In pictures: photographers shortlisted for Portrait of Britain Awards
Diversity, empathy and authenticity are all depicted in images shortlisted for this year's Portrait of Britain, organisers say.
Photos from across the West Midlands feature among the 200 shortlisted portraits and accompanying book that make up the nation's biggest photography exhibition.
They include images of Herefordshire cobbler, Nick Turner, who was advised never to work alone when he left college, and recently celebrated 36 years in business - working alone.
A community project to improve a neighbourhood in Stoke-on-Trent also features, as does a father pictured in his Coventry back garden.
From the shortlist, 100 winners will be chosen whose photographs will go on display on digital advertising screens located in high streets, shopping centres and transport hubs across the country.
The images capture "the quirky, the mundane, the here and now of the extraordinary everyday in which we live," said Mick Moore, chief executive of the British Journal of Photography, which runs the competition.
The 200 shortlisted images feature in the Portrait of Britain Vol 6 photo book, printed in collaboration with Bluecoat Press and sponsored by JCDecaux.
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