In my feedback session with my tutor for assignment two we discussed assignment three, the restrictions the coronavirus lockdown and the possibility of self-portraiture as a way to progress with the assignment. I have been thinking how to approach this and decided to try and portray my feelings about my role within my family, community, during the period since the start of the lockdown.

My immediate family group consists of my wife, who has been identified as being in a high-risk group for coronavirus and my daughter, who is in her final year at university, both of whom live at home. My wider family group also consists of my son and my 89 year old mother-in-law, both of whom live nearby, and my father who is in his mid-eighties and lives about twenty miles away.

I began by writing a list of self-defined roles or behaviours which are listed below:

• Provider
• Responsible
• Resolute
• Steadfast
• Communicator
• Love
• Stability
• Husband
• Father
• Knowledgeable
• Dependable
• Documentor
• Protector
• Handyman
• Dog-walker
• Son
• Son-in-law
• Comepetitor

My aim now is to create a series 5 – 8 self-portraits that convey some of the roles or traits identified above.

I have been looking at the work of photographers who have produced self-portraits and there are two whose approach has influenced how I want to approach creating my images. The first is Francesca Woodman and in particular her use of long exposures to create movement in her images. My reason for wanting to introduce an element of movement into the series is to communicate the idea that I see my role at this time is to do things for my community to ensure their well-being. The other artist whose work I have come across and whose approach to self-portraiture is Kyle Thompson. In a lot of his self-portraits his face is not visible and I like the ambiguity this creates and that it makes the viewer consider how he is positioned within the frame and interpret the meaning of the image from his gestures rather than concentrating on his expression.

I have made some headway with shooting this series and below is the first image I have taken that I am happy with for the final edit.