True participation means creating a space in which participants feel free to represent what matters to them.

At The Camera Work participants are experts in their own stories and they take full ownership of their experience of the project. Also, as participation requires equality in order for participants to shape their own experience and outcomes, there is no vertical power dynamic. The collective forms the whole.

Creativity is borne from working with limitations as well as having the confidence to explore our curiosity without fear of being judged, and that’s the space we create and work in.

We also believe that each individual has a creative self they can explore and use to empower, express and represent themselves. It’s just some of us can’t quite work out how to find that self. At The Camera Work, it’s our core intention to enable everyone to discover, and apply their creative energy.

Once discovered, we develop creativity into craft, turning limits into assets and resources for exploration and expression.

Creating work with cameras is a full body experience, it is much more than just seeing. We engage all our senses. We are physically and cognitively active while animating our perceptions through the creation of aesthetic artefacts.

But art is not art unless it is shared so we make sure the work itself lives in reality and that it is experienced objectively. As well as being shown, there is both beauty and meaning in what the work ‘says’ so it ‘sticks’ in the viewers’ experience.

In slow photography the focus is on process and with time. We do less but do it better. We look at things in the round which means taking into consideration the creation of an aesthetically pleasing image as well as equally on what that image means to its creator.

Slow Photography is not just slowing down, it’s a culture and way of working through things. that creates space in our lives and quality in the work. That’s why we use analogue principles. The process promotes reflection and insight into the work we are doing.