Christopher Ward, a photographer originally from South Africa now based in Northern Ireland, has gained a large social media following for his candid street photography videos in which he captures portraits of strangers going about their daily lives.
Armed with an unassuming demeanor and a relentless curiosity, Chris embarks on a daily journey through the streets, ready to engage with strangers who cross his path.
He isn't looking for glossy facades or superficial moments, instead, his lens is trained on the very heartbeat of Belfast – its people.
His popular TikTok account shares these candid encounters with strangers, capturing touching moments of humanity.
It all started during the lockdown when Chris began photographing local scenery with his drone and camera.
"I took a couple of pictures that I was proud of and thought, yeah, that’s really good," he shares.
Feeling creatively unfulfilled at the time, he found inspiration from similar street photography accounts on Instagram and TikTok. However, Chris wanted to dig deeper.
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"They never found out anything about the person. They never asked the person any questions," he explains.
"I thought, how about I combine the two? The photo is beside the point. Asking for a photo is just a way for me to get into the person's life for a moment."
This was the beginning of his poignant street portraits. Chris approaches strangers, snaps their photo, and draws out their personal stories.
He edits these conversations into short videos for TikTok and Instagram.
One particular encounter that went viral was with a man named Ellis from Ghana who he happened to meet at Botanic Gardens in Belfast.
"The minute I saw him, I just immediately went up to him. There's a man who's got a story," Chris recalls.
During their conversation, Ellis opened up about wanting to be accepted for who he is.
“He had a good mellow vibe. He was very calm. And I edited his video. I didn't expect much. I still only had 70 followers at this stage on Instagram. I put it up and it just went so viral. And people really responded to him.”
“People responded to it because he was talking about things that really are universal, that he just wanted to be accepted by people because of his appearance.”
“He had very long dreadlocks. Very long dreadlocks. He was telling me that his parents and his family always wanted him to cut his hair.”
“And, yeah, it really resonated with people. And that video has got, I think, over 6 million views now. And it was the one video that really helped me grow from 70 followers to what do I have now 150,000 followers?”
Another impactful portrait was of Ugur, a Turkish man working in Dublin to buy a house for his mother.
"He said he loved the Irish people, and so he was working to try and buy his mother a house. People just loved that" Chris says.
These genuine glimpses into people's lives are what draw his growing audience in.
Chris has refined his approach over time.
"I'm sort of getting good now at finding the person who will say yes to me," he explains. He looks for interesting characters based on instinct. "Sometimes that happens. The minute I see them, I just immediately I want to go up to them."
Approaching strangers requires sensitivity though.
"I always try and approach everybody with a sensitivity, man or female."
"The one thing I do very quickly is I try and pay a compliment. I say I stopped you because you look really stylish or you look really cool, something like that. But it's not insincere, because I genuinely have stopped them for a reason."
Chris strives to capture his subjects' essence.
"If somebody is kind of shy, I will try and have that reflected in the images, their personality slightly."
He focuses on framing, depth of field, and drawing focus to the eyes even though, he lets the strangers pose as they wish to keep it natural.
His viral videos often surprise his subjects. "An English gentleman that I interviewed in London whose video got 3 million views, his daughter just couldn't believe it.”
Ultimately, Chris hopes to convey the good side of humanity that is often ignored in this day and age where he feels the differences in people are highlighted more than the similarities.
"I want people to see that we're all just human, and if you went up to somebody on the street, they would be nice and kind to you."
He plans to continue roaming Belfast, meeting more of the city's captivating strangers.
"You might see me around Belfast. Near Botanic or Queen’s more often. That's where I usually hang around."
