For assignment one I was to collect photographs of myself growing up, ideally which cover a range of ages and which showed myself with friends or family, and provided other information which could be retrieved from them for example the surrounding environment and what their influences could be.
After having a general look at the photographs of Paula Batchelor, my first thoughts were that she considers her family to be very important to her and she appears close to her older sister, who she may have a lot in common with. It appears she spends a lot of time with her sister, suggesting they may have similar interests or did when they were younger. From a couple of photographs I gathered that she spent a lot of time with her when she was growing up. She is in a “first day at school” photo with her and also what could be a holiday snap, with a Disney theme to it. Perhaps she had a family holiday to Disney World or other members of her family did. This suggests that she could be into Disney films. I get the impression she spends a lot of time with her family and went on a lot of family outings when she was younger. There is one photo which looks like she went on an outing with her family to the botanic gardens or such-like place. Does she like parks or outdoor places? Another photo suggesting a family outing is her sitting in the back of a car, maybe travelling to their destination. In most of the photographs she is wearing the colour blue, with white, her favourite colour or was when she was younger. Special occasions appear to mean a lot to her, and spending time with the family at these times is important too, there being a photograph at a celebration with grandparents. Perhaps it is one of their birthdays as they are all dressed in formal outfits. There is one with her mum with their arms round each other, both smiling and wearing hats which look like they have come out of a cracker- suggesting it is Christmas Day.
I would say she has grown up in a middle class family, suggested by some snaps showing her home environment. The decoration and furniture looks typically eighties/nineties style, following the trends then. Generally her childhood appears very family orientated. Paula and her sister are both similarly dressed and wearing their hair in a similar style suggesting her mum dressed them like that.
The photo of her on the phone as a toddler shows she liked to keep herself occupied when she was little. She could still be that way, always wanting to do things. Her family were proud of her and liked to take pictures of her then, showing what she was able to do at a young age and to look back on as memories.
Paula likes to spend time with her family and loves being in their company. Being with her family makes her relaxed and happy. The photo of Paula and her sister both wearing school uniform is probably Paula’s first day at school. Being with her sister maybe took the fear and anxiety of the first day away. Her sister probably made her feel comfortable. She maybe still confides in her sister.
Paula seems to be a happy person, with close ties to her family.
DISCUSSION
I thought the discussion with Paula was very interesting and I learned that we shared a lot of similar interests while growing up. I was quite surprised by how accurate I was and how much information I managed to take from the photographs alone. As I gathered from the photographs I was right in saying that Paula was very close to her family through childhood and still is, in particular to her mum. Paula said that she was close to her sister while growing up, which I said, but not so much now that she is older and more independent. I was also right in saying that Paula is very close to her family and she feels it’s important to make sure she is with them on special occasions. I based this evidence on a photo of her and her mum on Christmas day. The photograph with Paula and her grandparents was her first communion. She was religious when younger, which I never predicted from the photograph. It was obvious it was a formal event but I thought it was maybe one of her grandparent’s birthdays. I was mistaken in the ‘First Day at School’ photo, where Paula is standing next to one of her sister’s friends who she said she hardly knew. This was quite surprising as in the photograph they looked quite close and as though they knew each other very well. Paula loves Disney films and had been to Disney World with her family which I was right about and she did go on a lot of family outings. Paula went on a lot of family trips which I had also done as a child, showing that both our families wanted us to go and see things and join groups. We have both been to Oasis Holiday Park in the Lake District and we were both quite sport orientated growing up.
The decoration in Paula’s house is exactly the same as it was when she was growing up and I was correct in saying it looks typically 80’s/ 90’s style and it has never been redecorated since. I was also right in saying that she grew up in a middle class family, although now her family are better off due to her dad’s promotion. I noticed that she wore her hair and dressed similarly to her sister , which she said was down to her mum dressing them like that ,which I was also right about. I said her favourite colours were white and blue which she said she was unaware of as a child but all of her photographs showed her wearing one of the colours.
Paula said that she didn’t have that many photographs of herself as a child as her parents used to video them instead. I guess I was right in saying that they liked to make sure they captured her doing things as memories. I had said she liked to always be doing something which I was also right about. Paula said that even now she has to keep herself occupied even if it is just being around friends as she doesn’t like being alone.
Paula then started to discuss what she found out about me and realised that I was close to my family and was quite family orientated as a child as well. What did catch my attention was that in some of the photographs she got confused with me and my sister. This is a common error made by lots of people but I would say we look more alike now than we did when we were growing up especially when we were quite young. She mentioned that I was wearing pink and blue in a lot of the photographs but I am unaware of even having a favourite colour as a child. Maybe they were my favourite colours? She noticed that in a lot of my photographs I was wearing a bit of tartan, which I didn’t notice before and in another photograph I am wearing the same tartan dress that my sister was wearing in another one. Paula also noticed that I used to get a lot of hand -me -downs which was quite interesting. In some of them, I am wearing a tartan hair band and in another one I am wearing my tartan kilt I used to wear for highland dancing, an activity which was important to me for about twelve years. I thought Paula managed to make a good educated guess on my childhood from the photographs I gave her. If I had known what the assignment was before hand I would have given her photographs which had a bit more information in them.
