The series

Here is my series of 10 images, along with their individual image titles. 

Andrew, 5 years old

This little boy has such a cheeky face. I have a soft spot for each and every child that I met and photographed and the time I spent with them all is cherished. When I look at this image it sort of brings all of those emotions back to me and I can't help but smile when looking at it.
I like how the orange of his backpack contrasts against the green and white of the uniform. The pale sand also acts as such a good background.
In the editing process, I removed a small white speck from the top right of this corner. It was right about Andrew's head and I found it a bit distracting. Also, there was a piece of gingham material in the bottom left by Andrew's arm, I think it may have been a tie from the back of a girls dress. Again it was a little distracting, and wasn't any part of Andrew, it did not change it appearance to get rid of it, so I removed it. This was all I did because I did not want to lighten/darken skin, remove spots or impurities or make uniform look better etc because that would mean that I am passing judgement on that thing not being good enough. I want to document these children as they are, show them to the world without me 'perfecting' them.
I also brightened the whole image very slightly when printing because the colour profile changed the colours to be very dark. The images were also sharpened once when the image size was changed.

Awa, 8 years old

Again with this image I like that the bag strap really stands out against the uniform. The pose that Awa is standing in makes me smile, it is such a western stance I think. Hand on hip, bit of attitude. The pink of the scar on her head also stands out and catches my attention in this image, which I quite like. I don't like that she has a scar on her head but I like how the colour stands out and that it is catches the eye.
Again, I have no edited that out because it is part of her, I don't know how she got that scar or how long it has been there. But it is a part of her and so who am I to come along and remove it because it doesn't meet my 'standards' for a portrait. Also, I don't feel that seeing the scar on her head makes the viewer feel sorry for her. It doesn't provoke a specific emotional response, I dont think!
I have not done any other editing of this image, except sharpen after sizing and brightening after I changed the colour profile for printing.

Brima, 5 years old

This also is such a cheeky face. I personally can't look at this photograph with smiling at least a little bit and sort of tilting my head sideways a little bit. It engages me and makes me respond physically to connect with him more.
There is a small rip in his shirt, on his shoulder at the forefront of the image, again I did not edit this out. I like that it is not noticeable at first because attention is drawn to Brima's face, it is only on inspection or further interest looking at the rest of the photograph that you notice it. Again, it is a shame that he has a rip in his shirt, if he was in Britain somebody would have sewn it for him (probably to stop other peoples opinions from being negative!) but it does not stop him from being him, his friends didn't tease him about it and it didn't stop him from learning.
Again with this image, there was no extra editing besides the brightening and sharpening.

Fatoumatta, 11 years old

 I really like this image and I think it is quite an important image. I took this on a day when Unicef representatives were in the school giving all of the children Meningitis vaccinations for free. The children just sort of lined up (it was more of a huge gathering) in the playground and there were 2 people at a table in the middle of the group who as the children were there and ready injected them gave them the health card and moved on to the next.
IT was interesting for me to watch because it just was so different to how I have ever experienced having vaccinations. Plus, most of the children walked away smiling and glad to have had it which is totally the opposite of Western children.
In post-production, I removed from the bottom right shadow of another child, the corner of another child's shirt and 2 white specks from the top of the image near to Fatoumatta's head. All of these things I thought might be a little distracting for the viewer, but none would change the appearance of Fatoumatta or would change the environment she is in or have any effect on the meaning of the image.
Then the same sharpening and brightening happened when printing and re-sizing the image.

Lamin, 9 years old

I like Lamin's pose in this photograph, he is sort of twisted sideways with one shoulder slightly raised, arms by his shoulders. He is an air of confidence about him. He is not shy to the camera and with his half smile, I think if he was in Britain I would presume he had looked at models and magazines and sort of copied their poses but they don't have that sort of thing to copy from in The Gambia. As with Momodou I think he has a kind of authoritativeness about him.
In editing I didn't change anything other than the brightening and sharpening in print.

