I went to the football today to watch my team Bolton Wanderers play hosts to Brighton and Hove Albion.
The football is always a good opportunity to get a stranger portrait.
As I was walking around the stadium I noticed a group of fans stood behind a table outside the "fans zone". It was a local action group from Bolton who were making the public aware of two issues i.e Racism and the Refugee crisis occurring on the borders of European countries.
Steve was wearing his "Show Racism The Red Card" , T-Shirt. The words speak for themselves .
When I asked Steve for a photo he asked me to ensure I got all his T-Shirt logo / words in the frame. He also asked if I was a professional photographer as he thought my Canon 450D with it's 50mm lens looked like high end equipment. I explained I was just an amateur photographer and my camera was an old one :)
I showed Steve the shot on the back of the camera and asked if it was OK to post onto flickr. He said he was fine with that :)
I shook his hand, signed his petition and took a 'kick it out' sticker for my coat.
The message is an important one. I can remember back in the 1970's and 80's black footballers were booed for the colour of their skin. Thank goodness those days are gone, but it is important that football embraces the message on Steve's shirt.
As for the football, the Wanderers came back from 2 goals down to gain a point in and entertaining 2-2 draw
The image was post processed in Rawtherapee and I added a Fuji Superia 100 film emulation.
This picture is number 7 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
Nicely captured portrait...the red shirt pops. And yes, it is a good message. A lot of progress has been made, but still a distance to go. So terrible about the refugees. Can't even imagine the life they are living!
