Portraits that Matter

Media Trust, Portrait Photography

Fran Monks — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:33:43 +0000

I’m still in the midst of a series of portraits for the Media Trust‘s annual review. It’s a really interesting project as the people who I get to meet generally have a positive mission of some sort or another. These photos are of Chris Gravett who is a photographer who has given lots of time to photograph the work of voluntary organisations through the Media Trust’s Media Matching scheme. It was a rainy day in Harrow, so quite a challenge to get enough light for a portrait, but I think these turned out OK in the end.

Portrait Challenge, day six

Fran Monks — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:24:44 +0000

Things have gone crazy as I’ve been dashing around the country, baby in tow, making images for the Media Trust’s annual review. I guess I can stop calling these posts “Portrait Challenge” now as I’ve started actually working on commissions, but I want to reach a full week, plus I still haven’t photographed my younger daughter, so I definitely can’t stop until that’s done satisfactorily! So, in the meantime, here’s an image from Monday’s shoot in Poole, Dorset. Wendy lives in a Leonard Cheshire home and has been successfully campaigning for the mobility allowance to be retained. I’ll write more about her on the How to Make a Difference site in due course.

Portrait Challenge, day five

Fran Monks — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:08:45 +0000

Woo hoo. Out on the road today. Much as I love my family, it’s great to get out and do a commissioned portrait again. As I set off for Kew Gardens to photograph Joab Omondi, a Kenyan Environmentalist, in the beautiful winter sun, I was really looking forward to it. Joab did not disappoint. I had so many questions to ask him about his experience in Kenya, that had caused him to live in Exile in the UK, but didn’t manage even a fraction as we needed to focus on the images today. I had dropped little Herbie off with some friends and didn’t want to leave him for too long.

I had thought of some different ideas using the wonderful trees at Kew and although I was a little nervous at first to ask Joab to get on the ground or to climb a tree, he genuinely seemed to love it. He kept telling me this reminded him of when he was a school in Africa. Hanging out or on trees was how he took lessons as a young person and he certainly looked completely relaxed as soon as he did it.

I’m planning to talk to Joab further so that I can do a proper How to Make a Difference profile of him, I think he has a great story to tell, but for now, here’s one of the portraits.

Portrait Challenge, day four

Fran Monks — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:07:12 +0000

My selection of potential models has been expanded slightly today by the presence of a sick daughter. When I told her I was trying to take a portrait a day, she said “I think I can manage a smile for that!”. I then spent the entire time trying to get her to look more sick! Luckily the light shining on the sofa where she was lying looked beautiful.

Portrait Challenge, day three

Fran Monks — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:07:11 +0000

I set out to take the picture of Herbie asleep, but I think I prefer the one of him awake. Not sure. Must find some more diverse subjects. You can tell I’m at home with the baby and husband quite a lot at the moment!