One year of Unravelling

Glad asked: How did you take your Unravelling project (love it love it love it) from a seedling of an idea in your head into an amazing program in full-bloom?

I think it was a mixture of serendipity, good timing and a pinch of faith.

When i decided to make the move to Bath in 2008 I opened myself up to new possibilities, one of which was the chance to teach at an adult education centre in Bristol. My sister was working as the programme manager there, and as soon as she suggested I put together a photography workshop my head started spinning with ideas; from the word go I knew i wanted my class to be about photography and finding the self. I also knew it would be called Unravelling as that was the name i already used on my photo blog; unravelling was such a perfect description of the healing work i’d done after losing my partner, but it also described the way i took photographs, always looking deeper and further, trying to unravel the things i saw and the thoughts i had.

I spent several months plotting and planning the workshop, creating a six-week course that I hoped would be enjoyable and helpful to the women who took the class. And, much to my amazement, it did work, and turned out to be so much better than i could ever have hoped. The class was small and intimate, and as each week passed i learnt from my ladies as they shared their photographs – and stories – with me. Looking back i now realise what an important time that was.

So when a friend suggested I teach the class online, it got me thinking; at that time i knew of only one other e-course in our corner of the blogosphere. I had to figure out how to share the assignments and resulting photographs with the class, and how I’d get the word out in the first place. So I made a small-but-functional website with the software on my Mac, expanded the original course to eight weeks with lots of extra writing exercises and photo assignments, and took a massive leap of faith. I had 20 brave souls signed up to my mailing list, so on January 29th 2009 I sent out the email… and wrote a blog post.

It actually made me feel quite vulnerable to be putting the course out into the world. Even though i had the proof that it worked thanks to my evening class, i was still scared. That afternoon i met my sister for coffee, and i said to her: ‘If i get just ten people signed up that would be amazing.’ By the time i went to bed that night I already had my ten; in just over a week there were 100.

And so from that very humble beginning the course has grown so much bigger than i ever thought it would. By sharing as much as i can with my Unravellers, i find I have also learned so much about myself, not least of which is my new ability to sit in front of a camera and not run away screaming!

I can’t wait to share Unravelling #2 with you soon…

[Today is the last day to cast your vote in the Poppies Favourite Photographer category - in the space of a week I have turned into a competitive nerd :) As of right now (7:52pm GMT) there's only 2 votes between first and second place...] Saturday update: I came second! My Polaroid sister Alicia beat me to first place, and I can’t think of a more deserving winner – congrats Alicia!