Co-producing photography with participants
This long-term documentary photography project explores the lives of people living with severe chronic illness. Co-production became an important part of the way the work developed, giving participants a meaningful role in deciding what should be photographed and how their lives and experiences were represented.
Working collaboratively was particularly important because the project dealt with complex, personal and sometimes sensitive experiences. Building trust, maintaining consent and giving participants confidence in the process allowed us to make photographs that were both visually strong and rooted in the things people themselves felt were important.
Co-producing stories of chronic illness
Each participant drew up a list of images, activities or situations they wanted to show. These became the starting point for the photographs and gave participants a meaningful role in deciding how their lives were represented. Often they chose something more revealing, thoughtful or challenging than we might have suggested ourselves.
After each shoot we shared a full edit with participants, giving them an opportunity to discuss the photographs and how they represented their lives. Copyright was also shared so that participants were free to use the images themselves.
Photography that builds empathy & awareness
Combining documentary photography with lived experience can reveal details, routines and relationships that might otherwise be overlooked. The resulting photographs give audiences a more personal understanding of what living with chronic illness can actually mean, while allowing participants to influence which parts of their experience are seen.
For charities, healthcare organisations and researchers, this kind of collaborative approach can help communicate complex experiences with greater depth and sensitivity.
Co-produced photography for a charity
We originally met Tom and Charlotte when Peoplehub, a co-production charity, commissioned Magneto to make a film about their lives with complex muscle-wasting conditions. Tom and Charlotte had already decided what they wanted to say and had written a script about their illnesses, how they met and married, their campaign to be allowed to live together independently, and how they manage a team of personal assistants who provide the support they need.
When we later created a set of documentary photographs about their lived experience, we followed the same principles. Tom and Charlotte came up with a list of activities and settings they wanted photographed, and we worked through it together, adding our suggestions as the project developed. They wanted to show not only the routines of daily life — waking, treatments and meals — but how they schedule and budget for their PAs, Tom volunteering at his church, the intimacy they experience during hydrotherapy, and the simple pleasure of watching television together while wearing CPAP masks.
Bringing people with lived experience into photography
Collaborating
Caroline is a quadruple amputee who lost the lower parts of her limbs as a result of sepsis following Covid. We met through social media, where Caroline is a tireless campaigner for sepsis awareness, and decided to collaborate on a series of photographs documenting her life.
Caroline was already making photographs and videos about her new life, the challenges she faced and the adaptations she had made. For each shoot we agreed together what she wanted to explore and planned the photography around it. This included everyday tasks such as preparing food, cleaning and washing, as well as travelling by train, Underground and bus, fittings for prosthetics and adaptive devices, and life with her two dogs, one of which was being trained as an assistance dog.
Working with Universities
Parkinson’s and post-polio
Hilary and Richard took part in a University of Lincoln programme that brings people with lived experience into the education of medical professionals. Hilary has post-polio and Richard has Parkinson’s. Both give their time to meet medical students and trainee social workers, sharing their experiences and helping future professionals understand what it means to live with a chronic condition.
About Magneto Films & Jeremy Jeffs
What is co-produced photography?
Co-produced photography puts people with lived experience at the heart of the creative process. Rather than simply being photographed, participants help decide which experiences are important, what should be photographed and how they want their lives to be represented.
For this project we worked collaboratively with people living with long-term illness, using their ideas and experiences to shape the photography. The approach is particularly valuable when working with complex or sensitive subjects, where trust, consent and confidence in the process are essential.
Magneto Films produces documentary photography and film for charities, healthcare organisations, universities and the public sector. Our work often involves real people and lived experience, including projects where we work independently to find contributors, build relationships and develop stories collaboratively.
Jeremy Jeffs is a documentary photographer and filmmaker with more than 40 broadcast credits and a particular interest in projects exploring health, wellbeing and lived experience. His work has been shown at the V&A, National Theatre and National Film Theatre, as well as at festivals in the UK and internationally.
Photographic agency
We do more than take pictures – we provide full photographic services from creative concepts, to casting actors, researching locations and running large shoots.
Documentary photography
Jeremy works on long term documentary photography projects for charities, universities and researchers.
Charity photography
We create impactful photography for charities