For my first photo shoot I decided that I was going to take photos of a Madeiran folklore group. I did this because folklore is the physical expression of culture as a group of people. It conveys the projects and the traditions that link with a culture. It projects the traditions common to that culture. They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade instruments common to the group. This particular group is of folk dancers which is very traditional in Madeira only rather than Portugal.

This group of people are organised by a woman and each member of the group has immigrated from Madeira. I decided to photograph these people, as they are the strongest link to culture in Jersey, whist keeping the tradition alive for the people who have migrated.

They do folk dances in Portuguese festivals here in Jersey and train all year.Many families are part of the group. There were fathers, mothers and children. I thought it was very interesting to see the children in the traditional outfits, as the folk dance is very traditional for the older generation.

After getting in contact with the group I was able to produce the series of images above. These photographs were taken as they did traditional dances, played traditional instruments, and sung traditional songs. I enjoy taking photographs of people when they are distracted to make them as real and as natural as possible and I believe that I was able to do this with the images I produced.