It Starts With A Step is a photobook that delves into the profound experience of navigating new territories as a woman, encapsulating the raw emotions of fear, vulnerability, and empowerment that accompany my solitary walks.

This project is still a work in progress. Although, I wanted to share the journey to far.

I wanted to expand the work I created in my second year, The Rover In The Junkyard. Since then, my family has moved all over the UK and Australia. I was driven to create work in response to this change. I wanted to understand how my family stays connected even though we have all moved on with our individual lives. I decided to explore this by photographing my home away from home.

Starting Imagery

During my year off uni, I created work with this idea in mind. I got feedback from an event at Take it Easy that changed the concept. They noticed the connection was light and how I captured it. Not the idea of home. The light is similar in all the photos which is what gives me the feeling of comfort and home. They said I should focus on this instead of the location. Furthermore, I need to make work and find the connections after.

Once starting my final year, I continued to create work for this project. I experimented using my family archive and combined these with my photography. I thought this would help add context to exploring my newfound homeland. The working name was “Finding the Familiar in the Unfamiliar”. 

After a sequencing workshop, we talked very openly about how we all experience walking differently. It was interesting to hear how everyone else experiences it. If they want to explore a new area, they will go alone. They expressed how freeing it felt to do so.

I was envious. The concept of walking alone in a new area frightens me. The anxiety I feel prevents me. A location I explored for this project was Marsden. We explored Marsden, but I held back from the group. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there. I felt so free and safe. There was no one around. It was just me, alone with a camera and a beautiful empty landscape. I will always be chasing that feeling. I’ve never experienced a feeling like I did that day. 

My anxiety and fear are due to bad experiences. There have been many times where I have been made to feel unsafe. This often happens in the urban areas. As much as this situation makes me feel unsafe, there are people around. I know I will be fine. To explore a landscape where you can see nothing but beautiful horizons for miles. It scares me. The isolation is something I crave but fear more than anything. I felt so passionate about exploring these feelings. So, I changed the project direction. I abandoned the family aspect of this project. It became something completely different. 

This is how Finding the familiar in the unfamiliar became It Starts With A Step. 

Photographs from Marsden