Brighton photographer sets up project to raise funds for charity

She said: "Prints with Purpose is a project I conceived a little while back, with the idea of donating a percentage of profits raised from the sale of artwork to a local charity.

"The original idea was to produce limited edition archival prints, but with the circumstances surrounding the Covid pandemic and the number of people left in isolation on their own, I decided that it would be nice to initially produce boxed sets of postcards for people to send out to their loved ones to let them know they were in their thoughts while they were unable to see them in person."

A third of all the profits of the sales are going to RISE, an independent, Brighton-based registered charity that helps people affected by domestic abuse.

Beth said: "I've had more and more contact with people over the past few years who have been affected by domestic abuse, or work with people who have.

"The statistics sky rocketed at the beginning of lockdown and I just started thinking - what of I didn't feel safe in my own home? The things people go through when they are stuck in this cycle is heartbreaking. Rise do amazing work helping to support this vulnerable group and they've been on my radar for a while, so it seemed like an obvious choice.

"Despite the fact that it's not an easy time financially, I feel really blessed to be safe, in my home, and have everything I need to exist and stay well. I wanted to do something which helped in a small way for those who aren't so lucky."

Beth studied editorial photography at Brighton uni graduated in 2007, since then she has been both a photographer and shoot producer.

Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis Beth has seen work slow down considerably.

"I think the creative industries have been one of the most hard hit by Covid-19. As with the majority of freelance photographers I know, work has pretty much trickled to a standstill over the past couple of months," she said.

"As I'm predominantly a portrait photographer, it hasn't been possible to safely shoot while social distancing is in place. To be honest it's given me time to work through some admin and putting the wheels in motion to plan for future projects and shoots. I've also been uploading photographs to image libraries."

All of the images were picked from an edit of around 300 Beth loved, by friends, family and friends of friends.

She added: "It was a nice process - when you work on your own, it's easy to get stuck with just your own perspective - I was surprised at a couple of the images which were clear favourites as I wouldn't necessarily have kept them in the final edit.

"It's been an amazing project to work on so far, and I've had such lovely responses from the people who have purchased them. So far they've been sent to the UK, France, Holland, USA, Singapore and Thailand. It's amazing to know they will be winging their way around the globe.

"I've also had quite a few requests for prints, so am hoping to add these to the site soon. If anyone has any specific requests I'm happy to consider them."

For more on the project and to buy cards, visit: www.bethsteddon.com/printswithpurpose

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