Everyone has a story, no matter how buried from the public eye. This is especially true within brands and businesses that provide all credit to the CEOs and brand ambassadors instead of the designers and artists who produce the craft, leading to a multitude of issues regarding ethical decisions regarding pay, safety, recognition etc. I have always been a supporter of small businesses for this exact reason, they provide a platform for smaller creators to engage in their craft and sell it for what it and the artists labour is worth. This thought process of which brands actually hold to these ethical requirements and workers rights led to the creation of my CAS project: Every Someones Story. Because no matter how backstage your work is, you deserve a moment in the spotlight with your story.

Why An Instagram Account?

An instagram account would allow me to make use of the algorithm, and bring my content to a variety of audiences. Instagram also allows me to post multiple pictures at once, write a long description about the image (for the stories), and is easy to access; people don’t need an instagram account to view the profile.

Intention/Aim

My aim is to create an instagram account, with minimum 3 posts of people and what they do photographed by me. Pictures will be taken of small business owners focusing on sustainability and ethical trade, ensuring to give back to the creators.

I expanded this goal on the instagram account, by placing a small introduction in the highlights of my page:

This way I informed my audience of the purpose of my account, sharing with them my goal, and some information about myself to not alienate myself from the audience.

How It All Began

It began at the Galle Literary Festival, where I stumbled across a market brimming with local vendors. It didn’t take me long to notice the colourful prints being sold by ‘Shall We Cactus’, a brand who I have stumbled across previously in café Kumbuk. They were selling their signature postcards from choon pan, to maps of the fort, to travel destinations all over Sri Lanka. I talked with the man behind the stall and the story, Joby Davies. After telling him all about my project and snapping some shots, he offered to contact some of the artists in his collective so I could get an interview with them and gain more insight to their process.

I messaged him when I got back to Colombo and he put me into contact with some artists. One of which who was responsive was Aadhitya.

She became the second muse for my project. She warmly invited me into her space, telling me about how she got started and letting me in on all the details of her work as both an artist but also as someone creating a space for people to showcase their art. She talked about struggles in overcoming societal norms and views, some of which she sees within her own family. Her art can be seen as a reflection of her culture and identity, what she wants to be represented as and doing so in a different approach than a traditional canvas incorporating her designs into clothes.

Back to the Galle Literary Festival, as I walked around a bit more I came across a stall selling handmade jewelry from rings to necklaces. After admiring the wares before me and gazing into the mirror, I looked up to see Thelani. Immediately helpful in finding my ring size and informing me about all the different gemstones.

Reflections

Reflecting on this process I learned just how much perseverance I had to go through. When trying to meet up with artists from the Cactus Collective many were unresponsive. I also had to deal with date changes as the last weeks before exams can be difficult for me to balance my schedule. However by working together with Aadhitya I was able to schedule a time where we could meet to talk about her art. There were many new skills I had to develop such as editing pictures; changing the contrast, highlights, saturation etc. By moving the sliders I could see how each variable affected the picture and soon was able to identify what parts of the image needed correcting before I even pulled up the software.

When taking the pictures I always wanted to make sure that I was capturing all the right angles. For me it isn’t just about making my content but also the people feeling comfortable with these images. I asked them every step of the way and showed them the pictures to ensure they liked them. There was a lot of reflection in the process itself such as finding the correct lighting, and background composition.

Overall, I really enjoyed every step of this project as it pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me many skills. I have become more independent with organising items and managing my schedule, as well as developing my photography. I will take these teachings with me into the future and hopefully will have many more opportunities to photograph more individuals and places.

Featured Image Credit: Melinda Tondeur