waplington tends to take images with a film camera as he says he has “always felt more in control with film, which he says handles the mixed light better”. in waplingtons project, living room, he photographed the daily lives of two working class families, who lived on a council estate in Nottingham, England, over four years. he did this to “expose the viewer to every intimate moment of domesticity and laying bare the private sanctity of home.”. waplington grew up in the UK during the post-punk era, and with his parents regularly traveling he spent lots of time on his own. waplington stated in an article that, “big influence on me. I realise now that I have a teenage child that we had a lot of freedom back then, which kids don’t have now. At the age of 12 I was just out in London. I was up all hours doing whatever I wanted, which was perfectly acceptable so long as I went to school. I think that the music scene, the politics and the world that went with it has had a life-long effect on people of my age, especially on what they do and how they produce things.” waplington is inspired by the world around him, and creates his work following a detailed process. his process includes revisiting previous work, and allowing those projects to spark new but almost similar projects with the same intentions. when talking about research in an interview waplington stated, “I’m always trying to re-evaluate and change what I do so that I’m outside of my comfort zone.” waplington now focuses on documenting his own family’ lives.
The lighting in the photograph is completely natural, and links to how Waplington wanted to document normal life, and not fake ones. The colours are fairly muted, with accents of bright colours, but mostly within the clothing of the individuals pictured. Did Waplington do this to show how ordinary these people are? The composition of this image is strong, with the little girl being the focal point of the image, as she is surrounded by 2 figures on each side. Do these figures have relation to her, or are they just friends to the family? Nick Waplington creates a question with this photograph and that is who is this family, what have they been through and how to the relate to him? Personally I think this image says a lot about Waplington, himself, as growing up he spent lots of time alone, with his parents being away. This photograph contrasts with the type of upbringing that Waplington had, as he was not surrounded constantly around family. The families he photographed thrive off family interactions, they live for it. Family gatherings are often, and Waplington wanted to capture them to maybe almost reflect on what he would have liked to have, and what he wants for his own family.
| what? | candid photographs/videos during the christmas period |
| who? | family |
| where? | at home, out on walks |
| how? | setting my camera on a tripod and using a timer handheld (videos) |
| why? | to gain natural photos/videos of my family during a time when family means the most |
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