I visited John Ryan the CEO of Oxford House in Bethnal Green on Monday with a view to discussing the idea of a ‘vox pop’ video for the prospective exhibition in November. Following our discussion I produced the following brief for the work which has a working title of ‘The Photo Booth…’.
There are several groups that use Oxford House who might be willing to participate in the project. We decided to approach them with a view to securing volunteers. I was particularly interested in a group of younger people (16-18 year olds) who take part in a ‘Challenge’ programme directed social awareness. This group will be working at Oxford House in July. The idea of a ‘young’ (and prospectively futuristic) view of the issues raised by Booth appeals to me.
John and I also did some reconnoitring with regards to location for the shoot. The favourite is the old chapel. This is a still photograph of John sitting where I would anticipate the interviewees would be placed in the video.
John Ryan, CEO Oxford House in the Chapel at Oxford House Bethnal Green
This venue is not without its technical challenges. The place is quite dark. This is good because it is moody and evocative, but bad from a lighting perspective. The still photograph above was made at ISO 4000 on my Sony A7s. This is a little to high for the quality I want. So I need to investigate some lighting….I am thinking of an LED panel with small soft box to light the face and shoulders of the subject. Also the windows are high and throw a strong highlight on the top of John’s head. I will probably need to use a diffuser to soften the light. I plan a full reconnoitre with some test filming in June.
Things are moving on. In a couple of weeks we meet again with Peter Kenway of the New Policy Institute to see if they feel they can produce relevant survey data to provide a modern day counterpoint to Booth’s work. The idea is that we will incorporate wall panels with this kind of information as part of the exhibition.
photo-graph 
annag1611
May 11, 2016
Great idea. How will the youngsters know about the outcome of Booth’s survey?
Keith Greenough
May 11, 2016
Thanks. We will be constructing some questions that raise the kind of concerns that Booth put forward. I might also give them a talk….however it is too early to know really as we have yet to approach them and even more to the point they have yet to agree to participate.
anomiepete
May 11, 2016
Photo Booth – love the word play. 🙂
Keith Greenough
May 11, 2016
A bit obvious maybe….but could appeal to the younger folk
jsumb
May 11, 2016
I wasn’t going to mention it Pete 😉
jsumb
May 11, 2016
An interesting project Keith, my first thought is that there is a lot to do before the exhibition in November [perhaps especially with all the globe-trotting :)]. I also think that it could be the genesis of a major deeper project, either way it will be fascinating to observe I’m sure.
Keith Greenough
May 11, 2016
Yes a lot to do…however, we should get the filming done in July leaving lots of time for post production. My images for the Lifting the curtain part are already done…just a few more larger prints to produce and get framed. So that leaves the panels with statistics, a panel with the history of Oxford House and its link with Booth, and an introductory panel. The former will be designed by the New Policy Institute, the second by Oxford House and the third by me. We are looking for sponsors to cover some of the expenses. Once we’ve decided to go ahead we will contact some speakers. We already have these in mind folk from London School of Economics, London Fairness Commission, Toynbee Hall and an artists talk by me… So lots to do but doable I hope!!
jsumb
May 11, 2016
“doable” but definitely busy!
Keith Greenough
May 11, 2016
Indeed….but I don’t need to write everything up!!
Catherine
May 11, 2016
Such a clear plan with lots of interesting ground to cover. Are you going to be offering the participants a photograph of themselves as well?
Keith Greenough
May 11, 2016
Yes I will do that. I plan to make photographic portrait of each of them also, so we can put the portraits up around the space where the video will be showing on a large TV screen. Also this will be a back up if the video footage does not work. We can present some edited quotations alongside the images as an alternative form of presentation if need be.
Catherine
May 11, 2016
I should have known that you would have factored this in! Do you think that should be included in the working brief?