I went to Scunthorpe today to watch my team Bolton Wanderers play Scunthorpe United in an EFL League 1 match.
The football is always a good place to find a stranger pic and as soon as I saw Sandy outside the turnstiles of the stadium, I knew she would be a great stranger for my project.
Sandy was stewarding the visitors turnstiles and had a warm welcoming smile.
I approached Sandy and explained the 100 strangers series and she readily agreed to become one of my strangers.
The turnstile entrance was in direct sunlight, so I asked Sandy if she would move towards some bushes that were sheltered from the harsh sunlight.
I asked Sandy to glance over her right shoulder as this is a classic portrait stance, especially for women.
Sandy asked if she should smile. That is the first time anyone has asked me if they should smile, so I told Sandy to just do what she felt comfortable with.
Sandy did some lovely big smile photos and some serious straight faced looks too. I settled for the gentle warm smile of this photo.
Sandy has been stewarding for a year and she is a student. Sandy is studying a B.Sc degree in Animal Management . I said I knew she was an animal lover because she had some "dog paw print" tattoos on the inside of her arm.
I gave Sandy one of my cards. I am hoping she will contact me as the series of shots I took are really nice.
I said I would see Sandy in a few minutes (she was on the turnstile I entered the ground in) after Bill and myself had had a walk around the ground.
After the walk as we entered the ground, I thanked Sandy again for her time. Her colleague asked to see inside my bag. "I bet you have a camera in there Sir" !!!
Shot with my nifty fifty on my Canon 450D and edited in Darktable
As for the match, the Wanderers lost 1 nil. We conceded an early sloppy goal from a set piece and then lay siege to the Scunthorpe goal in the second half. A sell out away following of over 2,500 noisy supporters was an impressive away support on a beautiful spring afternoon.
This picture is number 76 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
https://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
My own strangers can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57144254@N08/albums/72157657822400168
@kwind thank you for that kind comment
@sangwann cheers dione, i think clubs ae a bit more relaxed about cameras now, however, if i sat on the first row taking pictures with a long zoom, I might get moved on !!!
@allie912 thank you allison, i did want to keep the vibrant colours, i have actually done a mono too, which I posted on Facebook !!!
@beryl thanks beryl for your thoughtful comment and observation
I do remember you having somebody famous earlier on.......