Paramedic Chris Porsz from England is a paramedic and an amateur photographer who located the people he photographed in his hometown 40 years ago and recreated a total of 134 photos for his new photo book.
It took him hours and hours of walking through the streets of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire back in the 80s to take the beautiful shots of people, including sibling and sweethearts, posers and punks, teens and traders.
After 3 decades, the ‘paramedic paparazzo’ thought it would be fun and enjoyable to recreate some of his personal favorites from the past.
Believe it or not, some of the people who photographed back in the days recognized themselves after he published their photos in the paper news, on his Facebook, and on his website.
The Recreations Were Very Successful
The photo reconstructions were very successful and so Porsz decided to do more.
He spent several years on tracking down the people from his photos and asking them to pose in the same way again.
His hard work rewarded him and now he has the originals and the recreations published in his book called Reunions which is also claimed to be the only one of its kind in the whole world.
Porsz explained that it took almost 40 years to make this book and he thinks this is a very unique project.
He believed that this could turn into something special and he made the decision to do at least 100 photos. He says that for him, this was a labor of love.
When Did Porsz Develop His Love for Photography?
Porsz fell in love with photography after he bought a camera when his first kid Simon was born. This was back in 1978.
Soon enough, the family photos weren’t enough a challenge and on his days off, Chris, who then worked as a casualty porter at the Peterborough District Hospital, began searching the streets of his hometown for inspiration.
He took photos of punks with pink dyed hairs, of siblings playing on the streets of shopkeepers.
He later developed the photos in a dark room he set up at home and chose the best ones and placed them in an album. His inspiration was certain expressions on people’s faces or some fleeting moment.
Photography became his ‘addiction’ and he mostly took photos of people who he believed stood out from the crowd with their fun, quirkiness or differences.
Life Got Busy so He Put Photography Aside
In 1986, Porsz got a new job as a paramedic and already had three children. His life got very busy and he had scarce time to dedicate to his loving hobby. Soon enough, the albums began collecting dust.
But, in 2009, he came across some of his old photos and sent some of them to their local paper, the Evening Telegraph. The readers were very pleased and he began receiving letters from the readers who recognized themselves in the photos he took of them years ago.
He explains that he never took anyone’s numbers or names as he never expected to see them again- he just took the photos randomly.
Check out some of the most stunning recreations he made:
