Log 4: Part 1 of Interviews

As stated in our previous log, we split the camera collection into two waves as some participants had requested for additional time to complete their camera rolls. We had collected the first wave of cameras belonging to two participants, Linda and K*, last week. (*Name has been omitted to maintain individual confidentiality.)

This week marked our first interview session with the two rolls of film already developed.

We developed the first two rolls of film at the end of last week. We have both the digital copies and printouts for purposes of the interviews. They developed beautifully - right off the bat, one could tell that the shots taken were astoundingly well thought-out, and extremely real. Both Linda and K's rolls contained a multitude of arresting yet heartbreaking imagery - faces, places and things, pregnant with potentiality of the issues that we wished would emerge during further discussion. We looked forward to the interviews, hoping that the photos would provide a good stepping stone, allowing us to have an intimate insight into their thoughts, feelings and lives.

The integration of participant-created photography and focus group interviews is key when it comes to the Photovoice method. However, when it came to our project, we decided that a focus group was not the most ideal - even though all our participants are residents of the T-Project shelter, they each have unique stories and their struggles with identity, income, family and the larger society differ greatly. We decided to do individual interviews instead - this would not only allow for the creation of an environment of trust and intimacy for the participants to share real stories without judgment or shame, but also makes it easier for us to moderate the conversations and to allow for special focus on the topics each individual would be interested in touching on.

This week, we managed to interview Linda and K, who dedicated an hour and a half of their time each, to us. It was heartwarming to know that they put in so much thought and time into their film rolls. Although we were filming and recording their sharing, they were genuine, real, and warm towards us, sharing intimate details of their lives and anecdotes of their experiences with us, one of which we’ve already shared on ‘The Stories’ tab. We felt thankful that they trusted us enough with their stories to share them at such a deep level. We’ll be posting the stories each week as we continue talking to more of the shelter residents.

We are hoping to collect our next wave of cameras soon. Although we have a deadline to keep to ourselves, we do not want to rush the residents as they seem to be putting a lot of thought into their film rolls. We are constantly checking in on the residents' progress and it seems like they are well on track. We will be going down again on Sunday, and we're hoping for good news! Fingers crossed.