NB To be updated with advice on strategies that might be helpful to others and in the light of risk assessment and sustainability issues as I progress through the course.

I have a number of health challenges (below) that affect the strategies and approach I decide to use in the projects in this course, and that I have taken into account in my planning. I am taking a conceptual approach exploring ‘Places in Time’ across a range of locations and focusing on digital photography with some art/printmaking work.

On the positive side the constraints mean that I have to find new ways of doing things. But I need to:

• diversify my activities, engaging in a number of parallel projects that alternate physical with computer work.
• avoid doing too much photography when it is very cold, and make sure I make camerawork simple and wear gloves at that time.
• avoid stress bottlenecks through taking time out walking when I start to get symptoms, and also mental time out focusing something new when I get stuck.
• include projects that get me out of Cambridge and by the sea as well as projects around where I live so that I can get away from wood-smoke and traffic pollution – particularly in winter and hot periods in summer.
• use my iPad for Zooms.
• concentrate my referencing work using EndNote at the end of my assignments when I can have everything organised and pace myself properly.
• avoid all photographic processes that involve exposure to solvents or chemicals analogue film developing and printing or printmaking. Cyanotype, Solar Plate, gelliplate transfer and PhotoScreen are all manageable as long as I avoid specific parts of the process and make sure I am working outside or in my own ventilated studio.
• plan to make sure I can work with printouts and using a large TV screen sitting in a comfortable position in the evenings and if I start to get RSI.

Managing Repetitive Strain Injury:

I have been managing RSI since 1994 when I was registered disabled for 9 months. This is a long term postural issue caused by my neck and back working too long at a computer, but if I do not pay attention it spreads to my wrists and hands. It is also caused by general stress, and exposure of my hands to cold temperatures. This affects my handwriting and ability to cope with 24/7 computer spells for more than a few days. I experimented with voice recognition software, but this is very susceptible to changes in my voice (affected by my hypersensitivity issues below) and is also very slow and (despite much experimentation) not adapted for graphics work.

However through careful management and appropriate exercise I have not had a major crisis since the early 2000s, apart from the occasional work bottleneck that I have to be careful to avoid. The strategies I found effective while doing my BA, alongside professional consultancy and other degree-level personal development courses in photography and writing are to:

• diversify my activities, engaging in a number of parallel projects that alternate physical with computer work.
• avoid stress bottlenecks through taking time out walking when I start to get symptoms, and also mental time out focusing something new when I get stuck.
• using a stand-up desk, ergonomic mouse and graphics tablet as well as ergonomic keyboard. Together with iPad and iPhone sitting in a different position and outside my office. Laptops are difficult because of the relative position of the screen and keyboard for my neck, and limits of depending on voice recognition or graphics tablet for complex work.

Hypersensitivity to atmospheric pollution

Because of high levels of prior exposure to atmospheric pollution while travelling to pollution hotspots in Africa and Asia I am now hypersensitive to all wood smoke, traffic pollution and any chemicals and solvents giving off formaldehyde, ammonia and other fumes to be identified. This is not yet asthma and my lungs are currently fine, but doctors cannot do anything apart from advise me to avoid the triggers – mostly ones that research indicates are harmful for everyone. But this means I need to have sufficient flexibility in my projects and practice because:

• there have been an increasing number of woodburning stoves since the cost of energy crisis last year – including neighbouring houses. Last year there were days and weeks when it was difficult for me to go out in the garden or down the street.
• there are houses and houseboats with woodburning stoves along the river in winter, and high levels of dust from the towpath in hot dry spells in summer.
• I have problems in many Cambridge Streets unless they are pedestrianised or along the Backs.

Eyestrain

• I have difficulty doing computer work and/or reading in the evenings in artificial light.