Now that i have my idea of what my project is going to be all about, the first stage is establishing where i am going to build my dens. I want to choose contrasting environments but i also want to stick to locations in which i can remember building dens in the past. I think this is quite important in considering that i want to establish a link between the past and the present and this repetition of remaking these “homes”. I therefore thought that a really good place to start would be with my archive photographs so as to refresh my memory of the type of dens i used to make as a child and also where these locations are.

When i first thought about this project idea and how i was going to be able to achieve building all these dens, weather was a major consideration. I thought that i would have to be really careful to choose days in which it was nice sunny weather outside. Looking back through the photographs of our dens however their were two days once when i was about 11 and then again at about 14 where my family and all our friends built a massive den out of umbrellas on the beach because we were determined to have a BBQ. I’m pretty sure both these dens were built in rainy Easter half terms where we were all desperate to get back on the beach and the weather simply wasn’t being sunny enough. I think it might be quite interesting to recreate these umbrella contraptions though i will need to consider weather to an extent still as i can remember how precariously some of the umbrellas were balanced on top of each other and i don’t think the structure would be able to withstand much wind. Both these umbrella dens were also created in the same area of the same beach, Bonne Nuit Bay. I quite like the idea of re-creating this den as it would be one of the quicker ones to re-make and i love all the bright colours of the umbrella’s and then the rugs and throws on the sand as well. I think it might be quite good as well as a contrasting structure to all the others as it is a lot more open and also a lot bigger then the majority of other dens we made as children.

The above den was another one made down at Bonne Nuit. It was really common for us when creating dens down this beach to use the chains for the boats which are tied to the walls as a starting point for our structures. We were then able to drape the blankets across them to create small pockets of spaces which we could hide in. As we were down the beach wind brakes were also commonly used as the sides to our structures.

The most common den that we made as children were dens out of branches and leaves. These dens were created in a variety of different woods including  along the railway walk, St Catherine’s woods and La Mielles down St Ouens. The main concept for these structures was to use branches and prop them up to create a little space inside. We would then use either big leaves or pine needles or grass, basically anything in which they was a large quantity to create walls onto of the basic skeleton structure of our den. These structures are probably going to take the longest to re-create out of all of the different dens. I will need to think carefully about where i go to create a replica and also about weather. I think this kind of den will look a lot more effective to have light shinning through the structure then on a windy and rainy day.

As you can see below we also made some of these dens on the beach in areas where woods meets the stones. These dens were created in areas like Noirmont and again down Bonne Nuit.

As well as structures made in the woods out of leaves and branches when we were really young the structures manly consisted of one blanket just draped over a branch as we were a lot more easily satisfied. I think creating these structures will be quite interesting as they were a lot simplar and could be made in more of a variety of locations. They were made in random fields as well as woods and also the beach. As they are quick i could experiment with a variety of different types. I could also think a lot more about colour combinations as i wouldn’t need as many different blankets and therefore can really think about clashing colours and bright colours which contrast with the surroundings.

My garden at my house was also a very popular location to make a variety of different dens. I used to have a field attached to the end of my garden until 2 houses were built in it and we used to make massive dens right at the very bottom of the field in the hedge similar to the ones out of leaves. However once the field was built on the dens in the garden came to revolve around a little clearing area with a very climbable tree in the center. Most of our dens then came to be made in the top of the trees branches like a tree house out of blankets. However this tree was cut down and once again we needed to find a new place to create dens and so we turned to the clearing the tree had been in and simply used various garden structures to create dens coming down off the fence. I think for a photo shoot in my garden i would need to use this clearing area as it became the main area in which we would create our structures. 

The last kind of den we normally made were inside Dolmens and rock structures which already existed and we simply added a door or a blanket and blankets along the floor as well. I’m not sure if i’m going to re-create this kind of den yet as it wasn’t entirely created by us as kids, i think it will probably be my last option. 

 

Looking through all my archive photographs i personally took on my disposable camera there are a lot of photographs of my notebooks within these environments. It used to be a thing that i would make up stories inside the dens and act them out often writing down chunks of nonsense of what we were doing. I think it might be interesting to review these made up stories in relation to my project to see where the games played inside the dens came from and how they evolved. 

So after considering all the locations i used to make dens in i have decided to create my dens in the locations below. I have only chosen 5 locations to photograph for now as my photo shoots are going to be very dependent on weather as all my locations are outside. It might however be interesting to play with creating different dens for different weather. Each shoot is going to be very time consuming as i will need to build the den and photograph its creation and then the inside. I think i will then need to take the photographs of my friends on a different day as it might be too much to fit into one day. I will have to take them back to the location in which i built the den and then take the photographs at a different time but i guess this will depend on the individual dens and how available the my friends are to be photographed. I think its also going to take a really long time to create the “Wild” look that i want my models to have so i need to consider that timing within the creation of my piece as well. Looking back at the dens i used to make has been very useful in refreshing my memory and given me ideas of how i can create my dens. I might try and use some of the same blankets and material to create even more of a link between the photographs and the archive photographs. The locations i have chosen are below.

