Working progress 'The WE-C School Project'

All these pictures were taken by a 4 year old on a small digital camera on automatic setting mode. We are trying to figure out what is stimulating the child's mind into taking these images

We at stuartelliottphotography are trying to set up a project which challenges the asethetics of the photograph and of the medium when related to children.

The idea behind the program is to work with children accross Cornwall, between the ages of 5 and 10 to get the children participating in the visual medium photography. We want to set children specific tasks as to what area they can photograph in and then collect the images and start analysing the outcomes.

We want to discover the innocence that a child has at an early age through the 'visual language' known as photography. We will also be challenging parents to see if they recognise their own childs work and therefore to investigate that relationship and genetic bond between the child and parent.

This will hopefully be generating media attention as we move from school to school once the project is up and running fully. We will be inviting critics to come and challenge what we are doing and investigate our findings that we discover.

Throughout this whole process the core vision is to investigate how our children in todays society are responding to the visual language of photography and also to see if the children are being effected each year as they are exposed to more visual images and media on a daily basis. We are also trying to introduce children to the medium at an early age which can only be beneficial and educational.

We will be exhibiting the findings/prints after the data is collected and a formula has been put together, but these prints will ultimately be auctioned and the money generated will go back into the project and back to the school to help the children's education.

The goal is to create a body of work that represents the way children are looking and seeing the world in todays society. This will be further documented every year at the same time hopefully with the same children over a 5 year period.