The Gatehouse Women and portraiture during a pandemic

The craziness of 2020 continues, and I am trying to keep positive by making portraits in new and interesting ways to reflect the times that we live in.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to make some images of the women involved in an Oxford Homelessness charity called the Gatehouse. The Gatehouse is a drop in cafe and community centre led by women and has many long-term female volunteers and guests. The portraits are for an outdoor exhibition which will be part of Photo Oxford in October and November. The theme of the festival is Women and Photography, and we’ve titled the image series “Strength and Resilience”. The aim is to recognise the impressive ability of many of the women connected to the Gatehouse to cope with what life throws at them.

We initially started planning to make these portraits about 9 months ago, when no one could have predicted how 2020 would unfold. We were going to do the photography in May, which turned out to be deep lockdown and so we postponed. After deciding that we could go ahead with the photos outdoors in September, I started thinking about how we could make striking images which recognised the power of these women, but also that we were in the middle of a pandemic. I had the idea about using a sneeze screen just in time to order one before the shoot. As I worried about its timely arrival, I ordered another smaller one to be sure. In fact, I think having two screens worked really well and allowed more variety of images. 

I loved the visual effect of the reflections on the perspex and glass and also the possible metaphorical interpretation that the screens symbolise the invisible barriers faced by those who are vulnerably housed. 

On the day of the shoot, I set up my backdrop and sneeze screens in the courtyard outside St Giles Churchhall, where the Gatehouse normally operates. People dropped in one at a time for their picture session so that there were never more than 6 people there. We had a lovely sunny day, thankfully, and I really enjoyed meeting and chatting to guests, volunteers, workers and one of the charity’s founders. 

I was very keen that all the portraits were similarly respectful, and I hope that people will look at the pictures when they are displayed and consider the important contribution to society made by each woman, regardless of their housing status.

During the COVID19 pandemic the Gatehouse continued to work for their community by providing food by delivery and take away. They also gave one-to-one support to those in need. During lockdown many street homeless were housed and tenant protection was provided to the vulnerably housed. However, there remains much uncertainty about the future. We hope that these portraits will help raise awareness about the work of the Gatehouse, and hopefully help with fundraising as well.

Lockdown update, 10 weeks in....

In the UK we’ve been in lockdown for more than two months. I haven’t done an in-person portrait session since mid March. I hope that there will be an opportunity to get back to that soon. In the meantime, I have been really enjoying connecting with people for portraits via Zoom. 

I was commissioned by AreWeEurope magazine to photograph 10 Europeans during lockdown. It was fascinating to check-in with people in Spain, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Italy and Sweden and also to talk to Europeans who live in the UK about their different experiences of staying a home during the pandemic. 

I have also been working with the University of Huddersfield on a research project which is exploring the impact of lockdown and home education on mothers. I am making Zoom portraits of all the women who are taking part across the UK. I have loved hearing about their experiences and the challenges faced by those juggling home working with home schooling responsibilities. I have also been struck by the wide range of views on whether or not children should be returning to school at this time and also the reality of whether there is even an opportunity to attend school in some areas.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, these Zoom portraits have to be much more of a collaboration than in-person portraits. I have to communicate my wishes really clearly so that the subjects can place the laptop or other device where I want it. Sometimes there is a willing assistant in the house to hold the device. Bringing a third person into the process poses new challenges. In one case the assistant was a photographer themselves, and found it hard to let go of their own artistic vision in order to frame the picture as I wanted. In another case, I had to direct all my instructions to the subject via the headset worn by the person holding the phone. Interesting!

The pictures include much more of the subject’s environment than my previous works, but I have been really enjoying that aspect of the results. I definitely cannot be a perfectionist and sometimes the process works much better than others.

It is amazing to be able to pop up in people’s living rooms around the world via my computer. It really is fantastic to talk to so many different people with a wide range of perspectives. But I have noticed that I do miss the full sensory experience of travelling to and turning up at a new location. I look forward to doing that again. 

For now, I’m delighted to have a commission for another Zoom series of portraits coming up, this time of a local community group in Oxford.

Post COVID19 I hope that I will be able to return to in-person portrait shoots, while still being able to connect with people around the world via video chat, and improve on how I capture portraits in that way.