Trent
OurTimes ;OurPeople Berkhamsted
Personal Project & Limited Edition Book
From Berkhamsted's everyday heroes through to our most colourful characters, the aim is to create an invaluable insight into the vibrancy of 21st century life in and around our historic market town.
The project profits will go to DENS, the first port of call for people in Dacorum facing homelessness, poverty and social exclusion.
If you'd like to get involved in the 'OurTimes;OurPeople Berkhamsted' book project, or nominate someone for the book, please get in touch: gt@trentportraiture.com
The Why and Vision for the Book
I'm no marathon runner, I'm never going to climb Mount Everest, and quite frankly I don't enjoy asking friends and family for sponsorship. So I decided to create a personal photographic project which helps raise funds for a local charity. I also wanted to work with and engage the local community. The project sets out to use both location and studio portraiture to explore the narratives of the incredible people associated with Berkhamsted.
Partners, supporters and portrait subjects
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Beneficiary charity - DENS
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Studio - kindly provided by Ashridge House
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Portrait subjects - people born, or have lived or worked in Berkhamsted
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Exhibition space - tbc
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Exhibition printers - tbc
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Book distribution - tbc
The Limited Edition Book
The aim is to create a limited edition, beautifully printed coffee table book of portraits, each with a brief introduction to the subject. If all goes well, the book will be launched at a local exhibition. Both book and exhibition prints will be available to purchase, with the profits going to DENS.
I'm interested in people who have a strong association with Berkhamsted. So born, educated, lived, or worked there at some stage of their lives. And with a story to portray. The aim is to capture the fascinating and diverse range of Berkhamsted's people.
Subjects need an open mind on how we portray their narrative, a willingness to enter into the spirit of the project, and be able to set aside time for an informal chat to tell their story and then sit for both studio and environmental portraits. Although subjects will have to wait for the exhibition to see their portraits, there's the intention to publish 'behind the scenes' photos, outtakes and videos to help publicise the project. As a personal project, there are no fees to be photographed or appear in the book. As with all professional photography, subjects will sign a 'model release' which gives the photographer permission to publish their portraits.
The style will be editorial, storytelling (so think of the editorial photos accompanying a Sunday magazine article). The project and book were inspired by Andy Griffin, the photographer who published the incredible 'Thaxted's People, Portraits'. Andy has very kindly offered to guide and mentor the project.
The project is time limited and the book constrained by the number of pages. Inevitably, that means we can only include 150-200 people’s stories. If an artistic/editorial decision means your portrait doesn't feature in the book, you'll receive a complimentary, fully edited digital portrait as a 'thank you' for participating.
I’d love to hear from you if you have an interesting story which helps to illustrate the character and spirit of Berkhamsted. The project starts September 2023, with the provisional aim to publish late 2025/early 2026.
If you'd like to get involved in the 'OurTimes;OurPeople Berkhamsted' book project, or nominate someone for the book, please get in touch: gt@trentportraiture.com
Thank you in advance for supporting this challenging but very rewarding project. Together, lets create an heirloom for the people of Berkhamsted, and raise some much needed funds for the fantastic work of DENS.
