halfpenny halfling - project concept

It is a fact of life that boys grow into men and that the adult male is often the product of his childhood. Those early influences stay with the adult male throughout his life indeed with old age dementia hitting one in three adults they often return to the childhood they left all those years before again at the end years having carried it with them throughout.

Adulthood can act as a censor to memories past - adult parents tell their young sons "do not swim in the river "climb that tree" or "enter that old ruined house in private grounds" whilst recounting stories of their childhood when they did all those things!

The halfpenny halfling project [let's call it halfling for short] - [ halflings are short by account anyways.. ] is about being young, and as I am male I write it by form of my natural understanding about the male from the male perspective.

Broadly speaking it is set to major the school and higher education age span.

By use of photography we shall explore that many faces of childhood and beyond. This will be backed up by written, audio and video pieces. As a trained photographer it is not unnatural for photography to play a key part of the concept from the start.

Is it a photographic work? Yes I guess it is - be it as a standalone piece or as part of the complete project. In my childhood however I was every bit as active in sound recording, cine work and writing! So all forms of media should be included.

My last few years has seen me working with young performers starting out on a path of acting.

You cannot help but be impressed by an enthusiastic young actor learning lines and rehearsals one minute and school homework the next. Balancing a considerable amount of school work with that of their passion for performance. This extends further into sport, or so many activities that the young today supplement their time at school with.

If like me you have worked in City Centres you see the other side of this rose tinted impression of being young. Youths in gangs basically swearing and acting in an aggressive manner. Did they all come from broken homes? No that really is to easy and within the work you will observe the impact that an EBD* can have on young person. This impact can be quite positive [ many young performers have ADHD* for example] or negative leading to class seclusion, drugs abuse and crime. Exploring this fact was part of the project intent from the start.

It is really important from the outset to stress this is a positive work - celebrating all that is good about the young of today, and sometimes making comparisons with the myth of the yesterdays golden age of growing up. So it's not quite seeing the world as Enid Blyton may have done with "perfect" children, perhaps more Michael Morpurgo,Roald Dahl, Jacqueline Wilson  and Sue Townsend!!

Growing up today is growing up with modern technology - children cannot get lost in the wilds like they used to as they have a mobile phone. The internet and computers are a natural extension to the pen. And yet despite this children today are really not that different from the past. And teenagers still worry about spots and that first love.

Notice I wrote their "their first love" and did not presume it would be a girl and boy relationship. In Britain today being gay, bi even cross gender is more open than ever before, but one has to be mindful not in all cultures. 

The project is set to be in basic sections - editorial will cover a wide range of relevant, and sometimes off the wall not so relevant subjects.

Photography will be either for editorial illustration or as part of my photography work, building up confidence with young performers, although in truth anyone can take part. These shoots are not conventional shoots - they are set to build up personal confidence and self discovery and are private and are only included within this website and project if agreed by the person [s] taking part.

The editorial photography will use the journalistic style of presentation, real life conditions and available light wherever possible. Some situations will be shot as reality but using actors to ensure anonymity of the individual where appropriate. This will be clearly indicated.

Naturally if the shoot is say about a champion sports achiever, musician, magician or performer of most kinds their identity is not an issue and they can appear as themselves - proudly.

For this project to work fully it requires cooperation from all those taking  part or be involved. It therefore should be obvious that it is very important to remain impartial and fair in all work. There are no tricks here, no hidden agenda, and no trying to make an organization or individuals look bad. Ofcourse some issues such as drug and solvent abuse in teens are never going to be easy to cover - but that does not mean they should be avoided, just handled carefully!

I am very conscious that the site may be read by a minor, and the content must therefore be suitable for that age or in a password protected private area. That said as the issues within the work are very relevant to children growing up commonsense should prevail - the shock tactic of seeing the implications of "playing" with drugs should not be censored. No part of this work would be any worse than that found on television or within magazines today.

As regards editorial content, where it is written by William David it is set to be written in a simple "non specialist" style suitable for all. Sometimes this may result in a form of simplistic shorthand, rather than an academic report! Where more information is prudent links will be suggested to areas where such information may be found.

This is a brief overview - in other pages more detailed information can be found on both content and taking part or contributing to the work.

Photography within the project:-