Matthew, 2 years old

This is the son of one of the teachers in the nursery school, who I am still in contact with now. She has been a huge help to me in finding out the childrens' names and ages for this work.
Above Matthew's head there was a lot of shadow, I think from a tree. I cloned it all out but then cropped the image to make him more central, to fit into the series better, so a lot of the editing was cropped out. I didn't realize until after editing and printing that he is holding something pink in his hand. There is a slight glow of it at the bottom of the image. I don't feel that it is too noticeable or distracting (I didn't notice it in editing so it can't be that obvious) so I don't mind it too much, plus it adds a little bit of contrast to the black shadow around there.
That was all of the editing I did on this image, plus the sharpening and brightening for print.

Momodou, 12 years old

 I really really like this photo, I'm not sure why but from the very beginning it has really stood out to me. I like that he stands out from the girls in the background, he is completely in focus and they are out. In post-production I aided this slightly by blurring them a little bit more, only to try and enhance and make Momodou stand out even more. He grabs your attention because he is looking directly into the camera and he holds the viewers gaze, I think it is really great at making that connection between subject and viewer (quote from Barthes in a previous post).
It was in this image that I first noticed myself.. literally. In his eyes, there is a reflection of me taking the photograph. I have since discovered that this is the case in every photo from this series. I really like the fact because each of these children has a little part inside of me, they have impacted me and connected with me in different ways and as I said earlier I cherish them all. And so, by having the reflection of me in their eyes, it is sort of like there is a piece of me inside each of them too. It is a really personal thing that comes through in such a subtle way. 
He is not smiling as the others are, but at the same time he doesn't look upset. I think he looks quite authoritative. I really like this as part of the series too because again with the title 'New Life', I can imagine him saying 'Watch out im coming, just wait'. Perhaps he will achieve great things and I dont know, become leader of The Gambia or something. You never know!
I didn't do any other editing, except for the brightening and sharpening.

Nyima, 5 years old

 I cropped this from a photograph of the nursery class lined up as we were handing out knitted hats and jumpers. They were gifts from people in the UK that we had taken over to distribute, it was so hot to us but to them it was winter and they didn't own jumpers, coats and everything else that we take for granted. So a simple wooly hat was very much appreciated by them all.
In cropping and editing this image I blurred slightly the girls that are behind Nyima to make her stand out a little more to the viewer. 
 I like that the colour of the jumper on the girl behind stands out, but not so much that it is overpowering. It makes the pink of Nyima's hat stand out in the bright sunshine by giving it another colour to not blend into.
The only other editing I did was sharpening and brightening for print.

Rosaline, 7 years old

There is a lot going on in this image I think, a lot of information can be drawn own of it. There is the jeep in the background with a large tyre on it's bonnet. This is how they drove around, there is no boot to store things so the spare tyre is on the front and there is a small metal rack on the top for bags. However, you could easily look at it and think that maybe it is a junk jeep, that it is broken and the wheel has fallen off so they have put it on the top of the bonnet out of the way.
Also, there is a boy standing behind Rosaline eating a baguette (i think). I'm not sure if you can tell that it is food if you don't already know. The boy's arm is really skinny but, he's eating.

Rosaline's smile is really warm and friendly I think, but this is juxtaposed by her folded arms which can come across as quite un-friendly sometimes. I don't think in this photo though that it takes away from her obvious friendliness.

In editing, I cropped the image down so that the top of the jeep isn't in the photo. This was purely so that Rosaline is more centered in the frame, so that it fits with the rest of the series better. I then sharpened and brightened the image in print.

Thomas, 13 years old

This is another photograph which makes the viewer physically connect with the subject. The way that Thomas is holding his head, slightly on the side makes me move my head to see him better. I'm not sure though whether the pose that it makes the viewer take, is similar to the stance you would adopt when feeling sympathetic towards something, which is not what I want the viewer to feel towards these children. His smile and his eyes have a warm and friendly feel as well which I think just draws the viewer in deeper.
In editing I aided the blur of the girl in the background to make Thomas stand out in the foreground more. I also brightened and sharpened for print.
I am a little disappointed with how this print came out at print because the colour profile really darkened the shadow around Thomas' eyes. In the original it is much more warm which I like, but it seems quite harsh with the darker shadow.