Great War Portraits

Great War Portraits started in 1984 when I travelled with twenty Great War veterans to the battlefields of France and Belgium, the old Western Front. During the week long trip I photographed them, listened to their stories and shared a beer or two. On returning home I visited some of them in their homes, taking photographs of them surrounded by their homely effects.

Over the next twenty years I managed to meet and photograph other veterans, many over 100 years old. On the death of Harry Patch, the last British Infantryman who had served in the trenches, I went to his funeral in Wells, Somerset. The final photograph in my book Great War Portraits is of Harry's coffin being carried into Wells Cathedral. A fitting conclusion to this photographic project.

All images ©Keith Collman - All Rights Reserved