The student on the image she took while working on a series for her photography A-level

Aleesha Coker, then 17, and her two younger sisters, Freda and Bintu, had stopped off at the corner shop for a snack on their way home from school. Coker had been working on a series for her photography A-level, shooting through glass from exterior to interior. As the girls passed by a payphone in Lorrimore Square, south London, Coker was inspired to set up a moment. She used an iPhone 12 set to portrait mode – “I don’t particularly enjoy using film cameras,” she says – and was pleased with how “the muted colours gave it an intimate feeling”.

“As their older sister, I feel a responsibility to protect them and be a role model. Freda is 13. She’s very quiet most of the time, but can be loud when she feels comfortable. Bintu is 10; she has a very bubbly character and can be outspoken. “I don’t think their expressions in the photograph necessarily reflect the excitable parts of their personalities,” she says, “but something deeper. When my little sisters gaze at the camera in this way, I’m reminded of how much they trust me.”

The Italian photographer on capturing a moment of peace on the Rimini riviera during a difficult time

As a portraitist and wedding photographer, Matteo Fagiolino likes to reflect his subjects’ personalities in his work. This photograph was taken after the first Covid lockdown ended, at the beach at Torre Pedrera, a town on the Rimini riviera in Italy.

“It was a summer afternoon after months of social distancing,” he says. “It had been so long since my whole family had spent the day together, it was a breath of fresh air for everyone.”