Many of my friends and followers will know I am a Bolton Wanderers supporter.
Living in Nottingham, every 'home' game is an 'away' game.
With average home attendance about 17K, matchday at the Macron stadium offers a great opportunity to get a stranger picture.
Pre match is the best time to get a portrait as people mill around outside the ground.
I spotted Scott with his mate. He is a turnstile steward and was directing Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters to their entrances.
When I approached Scott and his mate for a photo they both looked at each other rather hesitant. I explained I was an amateur photographer, a camera club member and it was for a project I was doing on flickr.
Scott said he did not mind having his shot took , so I quickly focussed on his eyes and ran off 3 shots. Scott is a student and this is a part time job for him. He gets a free ticket to the game too, although he misses kick off.
The bland background is the wall of the stadium hotel
Edited in Rawtherapee, using the "natural skin" bundled profile. I thenslid a few sliders and settings to adjust contrast, textures and cropped the shot to remove a red fire hose. I sent the image to GIMP to make some minor level changes (sometimes GIMP levels just adds a little 'pop' to the shot)
As for the match Bolton Wanderers beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1, so my 120+mile journey home was a good one.
This picture is number 3 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
A first I thought he might have been a relative of yours. Nice capture Phil... your portaits are always so clear and the lighting so good. Good job in convincing him to allow you shot. I am sure he was pleased with it.
I love the way Scott is looking straight at the 'viewer' - I think you definitely went home happy from the game with a win and a photo! (That's quite a long journey for a football match!) Thanks for the link.
Wow, at last, a win for Bolton Wanderers. It is the same with our national team - we are very pleased even if we manage a draw at home. Another gorgeous portrait - you are so good at them. Love your audacity to go over to somebody you don't know and ask him/her to pose for you. I can't do that even with close friends.
I think his mum would like this shot! You should make a copy & tKe it with you next time! If he's a student though he might have gone back to college by then. Well done Bolton!
@happypat thanks Pat, yes I do intend to print a copy for him (and his mate ...my next stranger) . I hope he will be on duty in the same position :)
@sangwann Dione thans for your great comment, you would be fine asking a stranger for a pic :)
@quietpurplehaze thanks Haze, glad you like the straight at the viewer look. I don't tend to direct my sitters, I am just pleased they say 'yes', I let them take up their own pose, but having said that maybe I should direct them a little :)
@eyesmile thanks gena, for your nice comment and your regular visits to my photostream :)
Having read the guidelines for the project on Flickr, perhaps you could mention that as a learning aspect for you? Some of the portraits on there have been well directed, it seems to me.
@quietpurplehaze good shout haze.
I suppose it depends on how relaxed the person is with your approach and how confident you are with them. I have read some posts where the photographer asks the sitter to move location to an alleyway / into the shade etc. The steampunks I photographed were easy to direct but I haven't really attempted to direct others :-)
@sangwann Dione thans for your great comment, you would be fine asking a stranger for a pic :)
@quietpurplehaze thanks Haze, glad you like the straight at the viewer look. I don't tend to direct my sitters, I am just pleased they say 'yes', I let them take up their own pose, but having said that maybe I should direct them a little :)
@eyesmile thanks gena, for your nice comment and your regular visits to my photostream :)
Having read the guidelines for the project on Flickr, perhaps you could mention that as a learning aspect for you? Some of the portraits on there have been well directed, it seems to me.
I suppose it depends on how relaxed the person is with your approach and how confident you are with them. I have read some posts where the photographer asks the sitter to move location to an alleyway / into the shade etc. The steampunks I photographed were easy to direct but I haven't really attempted to direct others :-)
I did ask both my subjects to date to move to a better background, didn't really think about what I was doing at the time.