Local celebrity photographer Paul Smith is set to bring social media to life when he exhibits his Sunday Portrait Project at The J Noosa this holiday season.
Smith has posted a portrait every Sunday to his Facebook profile for the past year including well-known celebrities and unknown citizens.
He said he embarked on the project as a way to regain his passion for photography.
“I was losing touch with why I did photography in the first place.
“When you do something you love for a job it all becomes about the money,” he said.
Each portrait is accompanied by a short commentary and includes well-known faces such as James brown, Florence Welsh, Pete Evans and Ian Thorpe, just to name a few.
Paul said one of the challenges of this project was seeing the effect one photo could have on a lot of people.
“It’s been interesting. I don’t mind the feedback, I think that’s great, but it’s when (the comments) were nasty that it wasn’t OK,” Smith said.
Arguably the most controversial portrait was that of Week 22 which showed a young boy smeared in blood pointing toy guns at the lens.
Paul said he received threats after the photo was viewed more than 23,000 times on social media.
“It’s funny because it was a campaign against violence and it turned into something quite violent,” he said.
Although the project was challenging and difficult, Smith said he is glad he completed The Sunday Portrait Project and plans to make up for the lack of Sunday sleep-ins from the past year.
The portraits and commentaries will be exhibited at The J Noosa, 60 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads, between 5 December and 31 January 2016.
Smith will be available daily between 3pm and 5.30pm each day until 23 December.
For more information contact The J Noosa on 5329 6560.
