Poppy Appeal 21

I photographed and filmed this year’s Poppy Appeal campaign to celebrate 100 years of collecting in the community. Travelling across the country from Plymouth to Sunderland we met 10 incredible people who collect for the Royal British Legion. From ten year old Maisie, in Plymouth, who has been fundraising since she was just four, to Vera, who is 82, and has been a committed collector in Durham for more than seven decades. In fact Vera has raised over £1million in her time! I photographed every collector in their community, from seafronts to stores, and supermarkets to stations. Creating both still and moving portraits you can see them holding their buckets, smiling broadly and always happy to see you. As well as meeting them in their home environment we also invited them all to London. The aim – to create a special group image bringing all ten together, one collector to mark every decade of community collecting. The image captures the ongoing support of the Royal British Legion and encapsulates the huge community effort that goes into every Poppy Appeal. So if you haven’t got a poppy yet, why not pop by your local collector, and say thank you whilst your at it – you might discover they’ve been collecting for decades and have many stories to tell. Massive thanks to the incredible team who helped make this happen: Producer – Morgan Evans at Germaine Walker Photo assistant and retoucher – Lou Dedieu Studio photo assistants – Sebastian Niespialowski and Phil Hardman Make up artists – Michele Rowbotham and Irene Wang Stylist – Efe Igbinadolor Assistant producers – Tracy Westcott and Sonia Taline at Germaine Walker