WI’m always here, I always get a special interest in how people talk to each other and their surroundings. Last spring, when I came back from Ukraine, I wanted to take a personal project a little closer to home and explore the lives of people who did something different and wanted to face challenges. I looked at a few options before I mentioned Hugo, who I used as a graphic designer when I was just starting out, before I got into photography.
Many years later, when I was grown, Hugh moved with his dog to the Isle of Jura in the Inner Hebrides, where he spent the holidays as a kid in a small stone cottage rented by his family. Back then, the cottage was already a summer shelter – there was no electricity, and they boiled water on the stove. Hugh bought the place and stayed there while he did it. He lived ever since.
In the middle of the year he married Joan, a musician living on the island, and had two children. I wanted to see how a family exists in this whole different world, the approach from the ferry is uncertain, where the population is only two hundred and one shop.
They gave me free reins. I was there for each and every one of them when I got up from sleep, although I did not try to attack. I wanted to get a sense of what life was like for them, rather than reading about the times when everyone had their best clothes. I photographed them on the beach, in the garden, around the house, even in the bathroom – there was no lock on the bathroom door.
He also photographed them following the funeral. With such a small population, when someone dies in Jura, the whole community comes together. I loved how the kids dressed up for it. Nine-year-old Grace was in a spotted dress and black wellies, while Louis, then five, wore a small shirt with a red bow tie.
It was a sense of freedom that a lot of children don’t get anymore. The children were allowed to go out the front door, with wild dogs running, to get dirty, to meet a friend who lived two miles away. The family walked a lot: on the day I took it, we were on the way back from an expedition that had lasted for hours.
It was a glorious moment – the sun had already risen over the misty mountains and Grace stopped so that you could see the rope in the background. I like being close to people and then having to remind myself to slow down. That’s what we’re doing here. I felt something was going to happen. After Grace had jumped off, and I was running to catch up with the family, I took one or two pictures to capture her position and movements. I love its position against the background. At this moment, everything he’s freed from the island happens – his hair is all over the place but he doesn’t care. It was a moment of pure joy.
Weirdly, the weather was beautiful the whole time I was in Jura. Hugh and Jana told me, as usual, of torrential rain, that I saw in a very idyllic light. You are too much for me to come back in the deep of winter and maybe do another part of the series. I can’t wait.
Anna Maule-finch CV
born: 1976, UK
Learned: “Graphic design at Nottingham Trent Uni, self-taught in photography”
Influences: “Steve McCurry, Martin Parr, National Geographic, Magnum, Lynsey Addario”
Peak; “Deploying humanitarian crises all over the world for NGOs using my skills to do important work”
Low point: “When I was about to leave, I wasn’t getting back the commission and paying my camera. I learned a lot the hard way. “
Top tip: “Create a strong personal style. Don’t have a portfolio full of so many images and styles that the client won’t easily connect with you, you need to stand out. Make sure to create income elsewhere if you need to; It’s a hard but very rewarding way to stay strong and not fail.”