Category: Media & Documentary

For this weeks activity, I researched a few different photographic essays on the subject of gold mining. I found that most of them featured lots of landscape style shots, in full colour. The colour of the machinery kept vibrant as if to create a juxtaposition between the machinery itself and the often drab appearance of the surrounding natural environment. The use of colour helps to deepen the viewers immersion into the story of the gold mining processes, the effect on the surrounding environment and the hard working conditions for the miners.

I am leaning towards the gold mining history of my hometown for my photographic essay. At present there are two possible directions for the essay. One would be of a historical nature and for this perhaps a black & white or sepia tones aesthetic would suit, similar to some of the vintage gold mining images below ( taken from bendigoheritage.com.au)

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Alternatively, if the essay takes the direction of the involvement of the Chinese immigrants in our own gold mining history and their subsequent influence on the city in the present day, a more vibrant, colourful style should be used to really capture the essence of the Chinese culture. Colour plays an important role in their traditions and it would seem counter intuitive not to use this colour in the images. Below is an image of the Joss House temple in black and white and colour for comparison.

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For my second topic, I researched some publications that feature stories from families and people suffering terminal illness.

Two examples of these are LifeSupport magazine and the Peter Mac Magazine.

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I found this website that featured a photo essay following the stories of five women with metastatic breast cancer.

https://petapixel.com/2015/10/17/a-story-half-told-photo-essays-share-the-lives-of-five-women-living-with-breast-cancer/

Looking through various photo essays on this subject has given me a glimpse into the multitude of ways that my topic could be addressed. I think for me personally, the topic of brain cancer is not one that is as openly discussed. The progression on primary brain cancer is quite different from other forms of cancer. My feelings regarding this topic have a tendency to change from day to day. Today, it is the sub-topic of loss that resonates.

My Fathers journey with brain cancer seems to have been a series of devastating loss, for him and for us as a family. From the loss of his job and ability to work, the loss of independence and the ability to drive or do simple things for himself, the loss of co-ordination and cognitive ability, loss of personality and the person we once knew as our Father to what will be the eventual loss of him. This feels like a very dark direction for my photo essay and not what people want to hear or think about when they think of terminal illness. Yet, it is our day to day life and very much our reality.

Do we create a photo essay that gives people the sunshine and roses and only what they want or do we create a photo essay that gives people the truth, however hard that may be to swallow?

In all honestly, The gold mining topic would be an easy pick. It’s interesting, historical, relevant to my local area and easily accessible. The second topic has the potential to be dark, gritty, uncomfortable. Nothing easy about it, but one that has great meaning to me. What to choose!!!

For this weeks learning activity, I have chosen two possible topics for my photographic essay.

Topic 1:

The first topic is historical in nature and relates to the rich gold mining history that is the foundation for the city of Bendigo. With the city being literally built on top of quartz reefs laden with gold, Bendigo became the second largest gold producing loaction in Australia and seventh largest in the world.

A possible sub-topic for the essay is the involvement of the Chinese who flocked to Bendigo and it’s surrounds to flee violence and poverty and find wealth and prosperity. The Chinese immigrants were met with hostility and prejudice with thousands of Chinese miners hastily laid to rest in segregated, makeshift cemeteries around the city. Despite their less than favorable reception , they brought with them their colourful traditions and as a result, many of their monuments, temples and festivals have now formed a strong part of our community identity.

Topic 2:

This topic is of a more personal nature but one that I feel may benefit others with shared experiences.

The impact of terminal illness on families.

The idea is to follow some of my family members through a month, through multiple different shoots, to show how supporting and caring for a family member with terminal illness involves and impacts the lives of the entire family unit.

Possible angles:

The family unit and how it pulls together to support the family member in all of the various ways required throughout the stages of their illness. How families who live in remote areas cope and adapt to the struggle that distance can have on accessing medical professionals, accessing support and the isolation that can happen as a result.

How the diagnoses and progression of terminal illness impacts the person suffering the illness and the family in not only negative ways but also in positive ways which can be surprising.

As mentioned, this would be a personal topic as it is my Father who suffers from terminal brain cancer. There was no way that we could have prepared for what was to come when he was first diagnosed. It might be beneficial for other families in similar situations to see that they are not alone in these experiences even though it can sometimes feel this way.

There are numerous Australian publications that feature stories from people and families experiencing terminal illness.