We're taking a snapshot of life in Lancashire

Picture Karl Child - Blackpools Society for the Blind, N-Vision care for some 2400 visually impaired people in Lancashire and over the duration of a seven month period photographer Karl Child is working closely with the charity to document and share the incredible and inspirational stories of some of those in the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre area, as they take a very personal journey to independence

A new photography project is set to capture modern-day life in Lancashire through a lens.

Photographers across the county are taking to streets, workplaces and places of interest to capture ‘‘real” Lancashire for the new Relative Strangers project

The pioneer behind the project, photographer Alyssa Gilbert, says the visual concept will be inspired by Lancashire society past and present and explore individual people, social and ethnic groups, workplace employees and various other stories of people through pictures.

Photographer Alyssa Gilbert has launched the Relative Strangers project in Lancashire

Alyssa, who is working in collaboration with the Lancashire Archives, said the idea is to build a catalogue of local portfolios which will then be submitted to the Bow Lane archives in Preston.

The Preston’s College tutor said: “The idea is that anyone can get involved – it is about what Lancashire means or represents to people living here today.

“We are very fragmented these days and this is a different way of interacting. This isn’t for a niche group of photographers – it’s for anyone.

“Exploring different parts of the county through pictures, turning it into something tangible.”

The team are actively encouraging Lancashire-based residents and emerging photographers to share their representations of the county and upload to Twitter with the hashtag #Lancsarchive

Relative strangers has similarities with Brandon Stanton’s ‘Humans of New York’ series, which since its launch on Facebook in 2010 now has more than 15 million followers.

The page gives a glimpse into the lives and stories of the people who inhabit the Big Apple, showing New York City “one story at a time”

Alyssa says: “Pictures can be ordinary or extraordinary but very personal, very real.

“Lancashire is so culturally diverse and it’s a way to celebrate and share that diversity and then to have that live forever in the archive”

The group is preparing a series of portrait days, starting in Preston City Centre, where Alyssa and colleagues hope to take photos for the archival project.

Her students at the Fulwood campus will also be working on collections, which Alyssa hopes in the future will form part of a ‘Relative Strangers’ exhibition.

“As a starting point, we are trying to create a typology of portraits gathered online if anyone living in Lancashire tags a self-portrait with #lancsarchive.

“All the photographs submitted will be made into an A3 or A2 typology and submitted to the archives as well as featuring on the Relative Strangers website relativestrangers.co.uk/@relativephoto.