I didn't know where the food bank was being held, so I would met the Reverend at the Church before and she then took me to the Haggard community centre where it was run from. They had a small room upstairs in the community centre, and told me that they used to have a larger place where they held it until the landlord tried to make them pay rent for the room which obviously they couldn't afford due to it being a charity. It was sad to hear that they had to move premises because someone was trying to profit out of a charity run project, this highlights to me some of the difficulties behind these organisations.
After arriving I met John who organised and ran the food bank in Willenhall, he told me that his job was sorting out the volunteers, premises and making sure he was letting the distribution centre know what they were running out off and how many people were using their food bank each week. He said the main distribution centre in Coventry was near town, and was where all the food is stored and sorted for the cities food banks. He then went through the different kinds of people that use the service, including homeless, families and single parents. And that their numbers differ every week, because the service is meant to be used as a bit of short term support which is meant to last them at least three days. But he went onto mentioning that they do see the same faces every week, so even though its meant to be a short term solution, its not always being used like this.
I went through my project with the different volunteers, they had five of them, so everyone knew why and what I was doing there. I then went into the back room which is where they prepare the bags of food for people in, and where I could start capturing pictures. I wanted to capture interesting things that I saw and the general running of this food bank which will, through a photographic medium, show the viewer the support which they offer their clients.
This was the first thing I saw when I walked into the food preparation room, and is a photo that stands out to me a lot. The reason it stands out is because the bible in the centre of the image is the exact same bible that was on the table in the drug addicts tent. This meant that the two sections of my project connected very closely with one another in a photographic format instead of just through my explanation.
This photograph shows how the volunteers kept the different types of food organised in the room, and also you can see all the dates written on top of the jars to make sure they weren't giving out of date food away.
These boxes in which the food are stored in were donated by Sainsbury's, who sometimes donate food to the local food banks. It's good to see that big companies do support the food banks because without donations they wouldn't be able to keep running.
When a client comes in they are given this voucher which they need to fill out stating, how many people are dependant on them if any and the reason why, with their contact details and address. This is to make sure that Trussell Trust can check that people aren't filling out the forms wrong and getting more food than they deserve. Depending on how many people they have to provide for, decides how much food and support they receive. The food preparation volunteers then go through this list, checking off items when they have put them into the bags for the clients.
As you can see, I wanted to document them while they were going about their roles. I like this image because you can see the kind of fun they have while they do their jobs, and enjoy working with their colleagues. In the background you can see the clients, which don't look happy at all and are properly quite embarrassed to have to come to the food bank for support.
They are meant to where this jackets to make them look official, but no one does which I think shows that they are laid back. But they take their roles very seriously to help give people the food as quick as possible, while staying thorough.
This shows the different distribution point around the city of Coventry and the information on each of them. Although this map is a year old, because they now have six more places of distribution. They have this on their white board, so if anyone asks where other points are they will be able to tell them.
I really like this image because the moment documented shows what their roles are quite like. The image shows both volunteers gazing confused into the cupboard. This is because they are always running out of certain items to give to the clients, so they need to make substitutions for some items and replace them with others. This means they have to think on their feet and shows part of the problems with working with only donations as you can't predict what your going to have to offer the clients.
This image again shows part of the tents that they can give to the client. They never have fresh food because it goes off so quickly, which means that most of the food they give out has long sell by dates, which helps guarantee that it won't go off before being given to someone but it does still happen.
The last four images show the different items and amounts of food that the clients are allowed depending on how many people depend on them. The four different groups are single person, couple/1 parent with 1 child, family with children and family with 3+ children. This means that each person should get the right amount of quantities to suit their needs, and it helps the volunteers make sure they are putting the right amount of food into the bags they're giving out.
This image shows John thinking about what they are running out of, and what he needs to ask for from the central distribution centre for the City. It's important he gets this right, to make sure that next week the clients don't miss out on certain food items.
As they pack the different bags for the client, they tick off the items on the list as they go to make sure they have't forgotten anything. One of the problem they have is not having enough strong bags to put the food in for the clients. This is a big problem because most of their clients either walk or get the bus to the Haggard centre meaning they have to carry everything and need strong bags to take the weight.
