On Thursday we went a walk along the Nottingham & Beeston Canal, from Castle Boulevard to River Trent and the Nottingham Embankment.
It’s an urban canal, skirting the outskirts of the city centre and has quite a few photo opportunities.
As we walked along the River Trent, I saw a group of young people congregating near a bench. At first I thought they were drinking but as I approached them I realised they had some camera gear and microphone boom. So I went up to them and asked them what they were up to. Well I was a little more polite than that, I asked them what they were filming.
One of the people in the party told me she was in her final year of a university course and was creating a film for her final dissertation. I asked if they had a script and the young lady showed me several pages of A4.
I then told them about my strangers project and asked if one of them would be willing to sit for a portrait for me. I had seen one of the party had some great make up and hair colouring so I asked her directly if she would take part in my project.
This is Leigh, who was an actor for the film production. Leigh is a 2nd year Fashion Student at Nottingham Trent University. She was a willing sitter and moved and posed as directed. The area of the River Trent where I photographed her did not have a great choice of backgrounds. I asked Leigh to stand by a tree as I could use this as a stopper to the frame. The bokeh background is the City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest Football Club. I told Leigh I was shooting with a compact Sony camera, but assured her it was a cracking camera that produces great shots. I asked Leigh if she wanted copies of the pictures, but she said she didn’t. I wished her good luck with the rest of her course and future career in the fashion industry. As you can see Leigh was a great choice for a stranger, her make up and hair are fabulous, I didn’t ask if the make up and hair was for her actor role in the film or whether it is her everyday look as a fashion student. I would like to think it was the latter.
Thanks for being stranger 254 Leigh
As mentioned in the narrative, this was shot using my new compact camera, the Sony RX100 VII. It is really cool and small and as you can see it takes excellent photos.
it sure does! I've long admired the concept of 100 Strangers project and sometimes think I'd like to give it a go! At the moment I only have prime lenses 50, 35, 85 - which do you think would be best for this sort of project. Is there a focal length you tend to use.. I guess it does depend on the environment
Havent walked the canal for ages. Used to a lot when kids little. Bet Willow will like it when bit bigger. Littlest used to love a walk to see the boats and ducks and then a cake in Sainsburys cafe. Great stranger
Phil this is great and I love the story. We've just watched the end of Newsnight, and the newly appointed photographer of the year was on, talking about his series of photographs of people in Blackburn. His story reminded me of you as he said he spends a long time talking to the people before he takes the photo. I think his name was Craig Hewson although I'm not sure, and you can see his photos on the Sony website. It might be you one day as photographer of the year!
April 15th, 2021
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