Locations:

Sand Dunes

Woods by Rail way walk

Beach – Brelades by the boats / umbrella den at Bonne Nuit 

My Garden

La Mielle – St Ouens 

Environment is such a broad and abstract word that i found it quite difficult to narrow down the word at first to different ideas. After i while i came up with three broad concepts but one of my ideas is defiantly stronger than the others as its more personal and unique.

Environments of lost things and places

-Photographing spaces which contain objects which have left behind and given away

-Could photograph car boots, charity shops, abandoned places such as houses and the farm which i have already photographed.

-The photographs would be composed of landscapes of the locations as a whole and then loads of very close up shots of elements of things left behind. Could maybe take photographs which are more abstract of the different items, very close up macro shots and then could also include some portraits of people associated with these locations, the people behind the stuff being left behind.

Personal environments of different types of people

-Choose a variety of people and explore their personal space which they spend the majority of their time. I could take environmental portraits of the people within this personal environment and also action photographs of them interacting with this environment. I could also take close up photographs of elements of the environment which are significant, the elements which make it a personal space and makes it well “lived in/used”

-I could explore work environments such as my dad and how he spends all his time within his taxi for his job, my friend who works in a garage and basically works so much he lives there. I could then choose a variety of other people and explore the time they spend within their working environment.

-Another concept i could follow along the lines of personal environments could be bedrooms. I could photograph a variety of different people within the personal space of their bedrooms and specific elements of their bedrooms which make them so personal.

-Again along the same lines i could photograph the inside of cars. Not sure how interesting this one would be, might have to consider very specifically who i photograph but people normally throw loads of junk into the back of their cars. I could photograph the interior and then maybe the person in relation to their car, either inside the car or standing outside the car.

A Home away from home – Childhood dens

After coming up with these original ideas in which i have been thinking so heavily about personal spaces and the concept of personal homelike and familiar environments i came up with my favourite idea. Basically i want to create a body of work which revolves around making any environment into a home. This idea came because i remembered back to my childhood and how i continually made dens and tents and forts in any location that my mum took me to. It was a major part of my childhood to go to the woods or the beach and to use blankets and branches and literally any materials around to build houses. Immediately once i had this initial starting point i could image my whole project and the way it is going to come together.

-The starting point would be to go to various locations such as the beach and various woods and to build structures in the environment like how i used to do as a child. I would then photograph or video the process of me creating these “homes” at the various stages of creation. I would then have a series of photographs of creation which will work well as a a little series. I am thinking of like when i was a child using really vividly coloured blankets like bright reds and blues, really unnatural colours which will stand out vividly against the landscape. I might also experiment with creating structures which blend in to the environment but i want to re create the way i made structures as a child and those were normally a combination.

-Once i have made the structures i can then take various photographs of the inside, such as looking out from the inside, looking up at the roof of the den, various more abstract photographs to contrast with the more straight on ones which record the building of the structure.

-I was then thinking i could add in an element of the fantasy that the dens signified when i was a child. I could try to incorporate all the stories that me and my friends made up to play inside the dens. I was thinking that i potentially could try to bring in elements of my art into my project. I could take the photographs which i have taken of the dens and then i could illustrate them, adding in elements of fantasy worlds that i made up when i was a kid.  I could then link these to the books i read which influenced thew worlds i made up. So many of the games i used to play as a child revolved around books i read and using those same characters to make new outcomes. I could therefore use elements of these books within my project. I think i might even have written down elements of the games which might be quite interesting to also review as i’m pretty sure they are nonsense scribbles.

-The next step i thought in my project would be to have inclusion of people. I quite like having the photographs of the structures on their own and empty. I think they might look quite eerie in this manner with just the blankets and bright colours against the natural colours. But i think the project needs to have an element of people in order to really work because its all about how children can make any environment into a home and i think it needs another side to it. Thinking along these lines of childhood i thought it might be really good to take pictures of my childhood friends in these environments looking like wild children. I think it will be quite symbolic to actually use the people that i originally made dens with when i was a child in the photographs now. I’m thinking that i should have my friends with crazy wild hair like they have been dragged through bushes and mud and paint on their faces. I’m thinking that it could work really well in considering how even now when my friends are all grown up they can still remember making dens ect and still have that element to their personality. I think having these wild looking people in contrast with these crazy looking dens will work really well.

-The last element of my project i’m thinking of so far is to explore archive photographs of my dens from in the past. I’m pretty sure i have loads of photographs of the dens i made as children and with me and my friends in them. This will work really well alongside the new photographs of my friends as wild children to compare the people and how much they have grown but then also to show that they still have this childish elements to them.

Now that i have my main idea i have already begun to think about all the specifications for my photo shoots and how my project is going to pan out. From the initial straight point i now know exactly where my project is going to go.