NOT many people would give up the chance to get up close and personal with rockstars and pop icons, but Duncan Raban did just that.

In 2004, a good 25 years into a photography career that had seen him snap the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, and Elton John, the Brighton snapper decided to dedicate his life to something else.

“I photographed so many celebrities at their most candid, like they were normal people. I would spend a day with them, just taking pictures,” said the 62 year-old.

“I did all that show business stuff, it was all very glamorous. I felt a bit empty in that world, though. It was all quite artificial, there were so many publicists and PR people.”

But 15 years ago, while chatting with Lionel Richie’s agent, Duncan had a call that would change his life.

“It was from the boss of Great Ormond Street children’s hospital and he wanted me to go down and take some pictures. It was nothing I’d ever done before,” he said.

“I went down there and walked through this ward of what must have been ten children waiting for a new heart. I couldn’t believe it.

“I talked to a caretaker about what it was like working there. She had been there for 20 years and loved it. From then on I knew I had to put these everyday heroes on the catwalk.

“The universe slung me out of the entertainment world and threw me into a children’s hospital.”

Duncan’s passion for meeting extraordinary people took him all across the country.

Now he has set up shop in Brighton - quite literally piecing together his new studio in an old greengrocer’s on Sutherland Road in Queen’s Park.

The photographer is determined to go far with his new “Just Say Hello” Facebook page, where he carries his camera around the city and chats to complete strangers, uploading his conversations to an adoring online audience.

“I’ve met some of the most fascinating people in Brighton already, I just love meeting them,” Duncan said.

“It’s in my soul, that’s the problem. I can’t stop thinking about this project. It’s like a drug.

“This movement has completely turned my life around. I’ve had so many beautiful comments on my videos.”

But how hard is it to strike up a conversation with a stranger?

Not very, if you’re Duncan.

He said: “My job is making people relaxed and do silly things, I absolutely love it. It’s like I put them in a trance.

“I feel like there’s a magnet in all of us, and that magnet is attracted specifically to other magnets.

“You just know in the glint of someone’s eye that you’re going to get on with them, but it’s all about starting the conversation off.

“I went into my corner shop for the first time and said to the shop owner ‘That’s a sexy beard, mate’ and we just chatted from there.”

But making friends quickly is something the snapper has learned to do.

As a young sports photographer, Duncan made a daring trip to New York to photograph football star Pele.

“I said to my editor that I’d love to photograph Pele. He laughed and said it wouldn’t be possible,” he said.

“So I flew over to New York, snuck into the Cosmos training ground and got a picture with him. We had a great chat about my dreams.”

After switching to the entertainment world and sneaking into concerts to snap the stars, Duncan was given a golden opportunity by the Rolling Stones’ manager.

The snapper said: “He needed someone to fly over to Ronnie Wood’s estate in Ireland that night. I said no, but he talked me round and I got on a flight.

“I was driven there with a bag over my head so I wouldn’t know where his estate was, then once we got there they took it off and put me in the garden.

Keith Richards was sat there in front of me, then his massive white Great Dane came bounding up to me and pushed me on the floor.

“Keith helped me up and said “You need a beer mate” and all of a sudden I was chatting with him in their bar.

“He looked so casual and candid stroking his dog, so I got my camera out and started taking pictures.”

Though his encounters with the stars - including a day spent photographing Tina Turner - remain in his mind, Duncan’s favourite snaps are of the everyday people he loves to celebrate.

“One of the pictures I’m most proud of is of Hugo, the boy in the superman suit.

“I first met him when he was a baby in intensive care, he had everything wrong with him, heart, kidneys.

“He wasn’t supposed to survive long, but I went back later when he was four and I bought him that superman costume to wear.

“He is my superman.”

Another fond friend is “one-tooth Jeff”, as Duncan called him.

“He would go swimming every day in this pool in Kent.

“I saw him once doing a backstroke and this massive pool of water was coming out of his mouth like he was a whale.

“I asked him ‘Why do you have that spout?’ and he said ‘It’s because I’m so old I’m leaking!’

“I went to grab my camera and asked if I could picture him.

“I asked him to do something silly, so he ducked underwater and burst out with this great big smile on his face, and I captured that one little perfect frame. I’ve got a great love of the older generation. They’re our walking libraries.”

With passion project “Just Say Hello”, Duncan is now hoping to get more residents to chat with each other and learn more about their neighbours.

His enthusiasm is infectious.

“I’ve got big ambitions here, Brighton could become the first ‘Just Say Hello’ city,” he said.

“This studio is somewhere to celebrate all of these people I’ve met in my life.

“Especially with Brexit and people being sat inside on their phones, it’s more important than ever to just say hello to a stranger.

“You’ll learn some amazing things and meet some friends for life.”