My Project is based at my home in Oundle, Northamptonshire. I begun documenting my project in what seemed to me to be the most obvious place, the vegetable patch. Our vegetable patch provides an affluent amount of produce for the majority of year; such as lettuce, rhubarb, asparagus and rhubarb being some, and as the start of the chain from garden kitchen it seemed the most suitable place to start.
A little about my technical journey:
I started off by simply experimenting with the camera, trying to think cinematographically, but also by trying to think pragmatically.
The clip above is just an example of the beginning of my experimentation with the creative process for this project. I believe that it is essential that I include this clip as it shows the start of my creative documentation. I tried to take into account, rule of thirds, cinematographic aesthetics (i took inspiration from methods taught to us in the woods during one seminar) and the clarity in what I was showing.
After shooting this footage it is clear upon reflection that:
1. This clip also showed me that i needed to work on controlling the steadiness of the camera as well as the transitions made in terms of the depth and focus of what I was photographing.
2. I clearly didn't have the audio settings set correctly when filming this footage; as one can tell there is a constant static sound that is blocking the natural sounds.
(Some photographic documentation of the vegetable patch)
With this in mind I carried on capturing different observations I was making in the vegetable patch, whilst being conscious of and working on filming techniques. Documenting the plants and produce available to be prepared and eaten in the kitchen was the first step of the commodity chain that I wished to show; Garden to Kitchen. However, it was through this initial creative step that I began to realise that my ethnography needed to be so much more than just the garden to kitchen concept. Being immersed in the vegetable patch for a lengthy amount of time allowed me to reflect in depth on what I was documenting, and I came to the realisation that it was so much more than simply just a garden created for human consumption.
(The clips below are shot by me - when playing please turn the volume up full and try to keep in mind what else you notice in these shots!)
Can you hear the birds!? Can you see the insects!?
The simple act of nurturing a vegetable garden has many far reaching effects, it supports a whole ecosystem of life!
By immersing myself in the vegetable patch for a long period of time, I begun to notice the songs of the birds and through reflecting back on my ethnographic material this, to me, was the strongest way of communicating the power and beauty within my project. Sound had the most powerful effect on me, I wanted my viewers to experience this beauty. Hence why I have not edited the audio or changed it, as I want this project to be as raw and as truthful as possible; as if the viewers were there themselves.
The sounds of nature in the vegetable patch then led me down the avenue of further exploration within the surrounding wild area. The sounds of the vegetable patch are interwoven with that of the wild meadows; both beautiful areas that create and sustain life.