First, we came up with a list of places that we wanted to photograph. We thought about different locations throughout Cardiff that are significant to us or that we perhaps felt were under-represented. We noticed that a large majority of the photos used to depict Cardiff always tend to focus on the same few places in the city centre.
We wanted to include a wider variety of locations into our images and take photos that would seem more relatable and authentic to the young people living here. This included taking photos within our local communities and in some of our own favourite places throughout the city. We all live in different areas which allowed us to take a diverse range of images.
The What’s Next platform is aimed at 16-24yr olds, so we took photos in places that meant something to us in the hopes that other young people who access this website will recognise places familiar to them and feel better represented. We spent several weeks on this project and made multiple visits to various places that we'd chosen. We visited at different times of day in order to capture an even wider range of images.
This was a unique opportunity and it was really interesting to be involved. I had personally not done anything like this before. It was also nice to go out and photograph all of the different locations, my favourite places to visit were Cardiff Bay and St Fagans.
Through this project we were able to learn several new skills which we will be able to transfer. We gained experience using a digital camera, learning about composition, trying different photography techniques and editing photos. We also received guidance from an experienced photographer which was incredibly helpful. We found that this project allowed us to view things in a different way. It definitely made us more aware of our surroundings and it was fun to consider what might make a good photo. Many of us agreed that through taking photos we had started to notice small details that we'd never picked up on previously, even in places that we visit often.
Following this project, some of us may now wish to further develop our photography skills or access related training opportunities. I had never properly used a digital camera before taking part in this project, so it was a chance to try something new. I really enjoyed learning about photography and I'd certainly be interested to learn more in the future.
We were also able to further develop wider skills such as teamwork and communication through working on a project with others and following a set brief.
It's exciting to know that our work will now be displayed on a Cardiff Council website for others to see. We are really grateful for being able to take part in this opportunity and look forward to seeing the final images.
Written by Caitlin Kelly (Post-16 Young Person with Cardiff Youth Service)
Photo Credits:
Alice Goodliffe
Caitlin Kelly
Martha Crimmins
Hana Dibachi
Keira James
