Nigel
Brunsdon

Photography of Harm Reduction

Nigel
Brunsdon

Photography of
Harm Reduction
Working for almost two decades in the field of harm reduction has given me a privileged level of access that many photographers will never get to this wonderfully diverse set of communities.
My photography subjects are the workers, advocates, people who use drugs and academics I have met around the world. Sometimes it's people I meet once at a conference, often it's people who I meet repeatedly over the years, building friendships and trusts that I try and reflect in my photographs.
Continue reading

Holly Bradford

Injecting equipment

Neil Hunt

Philippe Bonnet

Latest Update

Long Walk To Treatment

Long Walk To Treatment

In September 2018 I was in Australia working on a photography project about drug consumption rooms. While I was there the team involved in creating campaigns for Uniting (the organisation that runs the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre) asked if I would be willing to spend a day travelling to photograph a young woman involved in their Fair Treatment campaign. She was going to be doing a part called the ’Long Walk to Treatment’. Of course I said yes, who wouldn’t? But it did almost kill my camera.

 All updates

Long Walk To Treatment

In September 2018 I was in Australia working on a photography project about drug consumption rooms. While I was there the team involved in creating campaigns for Uniting (the organisation that runs the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre) asked if I would be willing to spend a day travelling to photograph a young woman involved in their Fair Treatment campaign. She was going to be doing a part called the ’Long Walk to Treatment’. Of course I said yes, who wouldn’t? But it did almost kill my camera.

 All updates

Ongoing Projects

Harm Reduction Heroes

Working in harm reduction all these years I've met some amazing people. I tend to think of them as a single harm reduction community, but in reality they are part of many distinct communities that share a basic philosophy. That philosophy, at it's purest, aims to reduce individual and community harms while working to 'meet people where they are at' (physically and mentally) without judgement.
View project
John at CRA
John Gutenson

Drug Use Equipment

I'm currently working on multiple projects covering drug use equipment, it's history and use. These include projects around drug related litter and a project documenting a beautiful collection of vintage drug paraphenalia.
View projects
The Bonnet Collection

The Hands Project

I started this project back in 2014 when I realised that one of the 'constants' in my photography was my obsession with people's hands. Many of the people in our harm reduction communities have hands that tell stories and/or reflect their personality. A significant portion of us have tattoos and scars documenting our lives.
View project
Angie Woody
Angie Woody

Event Photography

Over the years I've been very lucky to attend events, seminars, conferences around the world, harm reduction cafés, or even just the times a small handful of us meet up in a friend's appartment for a meal. All of these times I can be found behind a camera.
View project
Greg Scott & Timothy Shortell
Latest Updates
Main Projects
Contact Me
All images and content © Nigel Brunsdon, all rights reserved.