Time and Commitment pays

Seven years ago (actually on the 19th of January 2012), I woke up and decided to dedicate the rest of my life to people and photography. 

In order to stop me from talking myself out of that life-changing decision, I posted a call for volunteers to step forward for a Portrait Project. The project took over my life from January to June as I travelled in and around south-east England. In all I photographed 62 people. 

60 of the final images were selected to be printed and bound in a one-off A3 sized book. That large and heavy project document sits on the bookshelf beside me.

Many more of the images are being used to this day in various ways; as online profiles, as author portraits in books, in photo frames and on mobile phones. 

My use of them is to regularly remind myself about what was achieved, what went well, what could've been done better and how far I have travelled. 

There are many stand out images. Some were the result of photoshoots lasting a couple of hours. 

This portrait of Rupert is just one of three frames created in a couple of minutes. Look into the windows to his soul. I just wish that we had more time together. I only had the chance to photograph him because he was curious about my project and offered to help me set-up my lighting before I started photographing my pre-booked volunteer that day.

Without that project, the support of my wife, family, friends and clients I would not be where I am today. 

I am eternally grateful to the 62 people who, like Rupert, trusted me enough to photograph them during the first half of 2012.

Thank you,

Stephen