Forming One Crew
I’ve been wanting to embark on a significant portrait project for some time now, something that captures a group of people who all have something in common. To explore the ideals and personalities that are drawn together to the same place. My first, obvious thought was to explore the veteran community as it was somewhere that I know intimately and somewhere that I have a lot of connections. I reached out into this world and did garner some interest, however, it was not enough. There wasn’t enough of a bite to make it worth pursuing and by the very nature of the veteran community, it was spread across the country. Logistically and financially it was too much for me to take on. So I went back to the drawing board.
I’m not really sure now, how I came across it, but I discovered that 2024 was the 200th anniversary of the RNLI, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute. A UK wide charity, that through a network of volunteers, crews lifeboats across the country. For 200 years, men and women have been putting themselves in harms way, to save others… for free. I thought that was pretty damn admirable, I still do. I think it’s incredible. As a soldier I’ve put myself in harms way, but never for free! This planted the seed of an idea: to capture the faces of the lifeboat crew. In this bicentennial year, so that future generations could see who it was that was here in 2024. None of us will be here to see the 300th year, but how amazing for the dependents of this year’s volunteers to be able to see their relative’s face in 75 years time.
Initially, I was only interested in the boat crew themselves and I reached out to the media officer at my local station in Exmouth in Devon to see if there was any appetite for my project. There was, but it became a fairly lengthy and drawn out process as I navigated the complexities of data protection and copyright. As I travelled this path, my vision began to develop. I realised that it wasn’t just about the boat crew.
It was about everyone.
If it wasn’t for the other volunteers, those who staff the shop, selling items to the public to raise funds for the station, or the tour guides who share their intimate knowledge with visitors, or the crew who prep the boat for a launch and service it on it’s return. If it wasn’t for all of these other people, the boats would not be able to put to sea. It’s like a rock band. Everyone sees the performers on stage and thinks that they get there on their own. But if it wasn’t for the lighting crew and the stage hands and the sound engineers that gig would never go ahead. I realised that there was so much more to explore here. A whole army of people, dedicated to the RNLI, dedicated to ensuring that there is always a boat, ready to go out in any weather conditions, to help people that need it.
What I found out, was that there is 140 volunteers in my local station. Did I want to take a project that big on?
The answer is yes, but the reality lies elsewhere, but that is yet to come. To capture the faces of that many people would be a big project. To capture them authentically would be even bigger.