Post by Admin: Living with low self-esteem

'Living with low self-esteem - photographer needs your insight'

My name's James, and I'm a photographer based in the UK. I work as an editorial portrait photographer, covering magazines and newspapers, but every year I devote some time to working on projects that don't generally get much exposure.

As a photographer, I meet a lot of people, and what I find most fascinating is that the people who I find to be the most talented, passionate, sensitive or quite simply, interesting, tend to live with low self-esteem. Some people hide that by being outgoing, other people are much more quiet and tend to hide away, but in most cases it's pretty rare that anyone sees much of the 'real' person. I think that's a terrible loss.

I'm looking to do a series of 'portraits' of people's lives - to see the world they're living in and what life is really like living with low self-esteem, so other people can see how it compares to their own life. These photos could be anything - just the things that jump out at me when I meet with people, to things you feel define you, or more formal portraits if you're willing. These would be placed alongside some words written by you about what your life is like and how you really see yourself. I think finding out the way we see ourselves compared to the way others do can be incredibly revealing, while it can also be comforting knowing someone else is going through the same thing as you.

I would, of course, totally respect your right to anonymity, and I you don't have to show your face if you don't want to. I'm not looking to exploit anyone - the aim is to be understanding and supportive.

At the moment, I'm only able to cover the south of the UK, but as the project goes on I may be able to get hold of funding that would allow me to travel further afield.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you have any - whether here or by e-mail. I think this would be a really powerful piece of work, but obviously I want anyone getting involved to feel totally comfortable with what I'm looking to do. You can contact me by e-mail at [email protected]

Thank you so much - I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do.

James