ni.chol.as

We got bored of taking the same old photos so Eamon and I went out to take one hundred portraits of Londoners (flickr set|alt. slideshow) in a single summer’s afternoon. Figuring that people can be lured into doing anything for sweets, we set up on Brick Lane with a big box of jellies, a sign and a pair of cameras and sought to stop passers-by and convince them to have their picture taken by us.

The response was quite astonishing. We got through the full hundred in no more than a couple of hours. People were mostly happy to stand and pose in front of our brick wall and we got some great shots. The location helped a lot with groups of people out for drinks on a hot day. As well as the native population resident to the area, Brick Lane also has it’s fair share of posers, eccentrics and fashionistas there for the art shows, clubs, pubs and shops. Some of the reactions of people we stopped were quite fun; many were intrigued and lots of them wanted to know if we were doing it for profit or if they had to pay for the photo. Others were worried they’d have their heads grafted onto porno later on and be laughed at online. By far the most common reaction was that we were doing a project for university. It took a few people by surprise that such a harebrained thing would be conducted by a couple of guys doing it just for fun.

At one point, just before Superman came walking down the road, we even managed to grab Pete Doherty who seemed perfectly happy to stand and be part of the Hundred. There were some great faces and characters on display that day, you can read Eamon’s side of things at his site where the full gallery (flickr set|alt. slideshow) is on display.

Tags: portraits, 100portraits, photography, bricklane, london, uk