Roman is a London-based portrait photographer. For more than two decades, he has explored the city with a camera, photographing the people he meets along the way.

His approach was shaped in the analogue era, learning to shoot, develop and print his own photographs. His fascination with faces began early through drawing and gradually evolved into a photographic practice centred on spontaneous, character-driven portraits. Growing up in an artistic environment, and later working for many years in architecture, developed his attentiveness to composition, gesture and the relationship between people and their surroundings.

Alongside his career in architecture, Roman was frequently commissioned to document the human side of designed spaces. His portraits have been published and exhibited, and form part of the permanent display at the London Business School’s Sammy Ofer Centre. More recently, his exhibition Soho Characters and Other Icons at the Colony Room in Soho brought together some of the personalities he has encountered and photographed on the streets of London.

Today his work centres on portraiture and The Art of Approach - an exploration of what happens when we choose to cross the distance between ourselves and someone we don't know.

After more than two decades walking London with a camera, Roman has become increasingly interested not only in the person in front of him, but in why certain people make him stop in the first place. What do we recognise in another person before we know anything about them? What changes when we approach? And what do we bring of ourselves to the portrait?

This thinking also shapes his workshops. Rather than teaching a formula for photographing strangers, Roman encourages photographers to understand why they approach, to become comfortable with the uncertainty of the encounter, and ultimately to find their own way of making a connection.

Photography and drawing remain two sides of the same practice.

Whether working through the lens or the line, the starting point is another person. What comes back is often something more personal.

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Perhaps every portrait is a reflection.