The Story
At the cusp of the first UK lockdown in March 2020, Brighton photographer Sophie Sheinwald was intensely moved by the national surge of appreciation towards NHS carers. At the time, she had rediscovered portraits she taken of hospital staff that were exhibited over 20 years ago. An idea sparked – what if she invited portrait photographers from across the UK to highlight these incredibly vital individuals and create a body of beautiful nationwide portraiture?
She immediately put out a call on Facebook Live to invite like minds. Soon she became inundated with messages from photographers, all wanting to join her in this tribute. The 2020 Vision Project was born.
100 skilled photographers were selected from across the nation. Once on board, they were each asked to capture the person BEHIND THE MASK to portray human connection using their own individual style.
The BIG challenge was to contact healthcare workers during the eye of the storm of the pandemic – and have them agree to participate!
Photographers who joined, put calls out in their local areas, from Aberdeen to Southampton. Each took time to find willing NHS healthcare employees as well as carers across the UK.
During the summer unique photo sessions were booked in, using studios and outdoor spaces. Healthcare workers were photographed with social distancing measures.
In September 2020, the project was proud to hold a well received live showcase exhibition of 100 photographs in London. The photographs were exhibited alongside very touching personal accounts of the challenges and inspiration that was found – stories of dedication, resilience and teamwork shone through.
Since then the 2020 Vision Project launches its special online gallery of selected photos so keep in touch to find out when this is happening next.
We’re currently working on more showcases through indoor and outdoor exhibitions. Please do get in touch if you’re interested in showcasing these touching stories in your area.
Team Players
Brand photographer Sophie Sheinwald has been driving the 2020 Vision Project since her idea sparked. She's managed to build a wonderful talented collective of UK photographers from hundreds of enquiries that came flooding in.
Sophie is a published, award-winning photographer and visual storyteller with over 20 years of experience in the visual arts. Her career spans brand and event photography, public art and video production. She’s also the co-creator of Generation Share, the visual storybook showcasing global changemakers, which was on the Forbes top 5 isolation must-reads.
She's very excited for what the 2020 Vision Project can deliver in the 2020s.
Dave Archer joined the 2020 Vision Project team in November. Dave was selected as one of the UK photographers in July 2020 and soon became a big asset to the team. He said that he'd been looking for a project like this to take part in and was happy to offer his expertise.
Dave Archer is an award winning and published commercial photographer, Nikon and Lastolite Brand ambassador and worked with some amazing people. He also has 25 years of experience working with small and large businesses to develop their brands, direction and business goals. We welcome him as an asset to the team.
PR and social media guru Verity Payne joined the team in November . She heard about the 2020 Vision Project through working with our Bedford photographer Tara Gillen. Verity was so taken by our project, she managed to get some great coverage for us on BBC Look East. The Behind the Mask' BBC report in November featured interviews with Tara along with healthcare workers, midwife Caitlin Evans and carer/dancer Bethany Bean and their beautiful portraits.
Verity runs Sphere PR which supports vegan, ethical and sustainable businesses to raise their profile through PR, social media and SEO. With 15 years’ experience in digital marketing and communications, she’s delighted to be able to put her skills towards raising awareness of excellent initiatives like the 2020 Vision Project.
Calvin Chinthaka came on board in June as one of our talented UK photographers. Having worked on both national and international fashion brands, he now brings us his wealth of experience. He's been breaking new ground defining fashion photography in practice, research and development, as well as cultural and educational.
Calvin brings his innovation and tenacity together, with his specialist subject knowledge from fashion film production, creative production, content creation, fashion photography and distribution.
We are honoured to have Calvin on the team. Discover Calvin Chinthaka's fashion image-making work.
Special Thanks to the Horizon Team
In March 2020, founder of charitable trust Horizon, Annie Murray, came on board to help kickstart the project. Brighton-based charitable organisation Horizon was instrumental in getting Arts Council funding for the 2020 Vision Project. It was incredible to receive had such amazing help from her team. Horizon itself provides film and photography workshops for people in recovery from addiction.
Annie is also the owner of Brighton-based, socially minded film production company, Edit Sweet Ltd. Focusing on people before profit. Annie also contributed to this project with beautiful portraits she took of healthcare workers, which were exhibited in our September 2020 exhibition showcase. We look forward to seeing her creative work blossom over the years. A very inspiring lady!
