100 Strangers : Round 3 : No. 228 : Kate and Lisa (Industar И-61 53mm Vintage Lens)
We made a return visit to Nottingham Arboretum park today, to visit the mini festival being held in the bandstand area of the park. We went last week but were refused admission as the event did not allow dogs to be entered.
The event is showcasing local musicians over the final few weekends of the summer. It is acoustic sessions rather than full blown bands, but it is good to be able to watch live music again.
One of the artists appearing was Lisa Hendricks, a Nottingham based singer songwriter, who has her own band. Her style is described as reggae with hints of R&B and soul. Lisa’s lyrics promote peace and raise awareness of the current issues affecting the world.
Lisa performed a 45 minute session in the bandstand , accompanied by a guitarist, Kate, who plays in Lisa’s band. Kate played acoustic guitar. They were socially distanced on the bandstand stage as too were all the people sat in the park.
I’ve actually seen Lisa perform a couple of times before, she has a beautiful voice and was popular among the visitors to the park. I took a few photos of Lisa singing and after Lisa and Kate finished the acoustic session, I hung around the entrance / exit to the bandstand to ask for a stranger photo for my project.
While I was hanging around outside the bandstand, I was approached by “Security” (as professional photography was not allowed at the event). “Security” asked me if I was a “photographer”.
“Only an Amateur” I explained “I’m just waiting to ask Lisa and Kate for a photograph”.
“OK Go for it” the Security Officer said !
When Lisa and Kate came out of the door, I approached them and explained I was an amateur photographer doing a project on street photography. They both agreed to a shoot. I asked them to move to the brick wall of the bandstand as it would make a nice backdrop. I took some straight on shots, explaining to them that I was manually focussing as I was using a vintage lens. Unprompted, they both turned their shoulders towards the camera and struck up some more dynamic poses for me, which I have used for my photo.
I gave Lisa a card and thanked both Lisa and Kate for letting me photograph them.
As I mentioned above I was shooting with a vintage lens. I am always a little wary of photographing stranger portraits with a vintage lens as you have to manually focus, which takes a little longer than the auto focus of a modern lens. Focussing by your eyes rather than wires one could say ! The Russian Industar И-61 53mm f2.8 prime lens is a really fine lens, it never fails to create beautiful photos for me, my copy is over 40 years old and I am sure you will agree from the photo of Kate and Lisa that the lens did well
This was shot at f5.6, ISO 400 on a Sony A7 full frame camera, post processed in GIMP
You may notice some bunting along the top of the frame. I was going to crop it out but decided i quite liked it as is
Lovely composition ! these two are so natural in their pose , and look so relaxed and having fun You have really caught their happy and fun loving personalities ! fav
A happy picture filled with two beautiful smiling faces. A great backdrop to complete your shot, well done. Fav. I may be wrong, but I think I have seen Lisa in your pictures before. Thank you for the story. Fav.
@casablanca Thanks Casa' , I am pleased Kate and Lisa made you smile :)
@sangwann Dione, I saw Lisa in concert in August 2016 at the Riverside concert .... https://365project.org/phil_howcroft/365/2016-08-07 that's the only time I've seen her before. I have another Reggae singer friend, Mellonie, who has appeared on my 365 several times :)
@fbailey thanks felicity they are good aren;t they :)
@sangwann Dione, I saw Lisa in concert in August 2016 at the Riverside concert .... https://365project.org/phil_howcroft/365/2016-08-07 that's the only time I've seen her before. I have another Reggae singer friend, Mellonie, who has appeared on my 365 several times :)
@fbailey thanks felicity they are good aren;t they :)
@beryl thank you for your lovely comment beryl , I am pleased you like this shot
@pdulis thanks Peter
@marlboromaam maggie thank you very much for the kind words and support ..A smoothie :) :)