Assignment 2 Statement of Intent

Assignment 2 Consider a local issue

Consider a subject close to your heart – something you feel passionate about. Choose a subject that you feel people don’t understand or appreciate sufficiently.

You need an idea, a way of interpreting what you’re concerned with, and you’ll need to develop your visualization through testing and experimentation.

THE WEST DORSET BUS TRANSPORT SITUATION

I live in Lyme Regis, which is a town in the very west of Dorset, bordering on East Devon with no direct rail links.  Lyme Regis is extremely popular as a seaside resort and numbers can swell from the 3637 permanent residents to over 10,000+ in the summer months.

The town is served by three bus routes, those of the X53 every two hours which runs from Poole to Exeter, the X51 which runs from Dorchester to Axminster and back every hour and then there is a local town service, the Number 71 bus, which tours all round of the town every hour.

The main part of the private and public housing in Lyme is situated on both sides of a valley formed by the River Lym.  As you can see from the satellite map, there are two main areas occupied which have been developed along the sides of the steep valley.  The population of Lyme Regis is an aging one with people aged over 65 making up 35% of the population.

Statement of Intent

It is my intention to show how local transport between towns and villages can cause communities to become isolated from the most popular activities.  My portfolio will show how local bus services can:

1.    Create a sense of isolation by poor bus timetabling but also

2.    Create a place for meeting friends and enjoying social time together

My initial idea was to travel round on the buses taking pictures of who got on and off on the different routes.  When I thought about it again I felt this would just show people enjoying their trip but not really indicating how it can cause isolation when the buses stop running in mid-afternoon or early evening.  As people who are reliant on public transport it traps them at home with no way of socializing or getting home from an evening event.

But catching and travelling on the bus can be a place of social interaction as friends can join together for short or long bus journeys and renew friendships and chat about local goings on.

My initial idea, and I’m still keen to go with this one, is to travel round on the various bus services taking pictures of bus stops, people boarding/leaving the buses, people waiting at the bus stops and give a general idea of the locations of buses and towns.  Then print up various interesting images to illustrate both the isolation of the routes and the social side of travelling on a bus.

My tutor suggested that I aim for either one or the other of these ideas but I don’t think I can isolate one as the bus does travel through the populated areas and along desolate coastal roads.

My initial idea was to use print out the 10 required images for assessment.  Another idea that has come up after discussion with one or two potential subjects is to interview actual passengers on the buses, using an iPhone to capture video clips discussing why people use the bus and what they think of it.

I’ve been researching work of various social documentary photographers and intend to report on them in my final submission for assignment 2.