The Free Bird - Project Pair Work with Becca Bennet 23/9/15

Café: Photographer: Artist

Artist

Name: Hayley

Age: 21

DOB: November

Personality:   Shy, creative, insecure, sentimental, passionate, avoids confrontation, panics when things go wrong, perfectionist.

Appearance: Hair always twisted back with a clip.  Colour mousy brown.

Wears minimal makeup, and plain rectangular glasses.  Has a bird necklace given to her by her late Grandmother who was given it when Hayley’s mother died.  She wears blue flared trousers, cream ¾ length top, a 70s style western sleeveless jacket and dirty worn out cream converse.

Backstory: Lives in a first floor flat to feel more secure as the area is rough and scary for someone like her.  Her parents died in a car crash when she was a baby.  Grandmother was baby- sitting her at the time of the event.  Grandmother took her in and raised her.  The necklace inspired her painting for the art exhibition when her grandmother died.  Hayley started painting because of stories told about her mother’s talents as an artist and painting was a way for Hayley to connect with her.  Hayley started University studying Art when she received a call from the hospital saying her Grandmother had had a fall and had been admitted to hospital.  She had a blood clot on the brain and Hayley was advised to come and see her before it was too late to say goodbye.  As a result of her grandmother’s death, Hayley blamed herself for not being with her Grandmother and therefore couldn’t face going back to university and dropped out of the course.  She got a 3-day a week job in a greasy run down café to support her rent as she no longer had her grandmother’s financial support.  During her spare time she dedicated herself to artwork.

The Meeting: Hayley heard about an art exhibition in a quirky café situated in a popular area of the local town.  At first she wasn’t sure whether to enter or not but the photo on her bedside table of her Grandmother which was resting next to her necklace gave her the confidence to enter.  When she got there the room was flooded with people, more than she had anticipated which caused her to question why she was there, making her panic and turn to leave.  As she was leaving, a mature male photographer carrying a coffee and a similar folder of artwork walked into her pathway causing her to collide with him.  His coffee went over his shirt and both hers and his folders fell to the floor.  In a panic she picked up the first folder she saw and with an apologetic grunt she ran out the door leaving the man with a coffee stained shirt and the wrong folder…

The Change: When she got home she pulled out what she thought was her artwork but was in fact the man’s photography work as opposed to her painting of the bird.  A few weeks pass and when checking her social media sites a picture of her painting appears which has been shared across the country and has numerous likes and positive comments from complete strangers.  The picture was posted by the photographer in the hope that its owner would be found and the painting could be rightfully returned to her.  After arranging through social media to meet up with the photographer (Matt)  he gave her more confidence in her work and revealed that he had entered her painting into the competition under her name she had left on her folder and had won!  She became good friends with Matt and regularly shared artistic opinions on each others work.

The Photographer

Name: Matt

Age: 35

DOB: March

Personality: Confident, Outgoing, talkative, friendly, inspiring, creative, passionate, determined and believes in inspiring young people's work. Tries to find the beauty in everything he sees through a camera lens.

Appearance: Rugged/untidy looking, tall, bald but wears a wooly hat, black ripped jeans and a hoody. He isn't much to look at and doesn't spend much time working on his appearance as it takes the time he considers to be precious in the early morning. He dedicates that time to taking pictures of the morning larks in the hope that he will capture something beautiful.

Backstory: Matt took up photography when he was 16 as an A-Level subject in school. His work was not considered of a great standard by the teacher and therefore didn't grade well. This knocked his confidence and he gave up photography for 2 years. While playing on his smart phone he took a picture of the beach at sunset whilst the waves overlapped and a man commented on the beauty he had captured in it. Matt went on to explain how he felt that there was always beauty in whatever he looked at no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to some people. For him it was these small things that made the picture come alive. After meeting with the stranger again he showed him his portfolio of work from his A-Level days and was amazed at the response the stranger gave. The stranger turned out to be an owner of an art gallery and contracted Matt to take pictures for his gallery under the title of "Beauty". Matt agreed and became a very successful photographer. Now Matt does his very best to encourage young artists like he himself once was, to see the beauty in their work and feel pride and accomplishment.