Jake Creighton's Photography Blog

All six of the images taken for this project were taken in the village of Much Hadham. The tomb pictured is that of my great great great great grandfather Richard Hunt. Hunt owned several mills in Much Hadham and lived in the house pictured. When my Grandfather passed away in 2005, my Mother (Who was born in the main bedroom of the house), Auntie and Uncle inherited the house. For almost all of my life, Much Hadham has been our holiday home. We used to go there every Sunday to see my Grandfather, and after he passed, we spent every half-term, summer holiday, Easter holiday and so on, at that house. Despite residing in Harpenden, I have always considered Much Hadham to be my real home.

The images of the woods and the field were also taken in Much Hadham. We will often take long walks when we’re staying at the cottage and if I’m not in the cottage, I’ll be out walking in the fields or the woods. The final picture is of me and my girlfriend Beth, embracing. This image represents home for me because the first thing I do when I return home is visit her and be with her. The picture was also taken in Much Hadham, combing the two things that I symbolize the most with home. Overall, I enjoyed this project as we were given a lot of creative freedom with it. Right from the start I knew that Much Hadham was going to be the subject of my project, and I enjoyed visiting at the weekend and taking pictures of the cottage and surrounding area.

For the portraits of the strangers, I traveled to Bishop Stortford to find subjects. The first two pictures I took were of the two Cadet poppy sellers. I was initially happy with how the pictures looked, although it wasn’t until I got home that I saw that they were blurred slightly. The second set of pictures, the subjects being two staff members of the old fashion sweet shop, I was much happier with, The images themselves were clearer and the background was much more interesting.

Overall I wasn’t very happy with theses sets of images. Like the familiar portraits, I struggled with the technical aspects of the camera and that had an effect on the quality of the photographs.

The two subjects in my family portraits are my girlfriend Beth, and my Mother. With both portraits, I experimented with light, but I struggled to grasp the technical ways in which the light could be manipulated with the camera. The pictures of Beth were taken in the woods near Much Hadham. We took several, in several different locations. The weather was overcast that day so the lighting had a mild effect on the pictures. The portraits of my Mother were taken in our home in Harpenden. For these portraits I used the lights in the living room where we were shooting to effect picture.

I found that I struggled with this project as I am not familiar with the technical aspects of cameras and therefore struggled to adjust the light using it.

The three images in my triptych for “still life” are all collages of things that are an important part of my life. The first image is a collection receipts from various purchases. I was given a tin by my girlfriend a few years ago to store all of the receipts I have collected over the years. I collect receipts because I feel that they create something of a timeline. Every receipt has the date, time and location on it, which I can use to look back fondly on the memory of making the purchase.

The second image is a collection of PS1, Ps2, Ps4, PC and Nitendo 3DS games that I own. I have been an avid gamer for over a decade and have many fond memories playing video games. I have kept almost all of the games that I have purchased over the years the same way that keeps a collection of films or books.

The third picture in the triptych is a collection of items that my girlfriend, Beth, has made for me. We have been together for three years and arts and crafts is a hobby of hers, so she often makes me various things as gifts. She is a big part of my life hence why her picture is in the center, surrounded by the various things she has made for me.

I initially struggled with this project at first because I couldn’t find an inspiration. I found my inspiration when my tutor for photography, Ros, was showing us examples of still life triptychs. One of the examples she showed us was an image of a collection of items that were, in some way or another, important to the photographer. It was this image that inspired me to create my own collections of items that were important to me.