JRS-UK Community Blog

Photo by Fourtotwentychars from Foter.com

Ingrid, photographer and Founding Director at Fotosynthesis, shares her experience of organising a portrait day at JRS.


What did you today?

We had fun! Taking pictures of people and catching their smiles.


How many people came? How many photos did you take?
27, I can’t count how many pictures we took, they would not stop posing!


What did you see?

I saw people coming from the outside and looking cold and shy or hiding behind coats and hats. And then I saw them glowing, proud, some really felt like models. That was quite nice to see. They quite surprised to see the result and how beautiful they are... The people who came showed us a secret part of their person, it was quite an intimate afternoon with strangers. And they all want the pictures!


What do you enjoy about taking portraits?

I like the interaction you need to have with people, to engage with them. You have to make them feel relaxed and joke and... it’s funny, I don’t know their names or where they are from. It was more like ‘hey! come in, let’s relax and do the pictures’. It was quite enjoyable. I enjoyed working with M, my colleague, he is good about making people laugh. I liked the simplicity with the people here. I do a lot of photo shoots, but I didn’t see anyone being critical, they just felt good the way they were, which is not often the case. I really liked how people left the room full of energy. One thing is there is a lot of trust, they really trusted us to tell them, which position to sit in or pose, so they did very well.


Did you learn anything today?

I don’t know if I learned anything new, but I remembered again the transformative effect that a photoshoot has on people. The photoshoot breaks the wall, it has an instant positive effect. It was a very therapeutic and hopeful day.


One of the participants said: “It was the best, it made me happy!” Is there anything else you would like to say?

I’d like to be a little mouse and see people’s faces when they see their pictures and see their reactions to the photos, to hear their experience of being photographed. And I’ll be excited to see where the images end up, in a family album or who knows?!


More information on Fotosynthesis, visit here.

Look out for more information and images telling a story about JRS’s work here on this blog soon...! 

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Each year at the end of May, The Connection at St Martin in the Fields hold their annual Pilgrimage to Canterbery. This year, Charles, who comes to the JRS-UK Day Centre, took part and completed the four day pilgrimage walking in total an incredible 74 miles and helping to raise funds for homeless people in London.

“The first day was really an amazing day,” Charles expressed on sharing his experience of the pilgrimage. “We walked through the city of London and we reached Swanly which is 18 miles away from London and there we slept in a church – everybody! - and we had lovely dinner, conversations and so on. The second day we reached a place somewhere in Kent, not far from Ashford. We had a lot of discussion as we walked and the next day we were in Charing. And in Charing we discovered a church that was 700 years old, and the first vicar of the church was patronised by King Henry VIII. And we stayed there, we stayed in a school basically and there was evening entertainment where we organised comic strips, theatres, singers so it was a lot of fun. The fourth day was the last day, so we went to Canterbury. And at Canterbury we had a mass at Canterbury Cathedral.

Unfortunately the archbishop of Canterbury was not there but we did see the Dean of Canterbury and they had a choir. A very lovely choir, very lovely songs and we had a reading from those who are really, the thinkers of helping the community.”

On the second day of the walk, Charles, who has been taking part in a photography workshop at JRS, run by Fotosynthesis, a not-for-profit organisation that uses participatory photography to develop skills, give a voice to people and encourage community cohesion, was inspired by the beauty of the area and the joy he felt to take a photo.

“I just stood and I just opened my hands like this just to say how life is, how nature is beautiful and it just shows that although you are walking and people may feel like it was really painful and hard to walk for four days, after the second day, I was still feeling very happy and enthusiastic because it was for a good cause. It’s for people who need accommodation, who need support in their society, who need food for themselves. So my hands that way, show in life we have to be open to each other, we have to welcome each other, we can help each other, and by such action we can iron out some problem in the society such as homelessness, such as poverty and such as mental health problems.”

With the launch just days away, we have a little time to reflect further on what we have enjoyed about taking part and what it has meant to us, both as participants and volunteers.

The photography workshop has had a great impact on everyone involved, not just because it has taught people a new skill, but because of the socialising and support it involves. As one more participant expressed said, it has certainly helped people grow closer together. From the point of view of us as new interns at JRS, the workshop has played a huge role in getting us involved in the organisation and building rapports with its members.

