Quite a few of my stranger series have been shot in and around my trips to football matches. The summer close season is almost over and on Saturday Bolton Wanderers visited Mansfield Town in a pre-season friendly.
Mansfield is just a short drive up the A60 from my home in Nottingham, so it was too good an opportunity to miss, a chance to watch my team locally and a chance to get a stranger.
Brian was selling matchday programmes outside a wonky portakabin sentry / security guard post (I assume he stands inside it in the middle of winter when it is cold and wet).
I bought a programme off Brian (£1-00) and told him about my project. He was a willing sitter.
I asked Brian how many years he had been selling programmes.
"Selling Programmes ! Quite a few, but I have done everything at this club. Safety Officer, Steward, Security. I've been at the club since 1972"
I told Brian I was impressed with his commitment to the club.
I asked him if he remembered Ian Greaves and Neil Whatmore (ex Bolton Wanderers manager and player). He didn't remember Neil but he did remember Ian Greaves as he had quite a bit of success at Mansfield in his six year rein leading them to promotion and a Wembley victory in the Freight Rover Trophy. Actually it would have been pretty difficult not to forget Ian as the main stand at the ground has big bold lettering on the side of it reading "The Ian Greaves Stand" !
Brian told me he had just seen Billy Dearden walk by, a former manager of both Mansfield and Notts County.
This was quite a difficult image to capture as it was a bright day and Brian had a high vis jacket against the dull white portakabin. This was about the best I could get. I chose monochrome as the high vis jacket reflecting a yellow shadow around Brian's chin.
Edited in GIMP with a Polaroid monochrome film emulation via the G'MIC plug in.
I sharpened Brians eyes a tad and left the door handle and hinges in the shot as this helped tell the story.
This picture is number 34 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
100 Strangers Flickr Group page
https://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
100 Strangers Flickr Group page
My own strangers can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57144254@N08/albums/72157657822400168
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@kerristephens
@sangwann thanks dione, DOUBLE LOL , It has took me aged to get to 34 ! Although I think I will continue beyond 100 !
@busylady thanks judith, i was worried when i was editing the colour shot, but the high key fininsh of mono has lifted the shot
@quietpurplehaze I think the algorithms for reducing the image resolutions is a bit of a fine art Haze .
@maggiemae he had customers queuing up as I was photographing him , so he was chatting at the same time :)
@gamelee cheers lee, yes the football talk is quite local !!