When I wrote ‘what I want from Real to Reel’, I focused on illustrating my intention to finish the semester with media work that reflected my hopes of ‘preserving moments in time through honest and raw depictions’. Whether it was through taking photos, filming or writing, I wanted to give a platform to people and places that make the world what it is. I’d like to say that I did meet these goals through creating a photo essay and documentary. Both allowed me to discover, record and amplify untold stories. This however, came with challenges.

For my photo essay Family, I not only wanted to present a general honest depiction of the milk bar but a personal one fuelled by nostalgia. This gave me the confidence to try out various ways of photographing the milk bar due to my familiarity with the space. In saying this, it was still nerve wracking being the one in control of the shoot. I had to navigate myself through the small milk bar in a way that would allow me to capture the images with breadth rather than be unflattering squished images. Furthermore, I had to ensure that the questions I asked to inform the essay portion of my work were sufficient. That they could be answered with ease as opposed to instilling discomfort. Overall, this work gave me the confidence to to be more ambitious for the documentary as I wanted to explore how my technical and creative knowledge could be translated to motion.

For A Model Son, the subject Kevin was at first a stranger to me. I found it quite difficult during the pre production stage to unpack Kevin’s story and plan the filming locations as I wasn’t yet sure if I was depicting his life truthfully. But I learnt that in the same way I was learning about Kevin, so would someone watching the documentary. I kept that in mind during production and so, I am happy with the result.

Overall, I am satisfied with this semester due to learning about the production of truthful and thought provoking non-fiction media.