With the workshop being so engaging, as we volunteers have been busy working alongside Fotosynthesis and JRS-UK to organise a public photo exhibition, titled; “Come and See” in the Lumen Gallery. As well as this being a great opportunity for the participants to display the work they’ve created over the past twelve weeks, some have said they would not have had the courage to partake in anything like this without the workshop. J said that the workshop has given her more “confidence” in her abilities; “Before I felt scared about taking pictures but now I feel very confident.”

J, who had an interest in photography beforehand, says she had no idea about storytelling through photography before enrolling in the workshop, and feels that she now has “a new skill”. She also believes that while the workshop has allowed her to develop new skills, what she really enjoyed was “going out with others and to places I’ve never been before. Taking pictures in beautiful places in Wapping, near JRS’s office, and in the city, and taking self portraits with a real camera. I want to have brand new skills and this can open the doors to being self-employed.”

What’s even more positive is how the workshop affected the group as a whole. J said that her favourite thing about joining the workshop was “attending the classes, it’s very sociable. Watching others tell their story. It brings us closer together. The support from everyone - from the teachers and the volunteers.”

Participants, teachers and volunteers invite you to join them at the Lumen Gallery for “Come and See” photo exhibition, which opens for a preview night on the 26th June from 6pm-8pm and continues until the 10th of July from 8am-4pm when it will be open to the public. The Gallery Tour will be on the 5th of July and will be an excellent chance to hear about the experiences, inspirations and what the workshop and exhibition has taught everyone.

For more details, see www.jrsuk.net
Lumen Gallery, Church Cafe, 88 Tavistock Place, WCIH 9RS.

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For the past weeks, a group of nine men and women have come together at JRS-UK to take part in a photography workshop run and facilitated by Fotosynthesis, a not-for-profit organisation that uses participatory photography to develop skills, give a voice to people and encourage community cohesion. The exhibition launch is just 2 weeks away…

Every week, we meet with the group of nine, who are all from different countries, to learn techniques, share ideas and practice different types of photography - portraits, candid shots, narrative, scenery and landscape. It has been great so far and the feedback we have heard from participants has been really positive with everyone taking something different away from each session.

Sergei, whose father was a photographer, shared he joined the workshop to “avoid depression”. He said that he felt the workshop gave him an opportunity to “communicate with creative people” and to revisit his previous interest for photography, now revived with a new knowledge of modern technology. “When I learnt photography, everything was black and white and manual cameras. Everything changed for 20 years, it changed completely”.

Yus, who hopes to do blogging in the future, joined the workshop when the opportunity presented itself, although he admitted to us he had not had an interest in photography before enrolling. He told us: “What I enjoyed most about what we’ve learned so far is the positioning of the camera and also the lighting. How to make sure you position yourself to get the quality you are looking for, 1. And 2, you have to have a picture in your mind of the story that you are trying to tell. “

Since joining he has been very pleased with how much his skills have advanced, by learning different techniques and tips from the workshop: “You don’t have to be in a rush. Sit still, or stand still, make sure you have the picture in your head before you snap. And as a result of doing that, it will translate into the picture which has helped me a lot,” he said when talking about the new techniques he has learned. He even expressed an interest in continuing to study photography after the workshop ends: “Maybe in the future I might go back to study it more, maybe in the college or something because I’m beginning to see that there’s certain things to consider, you don’t just take the camera and snap.”

"Come and See" opens on the 26th of June for the preview night from 6pm-8pm and continues until the 10th of July from 8am-4pm when it will be open to the public. The Gallery Tour on the 5th of July, will be a great opportunity to hear more from Yus, Sergei and the other contributors about their ideas and inspirations and what they have learnt.

More details see: www.jrsuk.net
Lumen Gallery, Church Café, 88 Tavistock Place, WCIH 9RS.

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The rules on family migration, migrants’ access to healthcare and housing and the verdict on Tuesday of the unlawful killing of Jimmy Mubenga who died while being deported…; immigration is back in the news.