Chapter 5 -Amber Meadow Well, A Community Portrait Project

Amber Meadow Well Waterville Primary School – Year 4 portraits

Maria Maza

s part of the Amber Meadow Well project, I had the pleasure of working with the Year 4 class at Waterville Primary School. As luck would have it, their teacher, Nick Longford wanted to use documentary photography for a local history project and was in fact already delving into the Amber archives in general and the work of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen in particular, and fate brought us together. I was invited to come in a few times, and in class we talked about photography and its rich history in our region.

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The children were keen to give photography a go. They used point-and-shoot digital cameras and they started to capture their friends and their surroundings. They had a lot of fun, intuitively capturing movement and experimenting with unusual shooting angles. It all made for very vibrant, joyous and energetic images. A great selection of these shots are on the opposite page.

As I got to know the class a bit better, I was keen to do some portraits, and we talked about what we could do for what would be our last session together. We agreed it would be good if the children could do a non-uniform day, and also bring one special object from home. The school accommodated the request, and everyone was excited.

With twenty children in class, and only a couple of hours to work, we kept things fairly simple. A sheet was thrown on top of a stack of desks and chairs for a backdrop, and the large window to the children’s left was the only source of light (although the children helped aim a small reflector to bring a bit more light to the shade side – great help!).

After editing, I gave them all their photos. In class, with their teacher, they worked on Tanka poems to accompany their portraits, and most images here have their associated poem quoted, with permission.

I am eternally grateful to Nick Longford and Waterville Primary School for their openness, warmth and help, which made this part of the Amber Meadow Well project an absolute joy to do. I hope you enjoy the work we created.

The muddy brown bear Me and my best friend Charlie He is gigantic He has some fluffy ears The lanky Charlie and John

Stuck in this picture They are the maddest of mad They are silenced Best friends for eternity They only have each other Crash, Crash, Bang, Bang Boom You’re next they’re coming for you They’re criminal masterminds You can’t run & cannot hide Eternally paralized

Like a whiteboard pen / Not very youngful Lucy / Sort of a smile / Black and white everywhere / Sitting on a lovely chair

Orange orchestra / Matching camouflage outfit / Very blue eyes yes / Strings go ching when I pluck them / Browny blond hair in black white

That hyper monkey Jumping around like an ape Luther and Nathan His favourite sport is rugby Nathan favourite colour blue

The drea Walking The swe The hoo They are

amgirl duo through the dreadful snow eetest owl oting owl at night e the kindest owls

Cute but evil pugs / I’m looking cute in my dress / Trying not to smile / My hair was full of hairspray / My dog looked so sad but is not

She is a nice girl / Lily has a pink blanket / She has nice hair / She is wearing Stitch P.J. / Lily is a happy girl

On a crazy ride A pace like a psychopath Looks cute but really evil At the fair on a fun ride Personality is cool The non-impressed face / Has two very stingy hands / Trapped in a picture / Has her aggressive thumbs up / Ready to go on the ride

Fluffy nameless dog / Pink pajamas and brown fur / You were on my bed / I am always so happy / Why do you look so sombre

The creepy scorer The big bad fluffy teddy Sean’s as big as a teddy The snuggly teddy bear My teddy is called Fred Fred

Silent, sleepy Sid / I sleep with him every night / He is my best friend / Almost as lazy as me / I love Sid, I always will

The cute hairy dog The friends Grace and Joshua The dog played with the Nerf The deadly Nerf gun with rocks The big fluffy hairy dog

The friends are Grace and Josh The dog plays with the Nerf gun The deadly Nerf gun The big fluffy hairy dog […]

Star Wars 5 - Order 66 7 - Anikin and Asoka 5 - You will always have the force 7 - Life is Star Wars or nothing 7 - Like a magic in his body

Crazy to spin around Rube cubes are crazy cubes Rube cubes colours Rainbow cubes […] The house Rube cubes bring the […]

Lovely little Layla Silent barks and avid woofs Layla likes to sleep all day The brown and fluffy doggy Layla’s birthday is in June

Mr. Longford

Next chapter: Portrait of a community All images ©Maria Maza 2021 (except the colour images on p.3)