Siân Davey is a photographer local to my home town of Totnes, as well as step-mother to my close friend, Martha, a central subject in much of her work. It was through these circumstances that I eventually met her out on a shoot, when she came to photograph us with our friends down by the river on a hot day in August. At a later date, I heard her speak at her book launch for Martha, and was captivated by her articulate choice of words to describe her process for producing such beautiful, observant images. I was also familiar with her first book, Looking for Alice, an intimate portrayal of her relationship with her youngest daughter, diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. Her overarching interests, evident in all of her work, were those of family, connection and community. I knew from day one that she would make an excellent subject for a documentary.
For these reasons, I was fortunate in having a unique ‘insider’ view of Siân’s world and her subjects, allowing my crew-of-three easy access to her often-intimate shoots.
I understood that the entire film and its story relied on the success of the interview. Luckily for us, it couldn’t have been better. While I had planned a loose list of questions, the sitting quickly became a comfortable, informal environment for Siân to open up in the comfort of her own home. I think it was important that I listened carefully to her answers and responded thoughtfully, rather than sticking to a rigid format; letting the conversation flow in a natural direction, rather than poking for the answers you’re looking for.
This was my first (legitimate) documentary project, and I’ve learnt a lot about the endless joys non-fiction filmmaking can bring that no amount of planning could ever amount to. I’d say that the bulk of the film’s structure was found in the edit, and I definitely applied tropes I’ve discovered through fiction storytelling, e.g. using Alice’s birthday as an anchor to come back to, incorporating various formats such as the Super 8 and VHS etc. Its probably quite common for filmmakers focussing on photographers to make their films mirror the work of the photographer, but I tried not to think too literally. For the footage by the river and at the birthday party, we just aimed to capture Siân in her element, setting up our frames and waiting for things to unfold. One of Siân’s biggest challenges - as she explains in the film - is the ability to relax her subjects and capture natural, untampered moments. I’m sure our added presence didn’t help, but I’d like to think we were somewhat successful in painting a picture of a creative in her element, adding an additional narrative to a body of work already rich with story. Siân was incredibly supportive of the project from the get-go. Her only requests during the edit were focussed on the images I chose; she didn’t mind watching herself on screen.
The whole project would never have been possible without my cinematographer Zach Brown and composer Donald Watson, not to mention the small crowd of those who were generous enough to support our crowd-funder.
