In Pictures: Street photos capture Portsmouth life

Jamie O'Neill Images of three people in PortsmouthJamie O'Neill
Jamie O'Neill Images of man with pink hair standing beside a wall in PortsmouthJamie O'Neill

Jamie O'Neill has been photographing people in Portsmouth over the past six months.
His technique is to simply to approach people in the street and ask to take their pictures.

A photographer has captured a unique record of his home city of Portsmouth.

Jamie O'Neill's People in Pompey project has seen him approach people in the street and take their photographs.

His online gallery has images of almost 100 individuals who he has photographed.

He said he wanted to "put the people of Pompey on the map".

Jamie O'Neill standing on a Portsmouth shopping street with a camera round his neck
Jamie O'Neill is documenting the people of Portsmouth in a series of portraits

Having started his project in December, Mr O'Neill has so far pictured almost 100 people, after simply approaching them on the street.

"I can always tell when someone wouldn't mind getting their photograph taken - almost wanting to have their picture taken," he said.

"When they realise I just want to showcase the people here, they're usually up for it.

"It's the best compliment I could ever give to someone is to want to take their picture."

Jamie O'Neill Jamie O'Neill takes a photo of a man playing a drumkitJamie O'Neill
Jamie O'Neill has captured a range of people on the streets of Portsmouth

Mr O'Neill started street photography 2020 to document the impact of the Covid lockdowns, and developed the idea into capturing individual characters out and about in the city.

Now 22, he moved to Portsmouth when he was six and was keen to "break the stereotypes" of negative perceptions about the city.

He said: "This is the most vibrant place with the most amazing people.

"I want this to be my foundation and have the people of Pompey back me, and just build it up as far as I can take it.

"There is no shortage of vibrant characters that I find and friendly people that I interact with, and I'm just hoping to keep it going."

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