Poppy Appeal 2021 – Royal British Legion
I photographed and filmed this year’s Poppy Appeal campaign to celebrate 100 years of collecting in the community. Travelling across the country from Plymouth to Sunderland we met 10 incredible people who collect for the Royal British Legion. From ten year old Maisie, in Plymouth, who has been fundraising since she was just four, to Vera, who is 82, and has been a committed collector in Durham for more than seven decades. In fact Vera has raised over £1million in her time! I photographed every collector in their community, from seafronts to stores, and supermarkets to stations. Creating both still and moving portraits you can see them holding their buckets, smiling broadly and always happy to see you. As well as meeting them in their home environment we also invited them all to London. The aim – to create a special group image bringing all ten together, one collector...
Poppy Appeal Campaign – Royal British Legion
Every year across the country millions of people donate small amounts of money and collect a little red poppy in return. They wear these poppies to remember our armed forces community, to show respect, and to honour those who sacrificed so much for others. This year many of the people who would typically be out collecting for the Poppy Appeal are having to self isolate, many people are working from home and we are all trying to keep distant from one another. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still show our support. The Royal British Legion approached me to help to help launch their campaign this year. As an alternative to the traditional poppy this year they are encouraging people to print out and stick a poppy in their window – a new way to remember. So they asked me to photograph a variety of people around the country...
Tribute Ink exhibition in London – The National Army Museum
Tribute Ink is open until 17th of April in the National Army Museum in London. Do head on down to see the stories behind the tattoos and to learn about the history of tattoos. Also – if you’re around on the 4th of March we will be holding a special evening event at the NAM – do come on down then to say hello. It’s been such an honour to be involved in this fascinating and moving project, massive thanks to Royal British Legion for asking me to photograph it for them. To see the whole project click here: LINK To find out more about the exhibition head over the the NAM’s website: LINK
Tribute Ink Exhibition – Tattoos in the Military
Have you ever thought about the stories behind someone’s tattoos? Tribute Ink is a photography exhibition I created with the Royal British Legion to tell to the personal stories of tattoos in the military featuring both serving personnel and veterans from from the British Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force. Curated in partnership with the National Memorial Arboretum and The Ministry of Defence, Tribute Ink opens to the public on Friday 13th of September on site at the Arboretum in Staffordshire. It wasn’t always easy hearing the stories behind the tattoos. Some have chosen to have the names of friends who died whilst serving inked into their skin, like Paul Glazebrook who has six large dog tags tattooed across his back, or Matt Tomlinson who has the ten names of those who died along side him during his time in Afghanistan and Iraq permanently in his skin....