This Field Note documents an editorial portrait assignment for The Times, featuring Rachael David, an antinatalist who believes that having children is morally wrong.
The feature examines falling birth rates and the growing number of people who actively choose not to have children, with David offering a personal perspective on the philosophy behind antinatalism.
The portrait needed to sit alongside a story built around an idea that can be difficult to photograph directly. Rather than attempting to illustrate antinatalism itself, the images focus on Rachael David as the person behind the argument, using portraiture to give a human presence to an otherwise abstract and complex subject.
The photographs provide a point of entry into the wider discussion, allowing the reader to encounter the person and perspective at the centre of the feature before engaging with the broader questions around birth, morality and choice.
The assignment was a reminder of the particular role editorial portraiture can play when the subject is an idea as much as an individual: the photograph does not need to provide an answer, but it can give the reader somewhere to begin.
Read the full story in The Times
