Are you being watched? Who are you? Are you the same person that you are at home? Are you being watched?

The focus of my photography is personal space. The images in this book concentrate on the power of watching people and the place that is personal to them; looking at ordinary aspects of their lives – It focuses on the ordinary: I have decided with these images to concentrate on how we can use a photograph to judge a person. We use images to remember our history, and the photograph as an object helps to recall events stored in our memories . We look back at images of our family, and our ancestors and make a statement; we try to build a mental image of that person and what that person did just by looking at the photograph.

What I am trying to say with these pictures is that you don’t need a picture of a person to see who they are. You can easily see a person’s inner essence by looking at their personal space. When I talk about a person’s inner essence I mean their character, their personality and their values which will be unique to their personal identity.

If you took a picture of a person outside their own home, you may not be capturing who they really are in that image. lots of people have mirrors in their houses, they are usually by the front door. When they leave their house they can see if they are happy with their appearance the way that they will be presenting themselves to the outside world before leaving their private space.

On a recent trip to Berlin, I came across a book by Beatrice Minda. I was inspired how she used the ambient light that was coming through the windows to illuminate the curtains and the space. I used ambient light to try and preserve the atmosphere of the surroundings that I intended to photograph. If I had used supplementary lighting I would have been adding something to the image and I would have affected the person’s personal space, and I would not have not have made a true representation of the person who lived in the space.

I’m not trying to make a comparisons about the way people live, but I’m trying to compile photographs that show that by looking at somebody’s personal space you can gain an insight into their character. In a person’s personal space, they are assured that they can be themselves, and not be in a state of fear

of being watched. The watcher could be by the person’s peers, colleagues, photographers (people with a camera) or the unknown; with the extensive CCTV network on the streets this is not a possibility, it is a reality.

In these pictures you should try and pick up clues to build a mental image of the person, ask yourself questions about objects, the arrangement and the colours. If you look at any photograph, ask yourself ‘is this really the person in the photograph’? Is this the ideal characteristic that the person wanted to show? Is it the real person?

I have been fortunate in being able to photograph so many different personal spaces as it makes for a richer narrative. I would like to thank everyone who helped me with constructing this project.

Are you being watched? Do you know that you are a moving dot on monitors in the space that you are occupying? Are you being watched?

Lloyd Miller May 2011