The People Project was a unique art project that saw nearly one thousand people from across the Midlands take their own self portraits.

It also facilitated stakeholder feedback to one of the area's most prominent housing groups and culminated in an innovative, interactive, month-long showing at the Public in West Bromwich.

Homer Creative used experience in self-portrait photography that dates back to Handsworth Self Portrait in 1979 and includes our own on-going Self Portrait Birmingham Project, to work with the Accord Housing Group and create this portfolio of images of their tenants and community members.

We toured our mobile studio to a dozen community events including the three-day Caldmore Festival in Walsall, a community event in Moseley and a residents' fun day in Coventry. We also ran sessions at the National Housing Federation Conference at the ICC.

The studio set up allowed visitors to pose in any way they wished against a white backdrop, using a long cable release to take their own snaps. The digital camera used was linked to a computer and high quality printer so that people could see their images straight away and choose a free print to take away with them instantly.

People who took part in the Project were also asked what they feel makes a great place to live - helping to inform the services that Accord provide to it's 40,000 customers. Our 'secret ingredient' lies in the expertise of the team who are all photographers and workshop leaders, used to interaction in community and youth settings.

This project really captured people's imaginations and the result was a vibrant social snapshot of the Midlands in 2010.

Margot Lambert, who led the project for the Accord Group, said: "The work of housing associations is all about people and places and we've captured some amazing photographs that really showcase the incredible diversity of the Midlands."

As well as producing the images, Homer Creative built a website for the project at www.thepeopleproject.org.uk and produced an accompanying booklet designed with a simple font and three toned colour scheme that would subtly frame the images. The images were also used as the visual focus for that year's Accord Group Annual Report.

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