The Future is Ours, Classroom Portraits, 2004 - 2012
What happens when a stranger enters a classroom during a lesson and asks for the pupils' total concentration for 15 minutes in order to make their portrait? He positions everyone with great care (so that they can clearly be seen) and then demands that they stay completely still for the long exposure. The results are both predictable and astonishing.
This ongoing series by Julian Germain started in northeast England. Since then Germain has visited schools throughout North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. His magnificent photographs are packed with detail--books open on graffitied desks, instructions on white and blackboards, artwork hanging on walls, notes scribbled on the backs of hands. And of course there are the faces of the children themselves; enrapt, bored, inquisitive, arrogant, or shy, they incite endless curiosity about what these kids' lives are like and what their futures hold.
These portraits trigger memories of our own schooldays and bring into sharp focus the contemporary school experience throughout the world, in all its diversity and universality.
England, Seaham, Reception and Year 1, Structured Play
Taiwan, Ruei Fang Township, Kindergarten, Art
Saudi Arabia, Dammam, Kindergarden, Activities 
Wales, Felindre, Reception and Years 1 & 2, Numeracy
England, Keighley, Year 6, History
England, Bradford, Year 7, Art
Holland, Drouwenermond, Primary Year 5, 6, 7 & 8, History
Peru, Cusco, Primary Grade 4, Mathematics
USA, Oklahoma, Avant, Grade 4 & 5 Social Sciences
Osvaldo Herrera Junior High School Gonzales, San Fernando de Camarones, Palmyra Township, Cuba., 2011
Argentina, Buenos Aires, Grade 4, Natural Science
Tokyo, Japan, Grade 5, Classical Japanese
Peru, Tiracanchi, Secondary Grade 2, Mathematics
Yemen, Manakha, Primary Year 2, Science Revision
Yemen, Sanaa, Secondary Year 2, English
Brazil, Belo Horizonte, Series 6, Mathematics
Qatar, Grade 10, Religion
Nigeria, Kano, Ooron Dutse, Senior Islamic Secondary Level 2, Social Studies
England, Wolsingham, Year 12, English
The Netherlands, Rotterdam, Secondary Group 3, Motor Mechanics
Check out this behind the scenes footage here and here
This ongoing series by Julian Germain started in northeast England. Since then Germain has visited schools throughout North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. His magnificent photographs are packed with detail--books open on graffitied desks, instructions on white and blackboards, artwork hanging on walls, notes scribbled on the backs of hands. And of course there are the faces of the children themselves; enrapt, bored, inquisitive, arrogant, or shy, they incite endless curiosity about what these kids' lives are like and what their futures hold.
These portraits trigger memories of our own schooldays and bring into sharp focus the contemporary school experience throughout the world, in all its diversity and universality.
Bangladesh, Jessore. Year 10, English
"I never tell the students how they should look but ensuring that everybody has a clear view of the camera requires concentration and patience. Each pupil has to be aware of their place in the picture.
In order to achieve sharp focus in both fore- and background, the exposure time is usually a quarter or half a second so the pupils have to be ready for the moment the shutter is released. I am waiting for them and they are waiting for me. The process itself generates an atmosphere and the time captured in the portrait seems significant." ~ Julian Germain
Kuramo Junior College, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Basic 7 / Junior Secondary Level 1, Mathematics.
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Julian Germain /
photographing large groups
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