Wherever I am, I always take particular interest in the way people relate to each other and their surroundings. Last spring, having just returned from Ukraine, I wanted to start a personal project a little closer to home and explore the lives of people who had done something different and come up against challenges. I looked at a few options before remembering Hugh, who employed me as a graphic designer when I was just starting out, before I got into photography.
Many years after I’d moved on, Hugh moved with his dog to the isle of Jura in the Inner Hebrides, where he’d spent holidays as a kid in a tiny stone cottage rented by his family. Back then, the cottage had just been a summer retreat – there was no power and they’d boil up water on the little stove. Hugh bought the place and stayed there while he did it up. He’s been living there ever since.
In the intervening years he married Jane, a musician who was staying on the island, and they had two children. I wanted to see how a family might exist in this different universe, accessed by an unreliable ferry, where there’s a population of only a couple of hundred, and just one shop.
They gave me complete free rein. I was there for every single aspect of their lives from when they got up to when they went to sleep, though I tried not to get in their faces. I wanted to get a sense of how life was for them, rather than just picking convenient times when everyone had their best clothes on. I photographed them on the beach, in the garden, around the house, even in the bath – there was no lock on the bathroom door.
I even photographed them attending a funeral. With such a small population, when someone dies on Jura the whole community comes together. I was delighted by how the kids dressed for that. Nine-year-old Grace was in a black spotty dress and wellies, while Louis, then five, was wearing a little suit jacket with a red dicky bow.
There was a sense of freedom that a lot of children don’t get any more. The kids were allowed to go out the front door, run wild with the dogs, get dirty, meet a friend who might live a couple of miles away. The family do a lot of walking: on the day I took this, we were on the return leg of an expedition that had lasted hours.
It was a glorious moment – the sun had just come out, there was mist on the mountains and Grace had stopped to play on the rope swing you can see in the background. I like being close to people and then having to remind myself to stand back. That’s what I was doing here. I felt something was about to happen. After Grace jumped off the swing and was running to catch up with the family, I took one or two frames that captured the location and her movement. I love the position of her against the backdrop. This moment encapsulated everything that was freeing about the island – her hair is all over the place but she doesn’t care. It was a moment of pure joy.
Weirdly, it was beautiful weather for the entire time I was on Jura. Hugh and Jane told me it’s normally just torrential rain, so I saw it in a very idyllic light. They’re desperate for me to go back in the depths of winter and maybe do another part of the series. I can’t wait.
Hannah Maule-ffinch’s CV
Born: 1976, UK
Trained: “Graphic design at Nottingham Trent Uni, self-taught in photography”
Influences: “Steve McCurry, Martin Parr, National Geographic, Magnum, Lynsey Addario”
High point: “Deploying to humanitarian crises all over the world on the behalf of NGOs, using my skill for an important purpose”
Low point: “When I was starting out, not taking a backup on a commission and my camera breaking. I learned the very hard way.”
Top tip: “Create a strong personal style. Don’t have a portfolio full of so many different images and styles that a client can’t easily connect a brief with you, you have to stand out. Make sure you can create income elsewhere if you need to; it’s a very hard but an extremely rewarding road so stay strong and don’t give up.”
• Hannah Maule-ffinch won silver in the documentary category at the 39th Association of Photographers photography awards for her project Life on Jura, Inner Hebrides.
