366 Portraits
When London based photographer Jesus Lacalle started his daily portrait project in January, he had no idea how 2020 would turn out and influence his project.
Interview Christian Trippe All images by Jesus LacalleHola, it's really great to talk to you today about your project. On the 1st of January this year, you started a new account on Instagram called 366portraits. Please tell us briefly what the idea is behind the project and why you started it.
I used to do a lot of photography but over the past few years, I haven't been doing so much because of my job. I've been working crazy hours. Last Christmas, I set myself a new year’s resolution to be more creative again. So I decided to go back to photography and push myself. I decided to try to take daily portraits of people because I love people and am very social. I have seen other people doing it so I thought I will give it a go. To be honest, I never thought I was going to keep going for such a long time. Now it is November and that is pretty great.
Gilbert + George, photographed by Jesus for the 366 Portraits project
How do you approach people to be part of the project and what kind of people are you looking for?
I'm trying to show as much diversity as possible with my project. I usually go for more unusual people, people that have tattoos or wear interesting outfits. I never really know who I am going to meet before I take the shot but there’s usually a point when something is triggered in my brain and I need to talk to people. I introduce myself, show them the project on Instagram and we have a quick conversation about it.
“I'm trying to show as much diversity as possible with my project.”
What happened in March, when the first lockdown started? How did that affect your project, because you couldn’t go out anymore and ask people on the street?
Yeah. This was my first crisis with the project and I didn't know what to do. At this point I had done three and a half months and I didn't want to stop. First, I talked to a friend who is a photographer about a couple of ideas. One idea was to take old portraits from my page and use them but I wasn't really happy because that is not the idea of the project. The other idea was to do online photo shoots. I brainstormed what’s the best way to do this and first I wanted to call people and take screenshots. That also didn’t feel right so I decided to take pictures of my phone screen instead and I am very happy with the results.
It's a slightly different concept but there's also an advantage to do the shoots remotely, right? Now you can involve people from anywhere in the world.
Yes, that's amazing. It felt like travelling to somewhere in the world for 3 months every day for 10-15 minutes. It became the best part of the day for me. The connection with the person is very different compared to meeting people in the street. You call them and start chatting for a bit and it’s just really interesting. You finally get to meet people you only know from Instagram.
“It felt like travelling to somewhere in the world for 3 months every day for 10-15 minutes. It became the best part of the day for me.”
You always take two images of every person – what's the reason for that?
When I first started the project, I did some research and found a few other people doing the same but it was always just one portrait. I wanted to add a twist and decided to include a second portrait. Initially I asked people to do something ‘crazy’ for the second image but this evolved a bit over time. It can also be a full body shot or something a bit more informal. It really depends on the person and situation.
One portrait per day is pretty tough. You must have had days when you're struggling to find someone or maybe found it difficult to motivate yourself?
Overall, motivation wasn’t really a problem but I had a bit of a crisis in August and September. I went on holiday and even took portraits while I travelled. Also the change from online shoots back to street portraits was a bit tough at times.
Meeting, all these people must have been an amazing experience. Do you have any favourite moments or stories you remember?
I remember this one guy I stopped in the street. I asked him to take a photo and he was asking me how much he needs to pay to me to take the photo. I said “Oh, no you don’t need to pay me and I am not going to pay you.” Generally, in the street the portraits tend to happen super-fast and you don’t get to connect with the people that well. Online is very different. I remember one girl was amazing. She is an actor and she started to jump like a frog during our call.
Did you ever get into trouble when approaching people for portrait?
One time, an old woman spat at me when I asked her. But besides that, people are super nice. I mean, they usually tell you straight away if they don’t want to or are not comfortable. And that’s no problem – the choice is theirs.
When you started this project, you didn't know how the year would develop. I believe it is quite an extraordinary year for a project like this considering the circumstances. You couldn’t have chosen a better year for this really. How significant do you think this will be for your next project or other work?
One of the main reasons I started this project was to reconnect with photography and have fun with it. Besides of a couple of bad moments or small crises, I am really enjoying the connection the people. I am not a professional photographer but I was really able to develop my technical skills and it gave me the chance to really push myself. I took courses to better understand the camera and I started investing some money into equipment. I am really happy with it.
“One of the main reasons I started this project was to reconnect with photography and have fun with it.”
It's end of November and there's only a few weeks left of this year. What are your plans for 2021 or will it just end with the last picture on 31st of December?
I am thinking a lot about this lately, actually because I want to continue with the portraits. I'm going to keep the page and I'm going to keep taking portraits. I have a few ideas I am exploring but I don’t want to do the daily portraits again. I would like to explore new ways of taking portraits and try out different things.
It would be very nice to have a summary of all 366 images. Have you thought about maybe a book?
Yes, I am thinking about making a book. I will need to contact all the models for their consent so that might take a while. I have been growing a lot through the project and I feel it is important to give back to the community. All proceeds of the book will go to a charity supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and the Queer community.
Thank you so much for your time today Jesus. There’s only a few days left of 2020. If someone wants to get involved, is there still time?
Of course, contact me on Instagram or maybe see you in the streets of London! Byeeeeee!
READ NEXT
