Joanna Millington

The Norwich-based photographer is on a mission to revive the art of the traditional portrait in the age of the throwaway selfie

- Lucy Fulford

 

  In the age of smartphones and selfies, we take more photos than ever – and yet we can sometimes be left without a single image of value, as photographer Joanna Millington discovered when her brother passed away four years ago, aged just 24.

“As with most people of that generation, the only images we have of him are from Facebook or Instagram,” she says. “Hastily shot selfies with filters. Snaps at a party. iPhone shots from a holiday. My parents wanted to frame a nice picture of him, and we just didn’t have any. How many of us can say we’ve had a professional photo taken of ourselves other, perhaps, than at a wedding? You have pictures as babies and children, and then you just don’t have your picture taken any more.”

And so Millington, 47, has made it her mission to bring portraits to the masses and change the perception of this very personal style of photography. “Portraits are a requirement of those in the public eye and I want to bring that to the everyday person,” she says. “Good quality, professional, but real photos that can be treasured and passed down through the family.”

From her studio and home in Norwich, Millington now focuses on portrait and event photography. It’s a relatively new direction for the mother-of-two, who’s known for her natural, observational and artistic wedding photography. Prior to this her background was in publishing, where she worked for the likes of Top of the Pops magazine and viewed photography as nothing more than a hobby. It was when she took eight years off to be a full-time mum that she bought her first SLR and her passion developed.