About people and beards

What is it about a man with a beard? In an era of hipsters and dandies, photographer Joseph D.R. O'Leary decided to explore the idea of facial hair as a form of creativity, self-expression and "rebellion". Now he is working on the project “On Beards and People”, photos from which are presented here.

(Total 13 photos)

1. More than a year ago I decided to publish a book with photographs of people with beards. I wanted to explore society's current admiration for courage and its outer manifestation. I see men pushing their own boundaries, denying who they are, to create a personality that falls back to the stereotypes of men.

2. As a photographer, I often referred to myself as the subject of my photography. In self-portraits, I explore my own personality and create personalities that I feel I am playing in my own life.

3. Each portrait emphasizes and enhances some of my own elements. And I am very comforted by this concentrated process of self-exploration.

4. The project "On beards and people" pushes me beyond this calmness.

5. And instead of exploring my own personality, I decided to explore others. The search for objects other than myself allowed me to put my own personality in contrast to these men.

6. I wanted to create portraits in which the personality of each man would be visible.

7. At the beginning, my subjects were cut short. In general, the photos came out flat and I was not satisfied.

8. But when I started to devote more time to the personality of each subject, the pictures began to turn out more interesting.

9. Eventually, photographs have become a visual record of courage in today's society.

10. Over the past 14 months I have invited 125 bearded men to my studio. Many of them have never posed for a professional photographer before.

11. Getting them to push their own boundaries was not easy, but at the same time very grateful.

12. By placing my own self-portrait in the context of other men with beards, I gained a new perspective on artistic curiosity.

13. After researching masculinity for a year, I became interested in other ideas about the manifestation of sex.