New Work – Martin Brent
Martin felt privileged not only to be asked to shoot this campaign for the RBLI but also to be able to work with the sitters (all of whom are ex-service men and women) and to be a part of creating these four incredibly striking ads.
He writes: ‘Although we mostly think about our veterans on significant anniversaries the story for them is an everyday fact, often meaning they carry mental as well as the physical scars of conflict and for many the journey after leaving the forces is tough, really tough. We rarely pause to appreciate that our veterans are actually all ages, from 19 to 99, something I learnt during our site visit to the RBLI village in Kent earlier this year. The charity offers extensive housing, care and even employment to ex-service men and women. A promising military career can end very early in training or combat, sometimes the damage remains hidden for years, with some people just getting by or sadly not, sometimes with tragic outcomes.
We worked with four volunteers who bravely agreed to be photographed for this awareness campaign. It was important that our images were authentic, the subjects all had their own stories and it was crucial that they felt that the portraits communicated their feelings honestly. I won’t lie it was an emotional journey for all concerned, working with people this way has to be a true collaboration, it was genuinely humbling.
The big take away for me, I honestly don’t know what would become of many of the residents of the village if it were not for RBLI. As a nation we are very good at finding and sending our heroes out to battle ready to make the ultimate sacrifice but not so good at taking care of them after the event and as war doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon the services that this organisation provides are more important than ever.’
Martin Brent – June ’24

Photography & Post Prod – Martin Brent
CD – Richard Payne
Assistants – Ben Hughes & Tom Buller
Equipment – The Flash Centre