This reminds the helpers that the clients need to bring a valid from of ID with them to get their voucher, without this they can't make sure that the client isn't lying about who they are and whether they are in need of the food bank help or not.
The room was pretty small to work out from, which meant each helper was constantly knocking into each other. The old larger premises they had was probably better to move around in. This meant that it was difficult for me to take images of their food bank without getting in the way. These images were also taken on my 35mm lens, but actually my wide angle lens would have probably worked better due to the little room I had to compose my images. This is something to take onto the next shoot I do.
Easter was a few weeks ago and this image of the easter egg being put into the clients food bag really made me realise how they try to make everyday life as normal as possible for people even though it is being donated. They aren't provided with luxury food, but it means that the clients children don't miss out on things such as Easter eggs, which even though is a small thing, it makes a massive difference. John also mentioned that they give out Christmas presents to the clients children at Christmas time, again to make their lives as normal as possible. This sort of extra support its usually paid for by the volunteers themselves, or gathered by the church which supports the Willenhall food bank.
This shows the viewer all the different clients food bank vouchers stacked on top of themselves after they have been processed and the client received their food.
I think this image sums up the volunteers personalities quite well, because it seems like they have lots of jokes with one anther. Including this 'left' and 'right' hand washing up gloves. The soap in the bowl gives the viewer a sense of time and history because they can see this image has been taken not long after the washing up had been done. It freezes this moment in time, which allows them to feel that the moment still happening.
This image is one of my favourites because of the context of the white board. As well as their food bank messages and information, there are a few names on the board who are all banned. I asked John about this and he said that many people come into the food bank and lie about how many children they have and other information, which means they receive more food. After finding out they are lying, the team then ban the people. Even though this image is interesting to look at, its quite sad to think that people are trying to exploit such an important charity that this is.
I think this is my favourite image from the shoot, and one of my favourite portraits that I have ever taken. This portrait was taken off Simon, the personal who welcomes the clients in and takes down their details before sorting out their voucher. The colours are really calm in this image, as is his facial expression which looks very honest. The blue on the carpet and his jacket tie in with his blue eyes, which all contrast the red paper, chair and inside the mug. Furthermore, he stands out from the background because its very plain due to the chalk board. I think his friendly persona makes a big difference to the clients that he meets, because some are probably nervous and embarrassed to be visiting the food bank and he will comfort them.
This image creates quite a cold and baron feeling, because it shows and empty push chair which holds a pram for a baby. This highlights to the viewer that the kind of people who have to rely on this service include people with babies, which I can imagine being incredibly hard.
Mikey was one of the most enthusiastic volunteers that I met, who didn't mind for his portrait to be taken. He first found out about the food bank when he and is family were forced to use the service due to his girlfriend being made to take a zero hour contract and not being able to get many hours one month. He said that the service helped them out so much he had to volunteer to help others. I like this portrait because I feel that the viewer can see his personality through the image in terms of being caring but also knowing what its like to have to ask for help.
This image shows more of the boxes which hold the food supplies for future clients. Overall they have quite a small stock of food which won't last them very long, which means they have to get weekly visits from the central distribution drop off van to re-stock the items they don't have or are running low on.
This is the last image I took, and it shows the multiple vouchers which they received just from that two hours of being open. I think this image is quite impacting, because the piece's of paper equal people/ families helped.
Overall I think this first shoot went very well, because it has allowed me to capture the workings of the food bank in Willenhall, which shows the viewer the type of food that is supplied and also the different types of volunteers they have. I also think that I captured some interesting documentary style images and portraits including the ban list on the white board, Simons portrait and the bible which is the same kind as the one in the drug addict tent.
Already I'm seeing who and how they are helping the people in the community who need it. But I have also shown the type of problems that can arise from running a charity based organisation including lack of donations/ support and people trying to exploit it.
For the next shoot, I'm going to take and use my wide angle lens to make sure I have more control over the type of composition I am capturing. I'm also going to look into some more photographs for inspiration on how to develop this part of my project.