This is Alex, who I met in Nottingham this afternoon.
I was walking along Bridlesmith Gate with the wife when I noticed a busker on the corner of St Peters Gate singing. I was going to take his photo , but I glanced across the road and saw Alex, drinking a coffee with a guitar on her back.
I approached her and joked "Are you waiting your turn?"
"Yes" said Alex.
So I asked her what she sang. Alex does acoustic covers of "modern songs".
I then asked Alex if she was with the busker.
He was her partner / boyfriend and apparently he does the "morning shift" on the corner and Alex does the "afternoon shift".
I asked Alex if music was her job. Alex told me she was a jeweller during the week and busked at the weekend.
Her partner was a professional musician.
I then introduced the idea of 100 strangers to Alex.
"Is it like Humans of New York?"
I told Alex that there are a few hundred photographers across the world who are members of the 100 strangers group.
As you can see, Alex posed for me and makes a striking portrait.
We shook hands as Alex went to take over from her partner and as I waved her goodbye. I nodded to her partner and he gave me a nice smile :)
The original shots were done in landscape format, but there was a vertical of one of the window frames in the composition (Alex was stood outside a shop), which meant I went for a square crop, which I think makes quite an impact. In fact I think it is my first square format portrait of my project. The window frame looked OK in my camera viewfinder, but when I got home and viewed the pics on my computer it sort of worried me !
Edited in Rawtherapee and sent to GIMP to add a little sharpening to Alex's fabulous eyes.
Thank you Alex, for being stranger number 118 .
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
htps://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
My own strangers can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57144254@N08/albums/72157657822400168
@sangwann thank you for your super comment dione, I am pleased you still find my stranger shots interesting :)
@kwind they are indeed beautiful :)
@kerristephens thanks kerri
@nickspicsnz "on point" I like that Nick :) :)
@willowdragon thanks Al, quare alos works better with Insta too :)
@gamelee thanks for your support and comment Lee
@beryl thank you Beryl for your nice comment :)
@maggiemae Maggie, thank you , I am sure Alex will appreciate your comment :)
@happypat thanks Pat it is indeed a great look from ALex
@granagringa thank you very much for your super comment, the catch-lights were easy because Alex was in the shade looking to a bright area of the street
@lynnz thanks Lynn, I do hope so :)
@colinbarber013 thanks colin, the back story is a major part of the 100 strangers project
@dulciknit thanks Alison, when I saw the photos on the camera, I knew they would be good and carefully edited to make sure I retained the soul of the person. I did one edit where I tried to soften Alex's skin tones a little but the softened result looked s little false :)