Winnipeg photographer takes a portrait a day

A Winnipeg photographerpledged to take a portrait a day for the whole year.DavidLipnowskipromised to never shoot several on one day and stockpile images,so each portrait was made on that day.

Lipnowskihas posted his photographs mostly ofWinnipeggers on his website,along with shortwrite-upsabout each one.

Now,the 365 Portrait Project is complete.

The whole project was a big learning experience for him. "I think the biggest thing was how muchperseveranceI had to have to actually complete this. I thought about giving up manytimesthroughout the year when it got really tough and cold. I was surprised how I was actually able to make it all the way through and go out every single day of theentireyear to get it done."

He saidhemet some pretty interesting people through the year. "Sometimes you see someone on the street and you think they would make for an incredible portrait,and now I have an excuse to do that," he said.

Lipnowskisaidmost of his subjects were strangers he stoppedon the street, but he admitted thatit couldsometimes be tricky to convince people to have their picture taken.

"You could ask 20 people on the street before someone will agree. I've learneda lot about social psychological phenomena about approaching people on the street. I'm getting better at judging who would agree but sometimes people still surprise me."

Some of his subjects are famous, like astronautChris Hadfield,NDP Leader ThomasMulcair and Gov. Gen.David Johnstonas well aslocal celebrities like documentary maker and activistEd Ackerman.

"He's an incredible guy to photograph, he's got a lot of charisma," he said ofAckerman.

But he also admitted that it was the ordinary people on the street that made the most visually interesting portraits.

Lipnowski saidpeople were not shy about sharing their stories with him.

"The camera is a passport to get into other people's lives.When you havea camera and you show them this picture you've made of them, they kind of open up to you," he said.

"Sometimes you learn some incredible things by talking to people you wouldn't normally talk to. It's one of the big surprisesI've found doing this project."

Overall he saidit's been a very positive experience, and he has found that subjects all have one thing in common.

"Anyone who agrees to it has their own charm. Generally they're nice people who agree to help out an artist approaching them on the street."

As for the future, Lipnowskihopes there might eventually be a book. He would like to mount a show in an art gallery to reach a different audience.