Recreate a childhood memory in a photograph.​ Think carefully about the
memory you choose and how you’ll recreate it. You’re free to approach this task
in any way you wish.

1. Does the memory involve you directly or is it something you witnessed?
2. Will you include your adult self in the image (for example, to ‘stand in’ for
   your childhood self) or will you ask a model to represent you? Or will you
   be absent from the image altogether? (You’ll look at the work of some
   artists who have chosen to depict some aspect of their life without
   including themselves in the image in the next project.)
3. Will you try and recreate the memory literally or will you represent it in a
   more metaphorical way, as you did in Part Two?
4. Will you accompany your image with some text?
5. In your learning log, reflect on the final outcome. How does the
   photograph resemble your memory? Is it different from what you
   expected? What does it communicate to the viewer? How?
   It might be interesting to show your photograph to friends or family members –
   perhaps someone who was there at the time and someone who wasn’t – and see
   what the image conveys to them.

I chose to use two objects from my childhood that bring back memories for me of my mother when I was young. The material background is a dress once owned by my mother who passed away fourteen years ago. She would frequently wear it when I was a child, and when I last saw her I commented on how lovely the dress was so much that she gave it to me. From that day on, now some twenty years ago, I have been striving to lose weight to be able to wear it one day, I fear that day will never come. The dress now hangs in my bedroom as a memory of her. The three brass duck ornaments were once in my childhood home and I was given them when my Mum died. These ornaments my Mum especially treasured and instantly bring back memories of my time with her and how she used to tell me how much she loved to collect brass ornaments and which one she next wanted to buy to add to her collection. This photograph of a childhood memory is recreated in a literal way rather than metaphorically and the image would have to be accompanied by some text for it to be meaningful to anyone else but me.

Go to the artist’s website and look at the other images in Shafran’s series.
You may have noticed that ​Washing-up ​is the only piece of work in Part Three
created by a man. It is also the only one with no human figures in it, although
family members are referred to in the captions.

● In what ways might a photographer’s gender contribute to the creation
and reading of an image?
● What does this series achieve by not including people?
● Do you regard them as interesting ‘still life’ compositions?
Make some notes in your learning log.

Gender plays a part in what a person chooses to photograph and how. Women tend to bring emotion and people into their work, although some very talented male photographers have done the same, Martin Parr, for example, and Daniel Meadows.

The reading of an image could be read differently depending on gender, women tend to look at small details, men are more objective perhaps. Woman like Francesca Woodman and Sophie Calle express their own emotions through the creation of images.

Shafran’s series achieves an opportunity to look into the private spaces in the home of a person which reveals a great deal of information about a person. The everyday objects that are usually not the subject of the photograph but rather a distracting background object are of interest to Sharfran and reveals a great deal about a person. His work reveals a house that is in it’s normal state, something visitors rarely see because it would all be tidied away before they visit.

I do regard Shafran’s work as interesting still life compositions because it is not what would traditionally be considered an attractive photograph and therefore catches my attention. Unusual subject matter is interesting, particularly when there is a lot going on in the photograph which makes you return to it several times and discover something new that you didn’t notice before.

https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/10849/inside-the-process-and-workbooks-of-photographer-nigel-shafran