100×100 is the exhibition hosted at The Museum of Gloucester celebrating the incredible talents of local women.
The concept was 100 Gloucester women photographed by 100 women photographers.
In association with the charity Hundred Heroines, the 100×100 women included he Church of England’s first female diocesan bishop, The Right Reverend Rachel Treweek; fashion designer and businesswoman Emma Willis; rugby referee Debbie Innes-Turnill; poet and filmmaker Thembe Mvula; and the first Black woman to be elected to Gloucester City Council and the first Black sheriff and deputy mayor of Gloucester City; Carol Francis.
Celebrating the ‘indomitable, pioneering spirit’ of Gloucester’s women, the 100×100 project also encourages more women to take up photography.
And of course the incredible Deborah Potts who was my portrait sitter.
Deborah joined The Music Works in Gloucester in 2015 as CEO and remained at the helm until January this year.
During her time at The Music Works as CEO, Deborah led a 400% growth in income and impact which enabled The Music Works to become established as an award-winning and national leader of inclusive music best practise working with 8,000 young people a year.
Her visionary leadership and tireless dedication has made a lasting impact on the thousands of young people supported by The Music Works.
We choose to shoot this in black and white and opted to shoot this in one of the music studios at The Music Works.
Deborah held the role of CEO when this portrait was taken however she very much supported and enabled behind the scenes and away from the public eye. Preferring to push the students and music makers into the spotlight. Enabling them and helping them to succeed.
The concept for this image is that the spotlight that she prefers to shine on everyone else is on her. Her smile is what people notice when they meet her. It’s warm, engaging, and encouraging. The background is just visible but its very much in the background as The Music Works is very much about people. And it always starts with a smile.
In each of the portraits the sitter holds up a message to the camera sharing motivational quotes, words of advice and encouragement. We decided to do something a little different as this didn’t fit in with the image Deborah and I wanted to create. So we overlaid Deborah’s own quote over the final image.
I also added a gentle canvas texture to this as music is art and I wanted to creatively merge together the disciplines of traditional portraiture, photographic portraiture, and music.
Deborah can now be contacted via her own consultancy DP Consulting.
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