I met Albert Hastings in 2001 when we lived in the same neighborhood in southern Wales. Bert could often be spotted outside, watching the world go by or watering the garden that curtained his dilapidated apartment building on two sides. In the absence of a garden hose, Bert watered by filling empty dishwashing liquid bottles. He contrasted with his decaying building. He seemed vital and engaged, and his quiet presence made me want to know him.

Not long after our first meeting I began to learn more about aspects of Bert’s life, including his experience living through WWII, his work as a general engineer, and his relationship to the flora and fauna outside the apartment building. As we became better acquainted, I noticed the way he organized his things and his time, and I found his approaches thoughtful. As my photographic studies have evolved I have increasingly focused on ideas and depictions of home. I often seek in my photographs the banal moments of the day—the experiences not usually considered significant enough to warrant a snapshot. I look, too, for domestic patterns and practiced daily routines that make us feel at home or that confirm, or conform to, our ideas of what home should be.

Early in this project Bert shared some intriguing comments with me concerning my photographs of him. These comments led me to think more about the ways our ideas regarding photography differed. I wondered too how my perceptions of Bert differed from the way he saw himself. To better understand his feelings about being photographed and his reactions to my photographs, I asked Bert to caption small prints I kept in a pocket-sized notebook. Each speaking from our own perspective, we began the dialogue that eventually became this work. Bert’s captions create a new context for my photographs. While some correspond to the thinking that shaped the image, others interpret the image in a different way, thereby adding a critical second perspective to this work.

This work is sited where Bert’s autobiographical vision, based in life experience and feeling, meets the new eye of a stranger. Together our visions and versions of his day-to-day experience sit side by side to create a new tale.