Matthew Mills

Script

My practice explores the relationship that people have with the environment and the way photography helps to represent this relationship.

The first project starts with the development of a collaborative unit done inside of Balmoral allotments. This work was developed to show a connection between myself and the local community. However, a part of this work started to show the relationship that people have with the natural environment, and this is when my practice of the environment started.

The images for this project show a delicate and intricate view of the allotments, showing fine details that are obscure to most. However, the fine detail and personal connection allowed for the project to be more than just collaboration and push into the environmental category.

The photographic choices that were made showed my personal development in compositional competency, allowing for the exhibition to flow.

When curating the exhibition for this project, there was a quest for unity between the work and the perceived ideas that people already had about the allotments.

This project led me towards a personal project shot in Snowdonia. This personal project concreted my exploration into environmental photography using the ideas that I have learned from the collaborative project. This was then shot with the intent of presenting the work to the small group that I had shot it with. This, however, was difficult due to the pre-perceived views they had on the project after seeing it being shot and coming together. This development was due to the understanding that people look at work with a perception of their own personal experiences that influences their understanding of work. This links back to Culler’s explanation of poetry and how unity can only be found by letting go of the personal perception of the work.

After this project was presented and the trip was completed, I started further work on the environmental aspects of my photographic practice. This now involves two different projects. Weekly walks are a personal project that has directly continued from the Snowdonia shoot. It is a project that is part of the professional identity unit. 

Bins will be further developed through the rest of the year to create a unique book that will have a selection of different bins from Manchester city centre. I will also get several copies of the book printed using blurb, which I have used for a different project.

After this project was complete, I decided that the next steps were to continue the work as a series of weekly walks with the same group of people. This project is still in progress and somewhat follows the start of the self-directed module. This work, however, has become separate as the images that I have further shot have been a mixture of all styles. This is to allow me to build my personal photographic identity.

Bibliography.

Fig 1-4 Mills,M. (2022-2023): Collaborative Project

Fig. 5: Grant,B. (2023) Exhibition of Collaborative

Fig. 6-9: Mills, M. (2023) Snowdonia Project (Weekly Walks)

Fig. 10–12: Mills, M. (2024) Weekly Walks (Dinckley)

Fig. 13–15: Mills, M. (2024) Bins (Professional Identity)

Fig 16-17 Mills, M. (2023) Snowdonia Project (Weekly Walks)

Fig. 18–20: Mills, M. (2023) Weekly Walks (Dinckley)

Fig. 21: Mills, M. (2023) Snowdonia Project (Weekly Walks)

This script was created to show the different areas of my photographic practice that I have been developing with several different projects. Although the script isn’t complete, the video is, and this is down to the improvisation that I chose to do at the end of the video because of the different ways that I wanted to test out how I could phase parts.