The days of writing seemed to pass by so slowly until at last they were no more. Last month I graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a doctorate for my practice based research project titled ‘Approaching Poppy Promises’ My interest in working with my own family arose in my second year of undergraduate study; in a module titled Narrative, Sequence, and Edit. Turning inwards toward my family’s archive, one evening we went rooting for a box of glossy 6x4’s from beneath my grandma’s stairs. After looking at these photographs with a new perspective I began making pictures of my own. Tugging at threads that would later unfold into an eight year project. Here are some of those pictures - new and old. Deepest gratitude to Dr Liam Devlin, Dr Yan Preston for their supervision during the PhD & to Dr Richard Mulhearn for supervising my early postgraduate study. We’re So lucky to have such an enclave of knowledge and generosity in the charming town. @liamdevln @yanwangpreston @baphotohudd @ahhuddersfield Writing a doctoral thesis was a very challenging and humbling experience. On the days that doubt weighed heavy on my mind the white electric glow of the blank screen seemed to envelope me, giving any preexisting feelings of inadequacy an interesting new hue. Many cold afternoons I had to comfort the little man in slide two and hold his hand through it. I suppose sometimes we just have to get out of our own way. At last the day has come where I can share the research with you. The full title of the thesis is below along with a link to access. Approaching Poppy Promises: Exploring the role of collaboration and performance within photographic practice as a means to ‘listen’ with the camera and negotiate the close proximity of depicting one’s own family life. Link: https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/approaching-poppy-promises Love love love Tom 🧡