Honest portraits of masculinity in Manchester

Manchester is, and always has been, a hotbed of inspiration – and recent photography graduate Jodie Elliott couldn’t agree more. For her final, and ongoing, project, “In Bloom”, the London-born Manchester School of Arts alumnus explains her idea to shoot young Mancunian men came after she snapped her friend, Alec, smoking in his bedroom. “Traditionally men have always photographed women. But for me the female gaze interests me because, as a female, I find beauty in masculinity but I'm also drawn in by many other factors too, such as personality, and I like to capture it in many different forms,” she says. “I think the way women photograph men is much softer, and we see them in a different way – so we capture them from our own perspective.” Shooting analogue and drawn to each of her subjects for varying reasons, Elliott says there’s one common thread that brings them together. “I think it’s more of an unconscious attraction. I'm inspired by adolescence, and the awkwardness of being young. Youth culture is something that is a constant inspiration to me, as well as memories of being a teenager. I just turned 24, and I still don't feel like an adult!”

To see more of Elliott’s work, click here