The Argus Thursday, August 23, 2018 16 News The Argus Thursday, August 23, 2018 News 17

100 disposable cameras By Hayley PearceReporterhayley.pearce@theargus.co.uk

THESE are just some of the 3,000 photos taken by homeless people as part of a project to inspire creativ-ity and improve mental health.

On June 29, more than 100 disposable cameras were handed out at One Church in Brighton and to organisations such as the YMCA to people living on the streets or in emergency accommodation

The volunteer-led My Brighton and Hove project is being run in partnership with Cafe Art in London.

The would-be photographers were giv-en five days to take photos reflecting the theme “my Brighton and Hove”.

Lucy Groenewoud, project manager, said: “Our main aims were giving people new skills and more confidence.

“We know how much art improves mental health, and while we can’t change someone’s circumstances drastically, but we are putting them in the right direc-tion for future employment.

“We gave them a deadline to get their creativity going, though some people kept their cameras so they could carry on taking photos.

“We got more than 60 cameras back, and more than 3,000 images.”

The photos were judged by a panel made up of Nigel Atherton, editor at Amateur Photographer; Juliette Buss, learning and engagement curator at Photoworks; Paul Connor, Sussex area representative at the Royal Photograph-ic Society; Amy Goodwin, project devel-opment worker at Justlife Art Studio; Greg Headley, charity link project co-ordinator at Passage UK; David Honey, photo imaging director at Fujifilm; and James Wood from Fulfilling Lives.

The top 20 were chosen and then 13 were selected from these for inclusion in a calendar – one for each month plus one for the cover.

Half the profits from calendar and photo sales will be given to the artists.

Lucy said: “Some of the photographers had never done photography before.

“One man apparently never used to leave his hostel, but once we gave him a camera he starting going out and about with it.

“We exhibited the photos at ONCA and for the people that took them it was great to see their work on a wall in a gallery space. Having their photos picked is a huge boost and an incentive to carry on taking photos.”

Michael Clark, whose photo of his friend was chosen for the calendar, said: “Paul was sitting right on the seafront

Feeding Frenzy by Donald Hayden

Armed Forces Day by Bradley James

Windmills by Stuart McCuskey

Living In Peace by Natalie Fisher

Walking All My Life by Dawn Kiff

and no one was even taking any notice – when you are on the street, no one looks at you.

“The project was a good way to meet up with my daughter and friends and get around Brighton and Hove.

“I have never even had a camera be-fore.

“I would like to do the project again. I didn’t think I would be any good at taking pictures, I just saw things and thought that would be a good picture.

“Now I would like to do more photog-raphy with my daughter as she has just started a photography course.”

Donald Hayden, who currently lives in temporary accommodation, took a photo of seagulls which won first place.

He said: “I was just walking down the beach, and saw some young children feeding chips to the seagulls.

“You can call it inspiration, I just had an overwhelming feeling to take the snap. I took it and it turned out great thankfully.”

Dawn Kiff, who became homeless due to domestic violence, said: “Brighton and Hove is my favourite place. I have never known anything like it, it’s blown me away, the services for homeless peo-ple.

“The picture just sums my life up – I have been walking all my life and now I am ready to stop and stay where I am. I am so glad I picked Brighton.”

A Kickstarter page has so far raised more than half of the £2,500 needed to print the calendar and fund an exhibi-tion of the photos.

For more information, go to mybright-onphotoproject.com.

inspire the homelessThese photos are a selection of the final 13 chosen by judges to feature in a calendar. They were taken by homeless people in Brighton and Hove over five days in July, after 100 cameras were handed out to people who live on the streets and in temporary accommodation. This page, clockwise from left, they are: Paul by Michael Clark; Dead Ringer by Sam Abrahams; i360 by Naomi MacDonald and Life’s In The Balance by Jo Tompkins