocktaking

11. Cleaning shop

12. Locking up

 

This is a basic outline of a day in the charity shop.  There are two paid members of staff based at the shop, ie, Manager - Emma Daniels and Deputy Manager - Sam Fowler Johnson.  Each shop has its own set of volunteers who work a 4-hour shift, Monday-Saturday 0900 hrs - 1300 hrs or 1300 - 1700 hrs when the shop closes.  Sunday opening hours are governed by law and the shop is only allowed to open from 10.00 - 1600 hrs; therefore Sunday shifts are only for 3 hours - 10.00 -13.00 or 1300 -1600 hrs.  How many shifts each volunteer agrees to cover is up to each individual, some work only one shift per week, some two or more depending on their circumstances.

Assignment One content

I like to type up the assignment as it makes me read it properly.  I'm lucky that I'm a trained typist and can type pretty quickly so it doesn't take long to do it.  If I don't type it out, I miss things and skim read.  It really makes me concentrate on what the content is.

As I understand the requirements of this assignment, I have to produce 12 images relating to some type of myth and dispel this myth using the pictures.  I also have to produce a virtual photo book of 20 pages with the 12 pictures and text explaining the rationale behind the selected pictures.

Definition - denotation and connotation
"Denotation is the literal meaning of the word or image, Connotation is the association (emotional or otherwise) which the word or image evokes in a particular viewer.  This will largely depend on cultural factors like race, education, polical stance, etc.  An example of this is Dorothea Lange's image of a migrant mother.  This powerful image denotes despair, hopelessness and suffering; it connotes that society either doesn't care or had simply forgotten that such people existed and needed help."  Quote fro  Gesture & Meaning page 26.

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Assignment one

Documentary values

Part A

Produce a set of 12 images in your own style that incorporate documentary values.  Base your images on an issue or subject that you find needs attention or which you already support.  The subject can be anything you like provided that the cause you choose can benefit from your work in some way.

Think about gesture, pose, setting and the inferred meaning or message that your work gives to the viewer (denotation and connotation).  Explain the values that each image has, why it is of value and to whom, and how it may be of benefit to either a group of individuals or perhaps an organization or charity.

Depending on your choice of subject, you may wish to contact an organization and gain permission to work in an area that would normally be off limits to photographers.

Don’t be deterred if your chosen subject has been done before – you may be able to introduce a new slant that no-one else has brought to the subject.

Above all, this assignment calls for style and you’ll need to think carefully about this before you start work.  Show how you’ve test different approaches and finalized an approach and photographic style that you feel is the foundation for your future practice in social documentary.

Your images must be sized up to be able to print with some quality at 16” x 12” @ 320 dpi.  You’re free to work in black and white or colour.

Part B

There will be a book that accompanies the work.  A conventional print house will produce this.  The company will be of your choice but their business must be producing one-off books rather than large print runs.  The book will have a minimum of 20 pages and have a hard cover front and back.  You’ll be required to provide a small amount of text for the book with appropriate comment where and how you feel appropriate.  This could be an introductory page of text, a small paragraph for each image or one line per image.  The text your provide must support your imagery.

Send your ideas for this book to your tutor along with your images.

Reflection

Before you send this assignment to your tutor, take a look at the assessment criteria for this course; these will be used to mark your work if you get your work formally assessed.  The assessment criteria are listed in the Introduction to this course.

Review how you think you’ve done against the criteria and make notes in your learning log.  Send these reflections to your tutor, along with your work, your supporting studies and your learning log (or link to your blog).

Make sure each file or print has your name, student number and assignment number on it.  Scan or photograph any supporting work and/or the relevant pages of your learning log.  These can be summarized as a pdf document, uploaded to your blog or organised and submitted by post.  Make sure that all supporting work has your name, student number and assignment number on it.

Your tutor make take a while to get back to you, so carry on with the course while you’re waiting.

Subject of Assignment 1

I've been undecided what to use as the focus of my work in assignment 1.  Having read it several times, nothing came to mind as to what to photograph.

I've since been in touch with my tutor, Katrina, as to what to focus on and I told her that my hobbies were pottery and working in a hospice charity shop every week,   Katrina wanted me to dispel a myth linked to either of my hobbies and I have decided to work on the premise that too many people are under the impression that charity shops are run by little old ladies wearing pearls.  It's my job, in my pictures, to show that charity shops are now an efficient fund raising arm of the hospice.

Our local hospice, the Dorset Weldmar Hospice, based in Dorchester, provides many levels of support to inpatients, outpatients and relatives throughout Dorset.  75% of the funds we need is raised locally; the rest is given by the NHS. The Trust needs to raise over £5.5 million from our fundraising, shops and legacies.

It's quite unusual to have men working in the high street charity shops and I'm lucky that one man works in my local shop and he has agreed to let me feature him in some of my pictures.  Can't wait to get on with it as I'll also need to visit the furniture depository in Weymouth as well as the local shops.

Thinking ahead

I've read through the first project and assignment 1 and am trying to think about what I could feature in this assignment.  It's a bit tricky as Lyme Regis is closing down for the winter and there are not many projects on the go.

I'll have to give it some thought and get back to my tutor, Katrina, who lives in Yorkshire.  I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to meet her? 
Click here for her OCA profile.

New Level 2 module

I should receive my new module on Gesture and Meaning through the post erly this coming week.  I am always amazed how quickly the OCA gets your chosen module written work to you.  No doubt to curry your enthusiasm to get started.

Nowadays you can also download a pdf file of all the work so you can carry it round with you for a little light reading when you've finished your book.  Of course, an iPad or Kindle will have as many books as you require to carry on reading.  I importedm it into Kindle and my Dropbox so I can access and check out and confirm what you should be photographing.

Here we go, let's get on with it.