Based in Winchester, Hampshire, in Southern England, Tamsyn Warde is currently studying for her MA in Photography on the highly regarded course at Falmouth University. Her successful submission On These Magic Shores was made in her home county and remains a work in progress which she started a couple of years ago.
‘Most of us have memories of the games that we played as children’, she explains. ‘You will often hear the romantic recall of days gone by when children played freely in the street. This is reflected in the images made during the 20th century which feature children playing outdoors in a time before digital gaming and the implications of pictorial consent. On These Magic Shores is a project exploring the spaces in which children play now. I’m interested in how play has changed as we move forward, particularly after the pandemic. It’s not unusual to move through urban spaces with no sign of how or where children are playing. Green spaces can be eerily quiet where previously groups of kids would hang out. Playgrounds created for children are numerous and designed by adults to appeal to their imaginations and enhance their physical, psychological, and social development. Play spaces are created in shopping centres, sports centres, and motorway service stations all as an aid to entertain children so that adults can go about their business.’
She is clearly fascinated by the way that children’s minds can run wild in their fantasy worlds. Not only is she capturing their imaginations on fire, she is also triggering memories of her own childhood and inviting the viewer to do the same. ‘My project is a snapshot of how children are playing today, an exploration of play indoors and outside, play organised by adults or children, children playing in groups or alone. I want to photograph children as they go about their lives and capture them in their own play worlds.’
Inevitably, sensitivity and permission are required to shoot subject matter like this. ‘It’s a challenge to photograph children on the street when they aren’t known to me, and rightly so. I must be very strict with my boundaries to protect the kids, and myself. I always get consent from parents and make sure that the kids are aware that I have permission before I make any images.’
On her selection in the Student category, Tamsyn says ‘Last year I was a winner in both The Portrait of Britain and The Portrait of Humanity awards. I’m now honoured to have been chosen (for DPA 23 competition) and I’m very much looking forward to working with my allocated mentor and furthering my practice.’
This image was made during the Covid-19 pandemic during the strictest lockdown rules. These sisters were playing in their garden and moved to the pavement when their parents went indoors. Playing in the street wasn’t permitted to keep people separated. The girls were frustrated by having to play in the garden and sneaked onto the street, they were climbing their wall and decided to climb onto my car. Their mother then appeared and they were hurried indoors!Tamsyn Warde
These boys are allowed to play freely in their front garden and the street. Their mother told me that they can’t afford mobile phones and she chooses to give her children the freedom she had whilst growing up. She trusts them to play in the road. The surrounding neighbourhood is very friendly and they ‘look after each other’.Tamsyn Warde
A day trip to the river. These kids are from the same neighbourhood and were allowed to go out on the river alone with inflatables. Two mothers sat in a nearby field chatting. The eldest child was 14 years, and the youngest 4 years old. I loved watching the group dynamic and how the older children looked after the younger ones.Tamsyn Warde
Navigating the river in a group, these children were looking for fish. They stopped for a while and splashed around.Tamsyn Warde
The children in this image live in a small cul-de-sac. The space is small, but in the middle is an area of grass with a tree and a swing attached. The children are surrounded by parked cars as they play around them. They are crossing the road without an adult. I knock on a parent’s door to ask for permission to photograph the children. The parent explains that they feel worried about letting their children play near the road, but the children have learnt to cross sensibly because of the freedom.Tamsyn Warde
Whilst out walking I discovered this playground in the middle of a settlement of houses. A road runs on one side of the space and there’s access from the back of the houses. I managed to find one parent to gain consent to photograph. She phoned the other parents to check if they were happy to for me to make the images. This took a while, and I was unable to photograph the game that I originally wanted to capture. When the girls saw my camera, they began ‘performing’.Tamsyn Warde
This image shows 2 brothers lying in the hedge in the front garden. I was struck by how comfortable they were in this play space. It was so familiar to them; you could see the body-shaped furrows in the hedge. The boy in the foreground is in a dream world and is obviously very comfortable. They didn’t seem to be self-conscious and didn’t mind who was passing by and saw them. It was almost like the hedge was their outdoor sofa!Tamsyn Warde
This boy plays freely in his street. This lamp post is outside his house. Here he is showing me and his younger brother how good he is at climbing. He’s very proud of his achievement.Tamsyn Warde
This is a photo of a child playing on her laptop in her bedroom. She likes to ‘hide away’ and play games on her computer alone, and with her friends. Her mother worries that she spends too much time on her screen and that it would be healthier for her to play outside with her friends in the fresh air. According to Online Gaming Statistics (2023) 91% of children aged 3-15 years play games on mainly consoles, PC’s and tablets.Tamsyn Warde
I drove past these kids and realised that they were encouraging people to drive through the puddle to splash them. I had to go back and photograph the anticipation and excitement on their faces whilst they waited! We all got very wet. I love the spontaneity of this invented game.Tamsyn Warde
This garden wall sale was created by these girls who wanted to raise money to buy sweets. They ‘raided’ their houses to find objects to sell. Here they are selling a woven headback to a little girl who was passing by with her parents.Tamsyn Warde
This was a school leavers celebration in a local park. The parents were sitting together with picnics at one end. These girls went off on their own and found a shade so that they could view a TicTok video. The little girl was a younger sister tagging along.Tamsyn Warde
This little boy took his socks off so he could try to climb the lamp post outside his house. This is a moment where his big brother was shouting at him behind me.Tamsyn Warde
These boys had found a pallet in the river in a local park. They were using it as a boat. In the summer many young teens use this park as a play area. They are old enough to be unsupervised by adults.Tamsyn Warde
This girl and her friends had been playing ‘sleepover’ on a climbing area in a playground. They had dragged their bedding from their nearby houses to create a bedroom. Here she is dragging her bedding home when it started to rain.Tamsyn Warde
