• Where does that leave the photographer? As storyteller or history writer?
• Do you tend towards fact or fiction?
• How could you blend your approach?
• Where is your departure from wanting/needing to depict reality

I think of myself in photographic terms as a history writer; a recorder of people, events and places and so I tend towards fact not fiction. I feel that if I my creative instinct was to geared towards fiction I would pursue it through other mediums, writing or painting; not that I have an aptitude for either. Perhaps it is because I do not feel that I am filled with creativity, and often find coming up with ideas for assignments very challenging, that photography is my creative outlet; that documenting or recording requires less of creativity which coincides with the level that I possess.

I’m not sure how I can bend my approach to fiction or if I even want to. I feel that it is possible to produce work that is in essence documentary in nature but which the viewer can interpret in a way that allows them to create their own narrative. As photographers we maintain authorship of the work we produce, however, once it is shown to viewers we lose control of the narrative. It is possible to vary the degree of control we hand over to the viewer, by including or excluding elements such as visual metaphors or text and therefore we can direct the narrative to varying degrees, thereby creating work that is both documentary and fictive at the same time.

At the moment I am still aiming to produce work that I perceive as primarily documentary. Thinking about why this is I realise that this is in part beause I am not particularly imaginative, I do not have fictional stories that I need to tell. Another reason is that there are stories that I want to record or tell that seem much more important, about government, society and the willingness to lie and be lied to and the consequences for our country and society. To me telling these stories seems more important, and although I realise that in reality I am not doing so, it feels as though I should. Even if I was more imaginative, to spend time producing works of fiction instead of documenting the world around me would seem frivolous and wasteful.

Despite stating that I so not want to create works that are based on fiction, what I am starting to realise is that when producing work that is very personal, by simplifying the image and creating ‘space’ for the viewer, it is possible to produce documentary work that is rooted in reality but which also allows the viewer to develop their own narrative, thereby giving the work a fictional dimension.