After analysing Paul Graham and Daniel Meadows projects, I realised the importance of choosing an interesting place to focus my documentary project on. After thinking about this location I came up with the area of Moss Side in Manchester. The reason for choosing this area was because firstly its a close proximity to my house, meaning I could travel to it easily allowing me to go on multiple shoots at ease. This means the project could end up being large and well documented, which should result in a greater understanding for the viewer.
Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester which has been an area condemned to gang violence and drug selling for many past years. Its even renowned in England for being one of the most dangerous areas to live. These facts make the area more interesting to photograph in my opinion, because I would want to produce a project on why the area is this way and who is behind it. Recently the area has had a lot of re-development and money pumped into it to try and reduce its bad reputation.
Over the past few years gun crime statistics for the area have dropped quite substantially compared to the high numbers found in 2006. This could be due to the re-development of the area, or for other untold reasons.
There could be multiple ways of focusing my project but a few I think would work best include:
Gangs- My main focus would be on documenting the areas different gangs and if the crime is actually decreasing or if its not being reported on as heavily. Something that might attract the youth to take part is that it gives them a chance to voice themselves, which they may feel is not something that is usually offered to them. This would make a really good set of photographs, because it would let the viewer into a world that is rarely seen unless involved in the practise. The big problem with this is actually getting inside the gang as many wont want to be photographed, because it could be used as evidence against them, I could talk to other photographers who have achieved this to see what they did.
Community- My second idea would be doing a series much like 'June Street' by Daniel Meadows and Martin Parr. This would be where I photograph the families that live within the Moss Side community and document their lives. I could make my aim to show how positive the area is, which would counter its bad reputation, this would also make the residents more likely to let me photograph them because its to make the area they live in more appealing to the outside world.
For both ideas I would need to get an 'in' to the community or gang, without this it would be very difficult to produce anything with enough depth. This 'in' could be from emailing and visiting Moss Side community centres, because they know the area and its people well, also they would probably like the idea of photographing the areas positive community to counter its negative reputation. The community centres would also have young people within, which might have connections to gangs. A second idea would be the Moss Side twitter account, who may have connections for either idea.
The reason that I want to produce a documentary project where the subject is asked for consent, instead of shooting them candid, is because I have done candid series before and would prefer a change. Also it will push me out of my comfort zone because I would have to interact with my subject, this also makes it harder because many could say no to the whole idea unless they are reassured it would be used as it should be.