I was commissioned by Ms Society to visit some of the people living with MS who are involved with the charity and had given them interviews about their challenges living with MS. The Society wanted some professional portraits to go with the articles, which were going to be presented alongside other work, to parliament, to fight towards better care. The images would also be used on the website and in future press and charity material to encourage more support.
The portraits needed to be a mixture of standard portraits as well as some shots showing some of the challenges the people face as well as their personal interests. For example David loves his Bengal cats (one featured below) and his garden and would love some help with staying mobile and is currently hoping to receive a grant for a mobility scooter. Angela has two girls and because she gets so tired, she sometimes has trouble managing all the household chores and worries about her girl’s future and Edith, who is a very young sufferer of MS, wants to remain as independent as possible, but get’s frustrated by the bureaucracy around all the forms to receive support and care.
It was very humbling to shoot these portraits and one of my most challenging – I needed to be my usual bubbly, chatty self on the shoot – but at the same time, I was aware that these people were going through real difficulties in their life and didn’t exactly relish having their photos taken. However they all were amazing, helping me get the shots I needed and the super bonus for me was getting to pet David’s gorgeous cat and enjoy some company with Angela’s adorable girls who gave me massive hugs when I left.
If you want to find out more about the great work of this charity, please visit their website here: www.mssociety.org.uk