From my research and discussion of home I found that my childhood memories of Scarborough are representative of what I believe home means to me.  Typically, most people believe that home is family-orientated and I strongly believe this. Scarborough holds strong happy memories for me, from playing on the beach, losing in the penny arcades and eating Mr Whippy ice cream. But from these pieces I wanted to also replicate what the place also means to me now, as an adult. From this some of my images appear to have a darker meaning to them, but it reflects personally on what my childhood and progressing to an adult did to how I view Scarborough.

This image features my mum in the background, but the main focus is the red sign. This reminds me of home because I was always told to be cautious when I went swimming in the sea. This doesn’t reflect badly on my view of home, this is just a strong memory I have. I wanted to capture this image as slightly darker so the primary colour red would stand out, I also liked how the moss stands out slightly.

Contextually, this image reminds me of my dad and I walking along the promenade. The main focus on this was the blue sky and the grey clouds, I wanted this to be a darker image so the sky stood out more. The people in the photo is very much reflective on how my dad used to carry me when I was a toddler, the people in the photograph are my uncle and his granddaughter Lacey. It’s very special to me because during this photo I was explaining what the seaside town was like when I was little and I really loved this image because it could almost means that brighter days are coming.

For this image I waited for the clouds to get progressively darker so the contrast between the white building and the grey background was slightly more intense. To me this shows home as this is the place I went frequently for fish and chips. The building was closed when we walked past it so I couldn’t take a photo inside like I was originally planning to do, however I felt the exterior was fairly important also. I like how the blue mixes with the white colours on the building work together and I really like that this old building is representative of my childhood and my feelings of home.

This image is possibly one of my favourite parts of Scarborough as it’s the ice cream parlour me and my family would always visit. It’s called The Harbour Bar and the design of the parlour is a 50’s/60’s aesthetic and they serve ice cream in big glass bowls. The theme of the bar (50’s/60’s)  means that the lighting is different to most of the photos I had taken, so initially it was a challenge as everything appeared to have a blue tint. However, this is shows what home is to me because I have really fond memories of being here with my family. This photo is what I could see when I sat on the bar area of the parlour, I didn’t really want to get people’s faces in the photo because my memories consist of the places and not people.

Because this place was so influential when I was little I decided I wanted to take another photo of The Harbour Bar. I remember this place so much because it was a treat if I had been good and not complained on the walk from Peasholm Park to the harbour. Again, I couldn’t get the settings right for this lighting and it took a few attempts to try and get the correct aperture and exposure. This place really feels like home to me because I have such happy memories here and contextually through the glow of the lighting and how I’ve placed these photos together hopefully it will reflect on this.

Finally, this photo is something I always see at seaside towns; from Scarborough to Filey. The lobster cages are something that I remember walking past constantly and if we ate ice cream outside this is the view we would see. The lighting on this was difficult because grey clouds had started to form and it was difficult to capture the colour of the green cages with such a dull background; I really wanted this to be a brighter image. However, I feel like this shows home because it makes me remember times when I was little. I also remember the smell of these cages which now reminds me of home too.

Our topic for this brief is a sequence of 6 images that remind us of home or what home means to us. I was going to do something controversial and photography homeless people, but I thought that might be too invasive. I also thought the subject matter would be too dark and although I could argue how it fits the home brief, I thought I could be more creative in other aspects.

I don’t really want to photograph my room/house as I feel that’s too personal. I however, will probably take photos of my childhood memories, like visiting the beach, sitting in my nana and grandad’s kitchen, my home town of York and possibly my cutlery and plates I used when I was little (they said ‘SPOON’ on the spoons and  ‘BIG’ and ‘LITTLE’ for the plates). I feel like the hardest thing to convey in this brief is what home is in my own context.

Hans Eijkelboom was my first inspiration when approaching this task. He created a series of images intitled “With My Family”, which was fairly obviously him and his family. I like how he incorporated black and white into the portraits and I like how the child is the connection in each image. However, when researching this I found that Hans staged the whole thing and the portraits aren’t actually with his family at all, they were in fact strangers: “In the 1970s, Dutch conceptual prankster Hans Eijkelbooms made mischief with the amateur family portrait by knocking on the doors of strangers and asking if he could take the place of the father for a carefully composed photograph. Surprisingly, many agreed and the resulting series is both funny and a little disturbing, not least because he looks so at home in every picture.” (The Guardian, 2016) [1] Although this is pretty intiative as I myself wouldn’t actually like to post photos of myself with my family as I feel that’s a little invasive and too personal- I will not however take photos with strangers.

I do however like how he is positioned in the photo and how everything follows the rule of thirds which is something I would like to take into consideration when creating my own images.

I debated on what home really was to me because initially I thought of it in the traditional sense of family; but then I thought of it as my village which is where my friends live. So I went and photographed them, in the way that it could be conveyed that “home is where my friends are”.

I like these photos because they’re personal to me; which may be where the issue is. Photos that are personal to me aren’t necessarily reflective of people’s own perception of home. Home is typically family and child-orientated and trying to argue why my friends playing Monopoly is my version of home wouldn’t be understood by other people. Compared to if I did something slightly more personal and relate home to a place and not people.

I decided that home, to me, is the seaside town of Scarborough. This is because I spent most of my weekends and summers there when I was younger and it holds a place in my heart. Depending on the weather I would either take photos of things through my childhood eyes or a darker approach by outlining what I see now. Contextually this might be difficult, but I feel like explaining why a seaside town reminds me of home might be simpler than I am making it out to be.

I took this photo which captures what a seaside town is, however, I feel like the photo looks too cluttered and too busy to use within my brief as home to me is calm and relaxing. Although I do like how the yellow really stands out against the grey background, I feel like this photo isn’t suitable.

I also took this photo, but I’m not sure if I like the results or not. I was trying to achieve different angles in a vertical shot, but due to the sky being so cloudy and grey all the colour from the photo washes away giving it a sinister effect. Nevertheless, I feel like I have taken photographs that really reflect what home is to me.