The 500 Faces Project - an introduction

500 Faces is an attempt to take portraits of five hundred people between January 2026 and December 2027 asking each to write (or dictate) up to a hundred words about being alive today.

This will form a future archive of our times. All opinions are relevant. All people are relevant. Sexual orientation, skin colour, religion, nationality, disability do not matter. Your thoughts do. It is people who make this archive a vibrant community.

People are not paid but receive several digital copies of their portrait which they can use freely. They have to sign an agreement allowing the use of one photograph and any agreed words in relation to this project  - but not beyond it. Other portraits from the session are deleted. It is a simple, standard agreement to protect us both.

Everyone is invited to be portrayed in the studio at The Ropewalk, Barton-on-Humber but Nigel will respond to other needs if he can, for instance if you cannot travel there. If you are visiting the area you are also welcome to take part and people from London, Paris, St Lucia and Brazil have already done so. However participants must be 18 or over in order to give consent.

Whilst a portrait is usually head and shoulders, there may be some people who, for good reason, do not want to be seen in this way, in which case we will agree another way that represents you. So don't let it put you off taking part. This community of 500 Faces is diverse, important and representative.

All the people who have taken part in the project so far are represented here and they, and their words, appear on this website, randomly. If you have taken part you will be given a code that allows you to find your contribution immediately. This site is updated weekly to include new faces and words as the community expands.

The faces will appear in print via a magazine style publication with every hundred people taking part (500 faces – Volume 1 to 5) as well as here. It may be possible to mount an exhibition at some future point and the whole archive will be offered to a local history archive when completed for use into the distant future.

If you'd like to take part and become part of this community then email me 500facesphoto@gmail.com  and I'll send full details and dates of availability.

Nigel has been taking photographs for seventy years now. As well as sequences for exhibitions, such as The Red Dress, Lost, Say Something, Estuary and FLORA , all shows which have been seen recently, he also undertakes portraiture, landscape and travel photographs.

He has been the official photographer for a number of events from Puppet and music Festivals to long distance marathon events. He is a frequent speaker at camera clubs and often adjudicates competitions as well as running occasional workshops.

Making photographs in both colour and black and white he now works from his studio at the Ropewalk in Barton-on-Humber.

You can see more about him and his work here: https://www.nigelwalker.co.uk/about/