NAVC 2022 Champion

Judith Kimber FRPS, MPAGB

Poems for Girls

Poems for Girls’ grew from a concept built around two teenaged girls from contrasting historical eras. I wanted to show something of the differing challenges that they experienced in their lives, and I used a little anthology from the 1920s, One Hundred Poems for Girls, to draw these into focus. My location was an English Heritage property, Walnut Tree Cottage in Cambridgeshire, and working within the terms of our contract was my own personal challenge. We had just one hour to complete the whole shoot, and the sunshine that had been forecast turned to rain halfway through, leading to a lot of last-minute improvisation! The sequence relies heavily on the skills of my niece Daisy, who acted both roles, created the notebooks and drew the title slides for me.

My hope is that viewers might connect with the feelings of one or both girls, who are gments of my imagination but also representative of so many of their peers.

All Photographs courtesy Judith Kimber