‘Not a single person shied away’: how a year chronicling end-of-life stories changed one photographer

Nigel Taimanu, who used voluntary assisted dying the day after his 53rd birthday, is pictured with his partner Kath. Photograph: Julian Kingma

Julian Kingma was afraid of dying.

In this regard, perhaps the award-winning portrait photographer is not much different from the rest of us. But Kingma’s obsession with mortality had stalked him since childhood – and spilled over into adulthood.