When asked to contribute to a small collaboration project I agreed to work with co student/work colleague and friend James. We are roughly the same age, both have a Daughter and work side by side in the same digital department of the same FE college. When James turned up for his first day as an employee of the college I quickly noticed that we had the same winter coat.

When presented with this task I had an idea for a metaphorical approach which was to shoot an environmental portrait using a courtyard surrounded by buildings owned by the college where we are employed. I felt that the symmetry of the buildings worked to create an enclosed space rendering the subject trapped. I felt that this encompassed a Nordic Noir element to the image which coupled with the light and dark shades of Grey encoded meanings of the mundane monotony of a white collar profession for which we are both employed.

In terms of image 1 (which is me) the image I chose to present encompasses a closed and guarded body language with my feet quite wide apart. I feel this represents current insecurities about my weight in addition to my refusal to want to conform to this type of functional banal world world which I feel is becoming less focussed on development and inspiration and more about human resources. The wide feet may offer some explanation of the confidence I have in myself to endure the monotony in a somewhat defiant tone no doubt learned as a teenager in the 90s growing up in South Manchester.

Image 2 is a similar composition and represents James in a similar position to myself, however I felt that his body language is that of someone with a more comfortable outlook. I understand James to be an individual who succeeds with process and order and I feel that this is reflected in his portrait. I see someone who is comfortable within this world with his hands in his pockets and the absence of a direct mode of address create connotations of someone who is relaxed and able to function effectively in a world of process.

Although there obvious similarities within both images I feel that image 1 carries elements of insecurity and identity crisis of being someone who finds process and a knowledge based economy extremely difficult and is acutely aware of deficiences as opposed to image 2 which represents someone who is further at ease with their profession and better placed to have a move up to the higher floors of the building.