These People I Met - 2009

8th October 2009: Having slept all night in St Pancras station, at 6am I made my way to Europe.

Four and a half weeks later I returned with 37 portraits of the people I met along the way.


28 of the people wrote in my journal in their native language - scroll over the image to see the note.

In print the notes are juxtaposed with the images to contextualise the interaction between photographer and subject.

The irony is that the personal note may never be understood by the recipient, but it could be all too clear to an observer, for example a stranger who views the work.

The series is playing on the social habits of humans: no matter how far from home, regardless of language barriers, we can't help but interact with those around us. We constantly impact on our surroundings, or the surroundings will affect us, but we may never quite understand why or how.

Further, not everything can be translated to a language we understand. In contrast, styles of handwriting (mark-making), mannerisms, expressions etc may be universally understood.