hey everyone!

I am a 2nd year photographic student studying at the university of wales. I am currently doing a project brief that is entitled photography as power and control the main aspects of the project are looking at how our society is voyeuristic. The project is about watching and not being seen and the fear and pleasure that comes from admiring something we wish to be a part of or fantasize about. Since I have started photography I have been interested in looking at inner-communities that we all know about but many of us choose to ignore or pretend we have no interest in, I am really fascinated with transgender communities and I am very interested in looking at and focusing my project around transgender culture just purely observing and documenting this place that many of us know and judge but do not actually allow ourselves to be fully informed of. I fully intend for the project to be an insight to what you are as a community and will have no negative or positive direction to it. I purely want to document and show the beauty of fantasy of your culture.

The project its self will when complete be part of a joint public exhibition in the Riverfront Center in Newport Gwent.

I am now looking for a male to female tv and a female to male tv to photograph in their transition from gender to gender. was wondering if you know of anyone that would be interested to help...or if you are interested in helping or if you know of any places you could think of that i could get access to photograph in?
i'v visited a few places in london and birmingham but now I'v become stuck!

any help would be really appreciated.

and also anyone willing to help me as a thank you will get a disk of the full shoot and a few portfolio printed images...for those who are willing to help no matter how little or much!

thanks for your time take care
hope to hear from people soon
xxx

sorry yeah transformation is probably a better word and what i meant to say!

I think you need to clarify your use of the word "transition". Our community widely uses "transition" to describe the permanent change from lifestyle/body of one gender to that of the other. I am suspecting that you are using "transition" to mean the superficial changes that occur when one changes from en homme to en femme clothing, shoes, makeup, etc. or the reverse for MtF TGs. The first would take years and the second a few hours. Learning our language usage takes a bit of time and we don't all agree on everything.

Good luck with your project. Remember, you will never see those that pass the best as they will blend into the background. The more outrageous dress is what is noticed by most of the public and so identifies us all by that standard. There is considerable difference between a crossdresser, a drag queen and a transsexual. Often they will present quite differently and the differences that are not visible are even greater.

Just to defend Charlotte here, she dropped me a line yesterday about this project and made it clear to me that it is the 'TRANSFORMATION' between the genders that her project is about, (i.e. a transvestite) and nothing to do with transsexuals who are transitioning permanantly. It's an easy mistake that is made by someone from outside the community and let's not forget that most of us had to learn the appropriate application of terms ourselves when we started.

There have been a number of links here to youtube sites showing similar transformations so you can get the idea of what it is she is after. If you are interested, just drop a PM to Charlotte and let her know. It's not the first time we've assisted in projects about transgenderism after all.

Nikki

Dear Charlotte-

Personally speaking I applaud you for your project so long as it is honestly and respectfully done. To me the "transformation" from male to female or female to male is magical and, in a way, an actual transformation from one person or persona to another.

I'm assuming you want to be able to photograph the process, for lack of a better word, in real time and in person, rather than have people send you in amateur photos of their own or ones that are accessible on the web. As Nikki mentioned there are tons of makeovers, most especially male to female, available online, which I'm sure you must already be familiar with.

Here's wishing you the best of luck with your project. Once done, could you let us know if there would be a way to view it?

Hugs...Joni Marie