1000 Portrait Project

Portrait 609/1000: Michael.

I have been really excited to publish this one for a long time, and it speaks very much to the strangely prolonged journey this project has been going through.

This photo was taken on Monday the 2nd of July, 2018. I know that because it was a day that I took off work so I could install my first ever solo exhibition - a display of the first 500 portraits in this project (a few printed works, many many more on a projector display).

Michael, here, is the tech wizard who manages the lighting and audio and video and all the bits and pieces that helps make exhibitions and performances roll for Council. He does it with a smile and a whole bunch of expertise and is super easy to get on with. Which is why I was glad he was helping out with my show.

After setting up (and, from memory, hunting last-minute frames) with Jade and Amber (who are both scattered throughout this project a bit earlier), I asked Michael if I could take his portrait outside.

This photo marked the moment when my first solo exhibition became real, and I was so stoked to have a bunch of brilliant people working with me to make it happen.

It's also the photo that really solidified my favourite film stock of all time - FujiFilm Superia 1600 (now discontinued and only able to be sourced from people charging absurd amounts for it). The film renders greens so nicely and this photo, outside of the Moooroolbark Community Centre, just stops me in my tracks every time I see Michael framed by this lovely vegetation. Sometime around the time of this photo, I hunted down every last reasonably priced roll of superia I could - and I have five final rolls I'm holding close and dear for something special.

Anyway, Michael has always had a moment to stop and chat with me - from my days at the newspaper crashing gigs at his venues with my camera, to just chatting before events get rolling now I'm working with him. I'm so very happy to have him in this project, and having him at the exhibition prep on my favourite film stock is just a triple whammy of wonderful.

Thank you so much for being in this, Michael!!

Six years, six months and two days after starting, this project is complete.

I've got more than a few hundred photos to catch up on posting - and some gorgeous, vibrant, kind people to share with you through those photos - but I really wanted to post something to commemorate this.

The project started in my parents' living room on April 6, 2016. My friend Andrew sat in an arm chair while I tried to get my little off-camera flashes working for the picture. I remember the thrill of getting the first few portraits and thinking, "this is amazing - how long could this possibly take?"

Turns out, a little while.

This whole thing started out as a method to get better at taking portraits - immersing myself in it for long enough that I'll have to learn some skills, to think on the fly and adapt - while giving 1000 people a gorgeous photo of themselves. And that's absolutely been achieved. What the project turned into - what it still is - is sharing the little insights and moments and feelings you get from other people - whether you meet them for a few minutes, a few hours or much, much longer than that. And there are so many of those to come here as I catch up on posts.

I've been in different jobs, different houses and different relationships through the breadth of this project. I've made friends through the project, had subjects get in touch for me to shoot their weddings, and have been welcomed by 1000 odd people into their lives and their personal space to take a their photo. I've become a much more confident person in taking photos and through my every day life, all thanks to leaving my comfort zone well and truly behind me (sometimes).

There's easily more than 100,000 images that have been taken as part of this. Dozens of Polaroids. An upsetting pile of film negatives. A few recorded interviews. I'm hoping to share as much of these through this page, through exhibitions (if anyone will have me) and my dream is, one day, in a book.

It's now 2pm in New York. I walked from the last photos in a small daze over to get a coffee and doughnuts in Brooklyn and am typing this while the sun has a few more hours to rise back home. It's a bit surreal in a number of ways.

I'll close off this indulgent post with one last thing:

I listened to Jerome Cole Photography on Nathan Kaso's podcast Analogue Modern Radio, and he paraphrased a quote that stuck with me - which I'll paraphrase again: you don't take someone's portrait, they give it to you. The point being that our role as photographers is to make people comfortable, to help them bring themselves into an image so they can give you the best portrait of themselves. Or something like that, anyway.

Thank you to everyone who has given me their time and their portrait. This only happened thanks to all of you. ❤️