To say that it was difficult would be an understatement. It had all of the pressure of a wedding; not missing a minute. It had the physical pressure of looking at something hard – all day and every day. It had the difficulty of looking for an angle or story, and hardest of all, it had the emotional challenge of the role that I was playing as observer, not helper.

Technically, it was also tricky as I decided that I wouldn’t use flash, despite most of the interactions taking place indoors.

The kids (as I called them, though they were 14-18 years old) were streetwise, assertive, sometimes aggressive, definitely hostile and generally closed-off and shut-down. They had all been failed in some way and, alongside their criminal convictions, they carried this around with them. In the middle of the project, many of the kids went into a deep period of introspection and revealed a vulnerability that I just hadn’t predicted.

It took time to win their trust. A long time. And longer for their barriers to come down. I showed them that I wasn’t there to sensationalise them or to exploit them but to simply tell their stories. I developed my images and printed them overnight so that they could see them the next day. This showed them what I was doing and took away any suspicion. It also helped them as my photography was used as evidence in their workbooks of them doing their art projects.

The photography reflects their personal journeys, changing from black and white to colour as, in effect, they did. It also reflects my journey – as I began to see them not as young offenders but as young people.

They all gained an Arts Award at the end of the course, their literacy and numeracy increased considerably and all were markedly changed by the experience. On the last day, one lad brought in a bouquet to say thank you.

I can’t say that none of these kids will commit a crime again in the future, but I can say that all of these kids left feeling that they had one.

I have received a lot of interest in the project from the public and the media. Opinions are divided. Is this a case of ‘goodies for baddies’ or clever, constructive intervention in the lives of damaged children?

Only time will answer that one. The only thing that I can say is, to me, it seemed to work and I feel lucky to have been there to catch it on film.

35 of the 3,500 images Kirsteen shot will be exhibited at Project Space Leeds from 6th November to 11th December alongside some of the artwork that the young offenders created and a short film they made about the dangers of the drug – M-CAT. The gallery opens Wednesdays-Saturdays 12.00-5.00pm. You can see more of her imagery on kirsteenashton.com