Creation of Jane Austen

“About the Jane Austen Project”

 For a school assignment, we were given the theme of documenting the process of work in any trade of our choice. Aside from a few professional assignments I was commissioned to do, this was one of most precious experiences in documentary photography.  I came to the idea of documenting the process of building a ship out of shear coincidence. When I arrived to the location, the building of the tourist river ship, Jane Austin, had just commenced.

 The people who worked there were very accommodating to me and to the project. They gave me permission for my assignment and they introduced me to the safety rules. This location was overwhelming, the work was arduous, there were many employees and multiple processes. It was interesting and hard for me to introduce myself and let people know that I will be spending a lot of time there. The most precious moment came when I finally felt like part of the crew.

I would come, put on a  safety crash helmet, say hello to everyone and we all go back to work. I became part of the location. The building of the Jane Austen is documented from the cutting of the first sheet of metal, all the way to the ship launching. I learned to stay present in the moment, to dedicate myself, to stay away when it’s needed and to become invisible. It was rewarding to dedicate four months to something, make someone’s day a little more interesting, and come out of the experience with a complete story about creating something so important and big in size.

I’d like to thank my father  for being my contact to the shipyard, Vahali shipyard for license and all the employees of the shipyard for all the enjoyable and productive working days.

Reportaža o nastanku broda “Jane Austen”

Vahali Shipyard

Za školski zadatak smo imali temu proces rada. Pored nekih zanimanja koja sam dokumentovala, ovo mi je bilo jedno od dragocenijih iskustava u dokumentarnoj fotografiji. Došla sam sa idejom da zabeležim proces nastanka broda i imala sam sreću da je tek krenulo da se radi na rečnom turističkom brodu Jane Austen. Ljudi su bili jako fini i izašli su mi u susret sa dozvolom za fotografisanje i uputili me u bezbednosne mere i pravila. U pitanju je ogroman prostor, posao, mnogo ljudi i odvojenih procesa. Tako da, bilo je zanimljivo i čudno krenuti u sve to i polako upoznati i upozoriti ljude da ću tu provoditi dosta vremena. Najlepši deo mi je bio kada su se ljudi navikli na mene i kad sam postala jedna od njih. Odomaćila sam se kao da radim tamo i ubrzo su mi svi ljudi postali veoma dragi. Dodjem i stavim šlem mahnem svima i svi radimo svoj posao. Proces je ispraćen od prvog sečenja delova pa do porinuća broda. Naucila sam da reagujem, da se posvetim, da ne smetam i da budem nevidljiva. Tako da je bilo zaista lepo posvetiti nečemu 4 meseca, nekome čak malo svakodnevnicu učiniti zanimljivijom i na kraju dobiti kompletnu priču o nastanku nečeg toliko velikog i teškog.

Hvala puno prvo mom ocu za kontakt, brodogradilištu Vahali na dozvoli i gostoprimstvu i svim ljudima i radnicima na lepim i ispunjenim danima.

Anđela Petrovski © All Rights Reserved