Symbol of remembrance

Due to a holiday and being tied up with other commitments I haven’t been photographing much on Streatham High Road for a few weeks. However, with Remembrance Sunday coming up I thought that it would be good to take some portraits of people wearing poppies as this symbol of remembrance very clearly marks a particular time in the year. To my surprise there weren’t very many people at all wearing this symbolic flower on Wednesday last week, and for the first time during this project I went home with not a single portrait!

Don’t despair I thought to myself and was back at my regular portrait spot on Remembrance Sunday. This time there were at least a few more poppy wearing people out and about but for the first half hour every single one I asked declined to have their portrait taken. So, when I eventually found a person who was happy with me taking their picture I was very relieved and thankful! It is funny but often it is this first person who changes the whole dynamic- suddenly other people agree on having their picture taken as well. This time the same happened, and in the end I had several wonderful portraits of people in Streatham wearing the poppy to remember the sacrifices made by so many in times of war.

Lastly, today I also would like to say a big THANK YOU to everybody who has participated in my project - without you it would not be possible!

Victor

Carole

Ross

Dot & Pat

Andrew

Jonathan & Vicky