Courtney Doyle BA Hons Photography Blog Level 5: Mike Harvey

I came across Mike Harvey's taxi portraits scrolling through Vice as he was interviewed for the website because of his unique project. He worked as a taxi driver for 4 years in a community called Neath in Swansea, Wales so that it would fund his adventures of travelling around the world. He described each journey as a unique experience and had a narrative, which is definitely clear in his work as every passenger was different and brought stories and details of their lives and personality's. The intention of this project, which is also ongoing, is to present the culture and society of this area and how they use the taxi space and also how being the taxi driver gave him and insight into these peoples lives, but also what he has experienced with the passengers such as being offered drugs, permission for the passengers to drugs, sexual acts ect. I think the meaning behind these portraits is so interesting because each one is different and would offer knowledge about their lives to the driver, Mike that gives us, the audience an insight that is portrayed in these images. All images were taken on a DSLR Mike Harvey bought especially to shoot this project, a more easier option to photograph his passengers quickly after they had reached their destination. Each image was also captioned as however much that journey cost.