East Coast veterans photographed as part of cross-country 'Honour Country Sacrifice' portrait series

Trevor Godinho, an internationally-acclaimed Toronto based-photographer, recently arrived in Nova Scotia to photograph portraits of veterans on the East Coast.

From Saturday until Monday, Godinho planned to capture the faces and stories of those who have served and continue to serve in Nova Scotia. The photographs are part of his ‘Honour Country Sacrifice’ portrait series, a project he founded in 2019.

"It's very important for us as Canadians to recognize these people and it's very important to see ourselves in our military, it's the only way for us to learn how to support them and learn what they go through,” says Godinho.

Godinho planned to photograph veterans who served in the Second World War all the way to modern conflicts, as well as the peace times. Godinho says this type of work is important to him.

"A lot of them deal with things that they feel they deal with alone, and this project, once it's seen across the country, will start that conversation of how we treat our military after they are done,” says Godinho.

Retired Colonel John Boileau was among those who were photographed. He says he served in uniform for 50 years and his portrait means so much to him.

"This project is fantastic in the way it’s capturing veterans from right across the country, from all branches of service, from all years of service, giving them not only an opportunity to not only be photographed, but to tell a bit about their time in uniform as well,” says Boileau.

Boileau added, during the shoot with Godinho, he was reflecting on his time served.

"My time in Germany, my time in Cyprus, from several years in the United Kingdom, from a year at Fort Knox in the United States, it kinda brought it all together in a rush of memories,” he says.

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Godinho has been traveling across the country to share veterans' stories. In Halifax, he partnered with Commissionaires Nova Scotia. He met CEO Barry Pitcher years back and they have kept in touch.

Pitcher says he felt Commissionaires Nova Scotia was the perfect location for the project, as there is a large veteran population on the East Coast.

"We have a strong naval tradition, Air Force and Army contingent here, it was only natural that with that presence in Eastern Canada, as well as a high veteran population here in Eastern Canada, that Trevor would come down and be exposed to the great stories,” says Pitcher.

The project is far from over. Godinho says, so far, he has photographed 108 out of 400 veterans. The goal is to complete the project by next year.

“In its completed form, it's going to be life-sized portraits across the country, I'm hoping in public spaces, so you're forced to interact with these and you scan the QR code and you will hear the individual, it may be a World War Two vet or an Afghanistan vet or someone that is currently serving, telling their story in an intimate way,” says Godinho.

Until an exhibit is in place, the portraits can be found online.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.