A Blog by Jenn Ackerman

Thank you all for your support, emails and comments. I have had received a lot of emails about my project, Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons, with similar questions so I decided to answer them here. Today, I am going to answer the questions about the project but I have also received a lot of questions about the editing process so if you have any of those, I will be answering those in another post. Also, for those who have not been to Multimedia Shooter, Koci was nice enough to post an interview with me about the project on his site. Here are some of your questions:

How did you get access to this story?

I had done a lot of research and had decided on the story I wanted to tell when going to talk to the warden. I always feel that a an in-person visit is more beneficial. — I can better express my passion and excitement for this story. I had called a couple of prisons days before I called the Kentucky State Reformatory and to no surprise they didn’t respond to my messages. But then I came across a wing that was dedicated to mental illness in a prison. Warden Chandler answered on the second ring. This caught me off guard but got it together enough to tell him what I wanted to do. He said I had a lot of work to do before I could start on the project but that he might be interested. I sent a proposal days later and asked to come visit the reformatory to talk to him in person.

How did the warden and officials respond to the project?

I didn’t know how they would respond at first. But I also knew that the warden and everyone involved wanted this story to be told. I was very honest with everyone from the beginning. I told them that I knew that they were doing something to acknowledge mental illness in prisons which hasn’t happened in every state but that I also knew that the program was not perfect. I told them that was going to be my approach. So from the beginning they knew that I was not going to make them look bad but also wasn’t trying to say that they have the final answer to this issue. But I visited the warden the day before I published it on my site to get his reaction. He loved it and thanked me for creating an honest portrayal of the mental illness in prisons. I told him that was the best compliment I could ever get.

You mentioned in your interview with Koci that you show your subjects the photos you take while you are working on the project, why do you do this?

Just like Koci said in the interview, most photographers might not want show their work while they are photographing. I can understand why some photographers might not want to their work to their subjects but my objective when telling stories is to tell them in the most honest and genuine way I can. I have in the past shown prints while I was working on a project to show the people I am photographing what my objective is. With the project in the prison, I wanted to show them that I was trying my hardest to be honest with the issue. I have found this is best shown through your photos. I don’t want to hide anything with my project.

When did you start using video? How did you learn?

I used a small hand held when I was in Africa photographing about 2 years ago. But I edited my first video in a video class during grad school last spring. I shot a couple assignments in that class and then a couple while I was interning this past summer. This is the first project when I used video to capture moments. My original intention with video for this project was to create establishing shots of the prison and the wing but as I used it more, I began to see the benefit of hearing and seeing moments in the wing.

How long did you work on this project?

This project was for my capstone masters class at Ohio University. We had 10 weeks to research a story, design a magazine template and photograph and edit the story. We had 10 straight days to photograph our project.

What inspired you to photograph this project?

My objective was to produce a project that made the viewer feel what I felt as someone who was there and create this feeling that there is not an easy answer to the issue. I took a more personal approach to this project than I ever have. I wanted the featured video to make the viewer feel enough to read the text and watch the other chapters.

When did you realize how powerful your content was you were gathering?

First of all, thanks. Well, I knew when I visited the reformatory in January that it had the potential to be powerful depending on the access. It was that first day I realized that if I took advantage of the access they were giving me, I could have a powerful project. By the third day of photographing, I felt like the project was coming together because the images that I was making reminded me of how I felt when I was there.

What was it like being a woman in the jail?

The fact that I was a female going into this male-only prison gave my professor red flags. But the men are used to women. Both of the doctors and many of the correctional officers are women. Despite this, I had to be constantly aware of my surroundings. Security was priority and I always had to have someone with me.

What kind of advice can you give when starting a long term documentary?

Plan. Plan. Plan. I believe the time before the documentary was crucial to its success. I spent weeks researching, organizing and looking at work that inspired me to photograph a feeling rather than process. I brainstormed ideas and words that would help me to use photography to tell the story. This is something that Terry Eiler, our professor, constantly talked about. Also, know what you want to say with your photos before you start (and then of course be willing to change your ideas as the story develops in front of you.)