Jamie O’Neill the people’s photographer has been taking photographs in and around Portsmouth since 2014. The twenty-two year old, who has an astounding social media presence of over 24.2K followers on Instagram, over 2.5K followers on Tiktok and has over a decade of experience under his belt.
The photographer is well-known around Portsmouth, practising his street photography since lockdown 2020, dominating areas such as the Commercial road (town centre), Palmerston road (Southsea) and Guildhall Square.
He first began practising street photography sharing “I had social anxiety a lot at the start of lockdown, I wanted to go out instead of sitting at home and it potentially getting worse and actually do something”
He currently has over 60,000 photographs within his archive, a popular ‘people in Pompey’ series on instagram and a plethora of expertise within his skillset.
The freelance photographer tells his experience shooting and meeting new people “In the moment, it’s about the interaction, how genuine it is or if I’m able to pay that compliment to someone and them have a nice reaction to their photo” [and] “Maybe they’ll change their perspective on themselves a bit, by seeing my perspective”
“The very first one, my thinking behind it was to get over the anxiety of interacting with people, it started off with a long lens, then switched to a prime lens to force myself to get closer, which I think lead to asking someone to take their photo”
A previous student at Havant and South Downs college, receiving distinctions in his photography and graphics course, has said that street photography portraits are “the purest way of capturing moments that are happening”
Portsmouth locals, who have recognised the photographer and approached him directly have complimented his unique perspectives on areas within Portsmouth. He aims to represent and redefine the city's reputation saying [he wants to] “show the characters in Portsmouth and showing that the people are nice and genuine”
Apart from street photography, the freelancer has worked on behind-the-scenes proposals, Portsmouths’ annual Victorious festival in Southsea and many other commercial events.
He has said for the future he would like his work to be featured in his own gallery, workshop events and to see his work locally, he said “I think people resonate with the eyes, the people, in Portsmouth”
The photographer is also available for commercial and personal projects. For enquiries or to view his work visit: https://joneillj.com/ or his instagram @joneillj
Comments