Time at MASH

For the first few sessions where I attended MASH I made the decision to not photograph as to be sensitive to the service users discomfort which I was told is often aroused by the presence of a camera as many of the women are concerned with their identity potentially being revealed to the public. This is a boundary that from day 1 I was aware would require much trust to overcome. Luckily taking this time to get involved in sessions, explaining what I would be doing at the center over the coming weeks, how and why ect, as well as general conversation and I suppose you could say friendship making afforded my the invaluable opportunity to make clear that I wasn't a 'threat' so to speak.
I joined in with the education class, doing word searches and other paper/screen based activities, and also the art class, engraving tiles and painting ect. during this time I was able to chat to the service users and I soon discovered that a few of them had recently got involved with a drama class which lead to a production for the fundraisers, supporters and staff at MASH, they were really enthused by it and excited to tell me all about it. With this came an idea of a catwalk style shoot in the center which got a great response from the service users, them being excited at the prospect of 'feeling like a celeb on magazine covers' I mentioned this to the coordinator at the center who agreed it was a great idea and that they could even see about linking it with other sporadic sessions they have where hair and make-up artists come in. I used the computers in the center that afternoon and produced a poster which i around MASH now.
That is something that will be developing over the coming weeks.
On Friday mornings at MASH a man comes in to do a picture framing workshop, where the service users can bring in images of loved ones or whatever they wish and make a frame to house it. I plan to provide the girls with prints of their images taken on the day so that they can be framed and mounted in a mini exhibition which I can then document photographically for their website, however much care and consideration will have to be taken as to ensure the images don't allow for the public viewing the site to identify the service users.
This issues is a obstacle that I need to overcome with all the photographs I capture during my time. As any where faces can be seen will have no use outside of the center.