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The world is full of characters, and everyone has a story. I photographed a new person every day for a year.
[Overview]
People fascinate me... the everyday ones, roaming the same streets as me, just getting on with it. Somewhere inside every soul we pass without a second glance, there are tall tales, stories of the heart, and wonderful surprises.
I wanted to find those stories. To speak to regular folks who are just going about their lives and ask them the questions nobody usually asks: what makes you tick? What are your challenges? And of course... can I take your photo?
Over the course of a year, I set out to meet a new person every day, not just to photograph them, but to make a slice of their story heard. After 365 people, from all over the world, I held an exhibition in Sydney, Australia, sponsored by Red Bull and Bulleit Bourbon.
The stories…
I met people from all over the world, as I travelled across Australia, Europe, and Asia, and I heard stories I'd never believe; from stingray-attack-to-the-heart survivors to Disney Channel stars. I was gifted tickets to see the Dalai Lama, share laughs and tears, and I was invited into peoples lives each and every day.
Here are just a small handful of those stories…
Leigh, Durban, South Africa [person 351]
When Leigh was 7 years old she joined a gang in her hometown. There were 15 of them. She's the only one still alive. Growing up in Apartheid South Africa meant she could shoot any gun and throw any knife you handed her. Later, in Australia, she chose to live on the streets for two years rather than go home. And yet... by the time I met her she was a qualified chef, a black belt in karate, a business owner, and a community worker running free dance classes for underprivileged kids, led by some of the world's best choreographers. "Leigh's dream is to make other people's dreams come true."
Nina Kelaher, Sydney [person 359]
Nina left home at 16 because living with her mentally ill mother was too difficult. She found a crisis shelter, moved in with a couple of fun musicians, and was working 7 days a week at an ice cream shop to save enough to get herself to Europe. She skates everywhere, and you might find her abstract paintings hanging in cafés across northern Sydney.
Lyle, Moruyo [person 156]
The people of Lyle's hometown call him "half a cuddle." He's an Aboriginal man who lost his arm in a car accident 20 years ago. He'd been a hairdresser who reached the finals of Australia-wide competitions, a footballer, a snooker player. By the time I met him he'd adapted his pool game to tables with larger pockets and was still winning the odd competition. He was in Sydney to see a specialist about a leg he was still recovering from after a taxi hit him the year before. Two injuries, one story. He never stopped.
Valerie, Sydney [person 27]
Val is a descendant of Scottish convicts, shipped to Australia in the early 1800s for smuggling alcohol from France into the UK. Over her lifetime she's watched Sydney grow from a modest Victorian city into the skyscraping metropolis it is now. When I met her, the most stressful part of her day was feeding the kookaburras and rainbow lorikeets in her garden.
Exhibition
At the end of the year, 365 portraits found their way onto the walls of Chippendale Arts Centre, Sydney, for a two-week exhibition sponsored by Red Bull and Bulleit Bourbon.
Broadsheet named it their event of the week, local papers picked up the story, and for a couple of weeks the everyday people I'd stopped on the street got to see themselves hanging in a gallery.
Here's a clip from the opening night:
