Audio Bible beneficiary, The Guéra Region, Chad May 2025
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I took these photos on the most physically challenging day of shooting I’ve ever done. 40C/105F+ temperatures, more segments in a single day than we’ve ever shot before, relentless from the morning late into the night.
All in a country with very little access to electricity or clean water and with the lowest literacy rate on the planet.
And yet despite all this, Chad showed us something that we haven’t seen to this level anywhere else.
I have shot Bible distribution campaigns in 4 different countries before this, and I’ve seen many people joyful to receive Bibles - but never have I seen the hunger for Audio Bibles to the level we saw it in Chad. People would come up to us and ask us for more, we’d walk past groups listening while they rested in the shade - once we even saw people fight over them when we didn’t have enough to hand for the crowd that was around us in that moment.
This woman was one of those Christians who came up and asked for an Audio Bible. We ended up spending part of the afternoon interviewing her with her son at her beautiful simple home (pictured) to hear why.
Despite how truly tough this shoot was, I never stop feeling extremely privileged to get to meet Christians who live such different and inspiring lives and to tell their stories through photo and video.
Be praying for our resilient Christian family in Chad 🇹🇩
#chad
swipe for transformation ⏩
Internally Displaced Kids in North Eastern Nigeria, November 2024
On this occasion, these kids had gathered to peer into the house in which we were interviewing and see what on Earth this bunch of foreigners were doing in their IDP (Internally Displaced Person) Camp.
Before I introduced myself, I shot a very quick snap of their wonderful staring, understandably suspicious, faces 👀
Seconds later, after I had made sure they understood what I was doing, they EXPLODED in excitement 😁 it was a scrum to see who could get to the front of the shot
These kids have been through things we can’t imagine. And yet the joy they carry is inspiring. I’m constantly thankful to be able to meet people like these kids.
#portraitphotography #nigeria
Boko Haram kidnapping survivor, North Eastern Nigeria November 2024
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The Christians of North Eastern Nigeria are perhaps the bravest, toughest humans I have ever met.
Of the stories we have heard in the countries I have visited over the last couple of years, no others can quite match the sheer violence of those we heard on this trip. The people here have undergone unimaginable persecution at the hands of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the region.
While I won’t share this lady’s story here, you can be assured its trauma, depth and sheer length are beyond imagining.
And yet the people we met in Nigeria genuinely were some of the most joyful people I have met anywhere. They needed little excuse to break into song and dance at any occasion and their huge smiles and welcomes were a gift.
There is so much we can learn from the joy and resilience of these people in the face of adversity, celebrating every win, big and small, and the lengths they have been to to reunite their families. Pray for the recovery of their communities and their lives - and for peace in Northern Nigeria and the surrounding countries 🇳🇬
#portraitphotography
Brick kiln children outside Lahore, Pakistan February 2024
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On each shooting trip I’ve been on in the last year, I’ve had the chance to meet, photograph and film wonderful kids :) many living in incredibly tough realities and yet still finding ways to have fun and laugh
These children were born into brickmaking families bound through their situations to remain and work every day (outside the wet season) making bricks - most for decades and into the next generations with no possibility of leaving.
I was lucky enough to see many families freed from this, but there are 10s of thousands of kilns in Pakistan, so this problem is not going away anytime soon. And yet the kids didn’t really know or understand that there was any alternative for this life out there - to them this was what life looks like. They made toys out of what they could find, found community with the other kids, and when they weren’t helping make bricks, they often seemed to find ways to have a ball of a time with their friends - and when I photographed this the photos were often full of smiles :)
#pakistan #portraitphotography
A Christian named Sania, mid-brickmaking in a brick kiln outside Lahore, Pakistan February 2024
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At the end of 2024, not being the best at posting to my Insta profile normally, I realised that despite going on 5 different trips this year to photograph/film people as part of my work, I hadn’t posted here about a single one of them. Over the next few weeks I hope to share a few photos from each to make up for that.
Each time I traveled to meet Christians in these different countries was special in its own way and to be able to take their photos and tell their stories was an incredible privilege throughout.
The first and fourth trips of the year were to visit and then revisit Christians in brick kilns in Pakistan. The families here work long hours in the heat and dust, expected generally to make over 1000 bricks a day using their hands, many for over 20 years, losing any hope of doing anything else in their life. These men, women and kids were tough and told us they held onto their faith in God to sustain them.
This girl, Sania, told us she dreamed of her family being able to have their own home 🏠
(All photos are taken in the brick kilns)
#pakistan #portraitphotography
Buddhist devotees, Lhasa, Tibet April 2024
Another fascinating part of Tibetan culture were all the different ways Buddhists there physically expressed their faith. Whether that was lying flat on the ground progressively in a circle around Lhasa’s main temple (1), swinging ratchet instruments (3 & 4), burning things (5), monks creating sculptures out of yak product (6, 7 & 8) or the beautiful chaos of the monks’ debates (9 & 10) where they would shout and clap at each other in pairs, in such close proximity to each other we had no idea how each could hear the other… it was amazing to watch
The juxtaposition of modern technology and tradition also got me. I originally wanted to lead this photo set with photo 2, since it was a shot I was trying to find for a while. It almost seemed at some points as if most monks in robes had iPhone Pros.
In one of my favourite moments of the trip, I met the young monk I had photographed praying with his iPhone (I had got permission from his friend for the photo) the next day at the debate. I then got to send him my first edit of his photo… by AirDrop 📲
#lhasa #monks #tibet #sonyalpha
Tiny Tibetan, Enlang, Nagarzé County, Tibet 15th April 2024
Something makes me think this teensie Tibetan had done a photoshoot before 👼
One of the highlights of our time in Tibet was visiting a traditional family home and eating their local food. This was their kid who I hung out with with while was there.
We exchanged photography tips, she prodded my camera a few times and then showed me how to take a proper photo (last slide) 📸
#tibet #85mm #portrait #sonyalpha
