The Family Portrait

The idea of family and home is an integral part of our lives. We can tell a lot about a person’s lifestyle by the contents of their home, and how they present themselves. This project is an insight into the lives behind the closed doors that we see every day: a window into the modern day family.

I took these photographs in two neighbouring areas: one street of wealthy housing, the other poorer. But the project is not a comparative study. The photographs show that no matter what the social standing of the family or the area they live in, many of the same things run consistently through the photographs, such as pride in their homes and sense of family.

In the portraits, the relationships between family members start to become apparent as they pose before the camera. After a while, people start to relax, which allows their initial front to fade a little. It is these moments the photographs capture, they allow glimpses of intricate personality. In this way, they become integrated into their surroundings, giving a sense of their lifestyle.