I took Ruby on a walk to the “Duck Park” on Monday. There is a path at the back of the park which is a shortcut to Daybrook and brings you out into a big car park of a small retail park, so we went from “Duck Park” to “Car Park” to “Retail Park”.
The car park was almost empty and was being used as a skate board location by Robin. As Ruby and myself walked across the car park we met Robin on his skate board.
I asked him if it was a good surface for boarding. He said it was a good surface (I had noticed it had a gentle slope, which I assume was to drain the water off into the “Daybrook Flood Water collection” area.
I asked Robin why he didn’t wear a helmet, he didn’t wear one as he didn’t do many tricks.
We than had a conversation about Ruby, he asked me how old she was. He’d been looking for a dog for his mother who lived in Coventry. They had seen a Border Collie but it was a bit too lively and really needed to live on a farm. I told him his mother would love a whippet as our experience of them was all positive, they were friendly, gentle and good companions.
I told Robin, I’d worked in Coventry for many years (a long commute from Nottingham) and we had a chat about my former employers. I asked Robin how he ended up working in Nottingham. He told me he’d been working in Canada, came home to find a job and everywhere went into lockdown. He had found a job in Strelley, he’s a Scientist at a research laboratory and has been working on Covid-19 projects. He cycles to work (40 minutes from home). I told him I was impressed he cycled to work and we discussed the route he took.
Robin was OK about being part of my 100 Strangers project and we discussed the diverse set of people I’d photographed. I explained I was shooting with a vintage lens from the 1970’s , the lens was older than Robin !!! I offered to send the photos to Robin, but he said he wasn’t a collector of photos but would check the photo online when I had posted it.
The lens I was shooting with was a Fujinon 55mm f1.8 lens and it has always produced excellent results for me. This image of Robin was shot at f5.6 and as you can see it did a good job. The photo was edited in ART and then sent to GIMP for the mono conversion.
Thanks for being stranger 235 Robin, good luck in your research.
interesting that someone would turn down a photo of themselves. I find it a bit sad that people don't collect photos anymore. then again, to each his own. nice relaxed portrait. great narrative.
Another very interesting subject to capture. Beautiful portrait and story. My daughter and her hubby wanted a dog but they too a long journey till they got it. My son-in-law bought a corgi puppy on line from Viterbo, central Italy and they had to wait for him to come of age so he could travel, then came covid19, next my son-in law got a plane ticket to Rome ro go and fetch it and he had problems with the airlines both on the way out and on the way back. Finally he arrived here with the dog last Monday. The dog is 4 months old and what a fantastically cute one it is! Christine, as is her norm, is afraid of it.
What a friendly looking man and a very interesting one too - one of the, mostly, unsung heroes of the 'backroom'.
First class image as usual, Phil, and a good insight into Robin, it's a pleasure to have 'met' him.
October 8th, 2020
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First class image as usual, Phil, and a good insight into Robin, it's a pleasure to have 'met' him.