Portfolio: Portrait photographer Travis Hodges reveals what links people on Twitter

'I'd been resisting joining Twitter – I didn't want another social-media account I wouldn't use. A friend eventually talked me into it – though I said I'd join only if I could do something creative with it," says Travis Hodges.

Thus originated a project that began just over two years ago. A portrait photographer, Hodges approached the most Twitter-active person he was following and asked to take his likeness. "I then asked him to introduce me to someone he followed to be my next subject."

Each row of portraits in the gallery above led from one to another (with comments from the previous person appended to each), creating Hodges' own network of sorts – one that now stands at 18 people. "It's been fascinating how each connection brings me to a whole new world," says the 32-year-old. "I've gone from east London creative types to artists and illustrators to comedians."

Fascinating, too, has been discovering how people forge online identities. Each image is about getting that persona across, from vintage-clothing shop owner Dee Dee, whose portrait "hints towards fashion imagery", to Periwinkle Jones, whose Twitter personality as a quirky joker culminated in a shot based on one of her most retweeted posts: "If I had £1 for every time my mum asked me why I wasn't married yet I could buy another 12 cats."

Clicking on the portraits on Hodges' website takes visitors to their Twitter stream. "Hopefully people will spot someone who intrigues them and want to learn more about their lives. It's about connections – and how you don't always know where they'll lead."

For more: travishodges.co.uk. On Twitter: @travishodgesuk