Photograph taken in 1972: Central Kenya Show, Nyeri.

What am I doing?

For my project exploring family I have decided to research my Grandfather, Arthur Maitland Le Feuvre – my dad’s dad. I never got the chance to meet him. He died in 1985 at the age of 63, 13 years before I was born. Although I’ve heard a few stories about him from members of my family, mainly my grandmother, I virtually know nothing about him. He remains a mysterious figure, and I can only imagine vaguely what he may have been like. I don’t feel I have any connection with him, only through a few stories about him, a couple of photographs and brief information regarding who he was and the life he lived.

What I hope to achieve?

I want to use this photographic project as an opportunity to learn more about my Grandfather. Had I have had the opportunity to meet him then I have no doubt he would have played an important part of my life. Sadly I will never know this, all I can do is try my best to build a better idea of who he was; what he was like; the life he lived; a the friendships and relationship he had with different people; These are just some of the many questions I ask myself whenever his name is brought to my attention. I hope from doing this project that  maybe I can come a bit closer to searching for these answers. I will never get to know him personally, but I hope that through the research I do over this project that I will be able to gain some sort of connection with his memory. I have no doubt that this will be a tricky project, and possibly emotional for some of my family members. I will therefore try to be as sensitive as possible, and gradually search for the answers I am hoping for.

I believe this idea will work well as a photographic assignment because it will allow me to explore my Grandfather from a historical perspective, which will tie in nicely to the work we have been doing with the Societere Jersey Archives. As it obviously would not be possible to photograph or talk to my grandfather, I have to instead use other means of learning about him, through studying archival data and photographs, talking to his friends and family members, visiting places he was connected to etc. I am interested in History which I take alongside Photography as an A-Level Option, and so this project will give me the opportunity to put my historical skills to the test. I am very excited to begin this project. It is a topic which is very personal to me and which interests me greatly.

Considerations?

Collaboration

Collaboration will be a critical aspect determining the success of this project. Without collaboration the project will not work. For instance a form of collaboration I will have to use heavily is the photographic archives, both through images that my Grandma may have and possibly any relevant photographs that are stored in the Societe Jersey Photographic Archives. All photographs I collect of my Grandfather will be archive photographs. This use of archival photographs will be important in my project because I can use them as visual documents which provide evidence of my research and discoveries. They can also form part of my own photographic response. Other collaborations will include accounting information from people who knew my Grandfather. In particular I will talk to my close family, i.e. my Grandma, my Dad, my Aunts and Uncles, and a couple of my Grandfathers friends who are still alive.

Planning

In terms of planning this project I will not be overly strict on when I work and what I focus on. I go to visit my Grandmother every Wednesday so this will be an ideal time to get a lot of the information, archival images and take photographs that I need. Before I make any responses I will try to do a little bit of research beforehand so that I have a certain understanding to begin with, otherwise I think that I may be a bit lost going into such a big project. The blog posts I make which track my progress will be based on my responses to what I am doing, not actually planning beforehand. I will use the blog as a way of documenting and showing evidence of my research in addition to the outcomes I produce.

My Expectations?

I expect that I will learn a lot about my Grandfather from this project, and that doing so will be very revealing and fascinating. In order to achieve this however I will have to extensively explore the topic and this will require a lot of work and concentration over the source of the next few months. Although my Grandma will be happy to assist me in my Project I know it is important to be sensitive at the same time. Bringing up a dead loved one after such a long time is bound to be a painful process, and so I must be cautious in how I go about the project. I hope however that it will be something that she will enjoy and be comfortable doing, otherwise I will have to look for other means to go about getting the information I need.

The project will be interesting to explore, and hopefully I will gain an extensive body of work I am proud of, as well as learning a lot about my grandfather at the same time. The project test my limits as a photographer, making me incorporate and develop new, challenging skills. I will be hard work but ultimately lead to me maturing as a photographer, and develop my understanding of photography.