Informal Portraits. Photography by Greig Clifford

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Informal Portraits

An ongoing series of portraits made informally during conversation in cafe spaces or other casual settings, in contrast to the constructed environments of photographic studios or a formal location shoot. The one-on-one time encourages an openness which can lead to a different kind of portrait that is perhaps more genuine, freed from some of the traits we might use to protect ourselves from the wider world.

The photograph maintains the confidentiality of the conversation, the curious viewer teased by gestures or emotional signs, and a cryptic title that references something discussed, a topic or phrase said. There is intrigue in knowing only half of the story and a little insight can spark the imagination or challenge a viewer's presumptions.

I believe portraiture should either say something of the person photographed or of the person looking. When the subject is not recognised, the viewer needs an alternative relationship with the image for it to hold interest. However, recognition can come from other aspects, and these can often be more significant, found in an instinctive connection to a sense of something universally human. These portraits aim to reveal such aspects of universal humanity that we can all relate to.

In a world where society is driven by advertising and social media, where people's experience of photography increasingly aligns with an ever more manipulated idea of perfection, where artificial intelligence is used to alter our understanding of reality, these portraits are a reaction against that, featuring real people seen through my eyes as I saw them through my camera viewfinder, being themselves.

If you would like to participate in the project too, then please feel free to contact me.