Examples of the photography from Did You Take This?

“WHEN I pitched it to the young people, the idea was how do you want to be seen in your area?”

Self-portraits taken by teenagers living in the Regent’s Park estate will soon be displayed on bus stops around Camden after a successful youth club initiative has blossomed into a public art project.

The project, titled Did You Take This?, equipped teenagers aged 12-14 from the Fitzrovia Youth in Action youth club with the skills to shoot on medium format film cameras.

It allowed them to “change the narrative” and control how they wanted to be represented to the public.

And the exhibition is only the beginning, said project leader Louie Stewart, 25.

Photography student Mr Stewart, who grew up in York Rise and learnt photography in sixth form at Parliament Hill, said the concept formed his final project at university and was an extension of his voluntary work in youth clubs.

He was inspired by the portraits of Marcus Rashford on bus stops, which were part of the Portrait of Britain series.

Mr Stewart said: “The idea was to do a socially engaged piece working with the community. We’d meet every Thursday and at weekends to take pictures.  “When I started the young people were shy. But after the first session their confidence grew. You could see they wanted to take pictures, they wanted to be involved. I remember one of the boys saying after he saw the developed pictures, ‘oh they’re actually really good’.

“It’s ongoing. I’m going to continue to work with them. I want this to be a bigger thing. I want building a portfolio and doing photography to be an option for them to pursue if they want to.”

The photos – assisted self-portraits and self-portraits – are mostly black and white, some were taken on Polaroids, and the majority were taken by the young people themselves.

The group, called the Young Guardians, met up a few weekends ago to practice their skills at the Regent’s Roots festival.

Mr Stewart hopes to set up a street studio near the estate where residents can get their picture taken either as self-portraiture or via the Young Guardians.

Louie Stewart at work

Mr Stewart’s interest in the area began from his previous part-time job at the council helping residents who were affected by the HS2 development.

“If you’re looking at something from the outside, you go in thinking ‘this is what people are affected by’,” he said.

“But most of the time it’s not what you think. You learn along the way. “They’re kids. They’re not interested in the politics of HS2 or a hoarding going up in their area. They just get on with it like all kids do.

“More than anything they liked being behind the camera. When you start working with young people you realise it’s about just letting them do things, letting them learn and experience new skills.

“There doesn’t always have to be a reason. You make the reason after through them making the work.”