Every weekend, Matt Willoughby heads into the city centre to take portraits of strangers, with his retro vintage camera.
What started out as an experiment to overcome his social anxiety has become a passion project to document the city’s people.
“Sheffield is great for interesting people. There are a lot of characters around, especially around The Moor,” he says.
“I look for people that are a bit different, who go a little bit against the grain, or people that just look like they’ve got a story about them.”
The 31-year-old furniture painter from Heeley has always been creative but only bought his first camera in 2018.
He was drawn to street photography initially to combat his social anxiety.
“I sort of decided to start photographing people to push my confidence, just as an experiment, really, for myself,” says Matt.
“The first time I did it I was shaking like a leaf, but I’ve started loving it and I’ve met some amazing people and it’s really helped me socially.”
Now, after photographing the likes of local artist Pete McKee, Matt is hoping to have his street portraits published as a book or exhibited in a gallery some time next year.
“In today’s society, you’re always seeing models everywhere when they’re on the sides of buses, magazines, Instagram, and I think there’s something quite interesting about just seeing normal people,” he says.
Matt uses a 1969 film camera which means he usually only has one chance to get the perfect shot.
“You’ve really got to be selective and precise in how you photograph, whereas with modern day photography you can take thousands of pictures and sort of forget about them,” he says.
The artist hopes that his ‘Faces of Sheffield’ project will act as a “social history” of the city he loves, with people looking back at the portraits for years to come.
“I feel in today’s society, a lot of people are very closed off,” he says.
“You know, you get on the bus with people every day and don’t say a word, so it’s quite nice to just speak to a stranger, hear their story and have a connection.”
1. Matt Willoughby
Matt Willoughby pictured in Sheffield city centre, with his camera Photo: Matt Willoughby
2. Grum & Amy
Married couple, Graham is a caretaker, a skinhead who loves music and riding his scooter, Amy, a neighbourhood officer, loves 70s glam, ska and Boss Reggae, loves gigs and scooter rallies. Photo: Matt Willoughby Photo: Matt Willoughby
3. Hana & Steph
Hana's an illustrator and indie game developer who also runs the clothing brand Pinku Kult. Steph's an illustrator, tattoo artist at Avid Ink, and runs her own brand Cosmic Boop. Photo: Matt Willoughby
4. Sheffield artist Pete McKee
Sheffield artist Pete McKee. Photo: Matt Willoughby Photo: Matt Willoughby