100 Strangers : No. 65 : Chloe

This is Chloe who I met in Hockley, Nottingham this morning (Sunday)

The area of Hockley and the Lace Market in Nottingham has earned the tag "creative quarter". It is certainly a diverse area with independent bars, restaurant, shops and entertainment venues.

Chloe was just opening up the doors to the shop she works in, which is a shop specialising in selling new and vintage clothing.

I spotted Chloe, removing the metal frames from the front windows of the shop and knew that with her long hair and nice eyes she would be a great stranger.

I didn't need to go into a long explanation about the 100 strangers project to persuade Chloe to become a stranger, she quickly said 'Yes' before I had finished my introduction.

I took a few shot of Chloe, some in front of the shop and some looking down towards the end of the street.

Chloe said she hoped she didn't look sleepy as she had only been up about half an hour ! Chloe lives in the city so it is easy for her to get to work.

I showed Chloe the pictures on the back of the camera and asked her which one's she thought would be best. She said the "later ones" of which this is one.

It was a good choice by Chloe, as the light on her face has produced a striking portrait and some lovely subtle catchlights in her eyes.

I gave Chloe one of my cards and asked her to contact me if she wanted an email copy of some of the shots.

I edited the image in Darktable, bringing out the shadows and highlight and added a tad bit of sharpening to Chloe's eyes. I also sent the photo to GIMP in order to clone out a bright bit of bokeh

This picture is number 66 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

https://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/

My own strangers can be seen here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/57144254@N08/albums/72157657822400168

Thank you Chloe for being my stranger number 65

[Pat Knowles]

Your best yet Phil! Love Chloe's rather inscrutable look here! She looks an ideal vintage shop person, stylish! Fave!

[Phil Howcroft]

@happypat thanks Pat, that is a fantastic compliment / comment. I must admit I am pleased with this shot :)

[Hazel]

I like the glance Chooe is giving you and if she had some haiir decoration I could imagine her as Alice in Wonderland!

[Judith Johnson]

It's a fantastic picture Phil. I love the angle of her face with the eyes looking to the side. Her lips are immaculate and her skin smooth and clear. Well done - a superb image.

[Phil Howcroft]

@quietpurplehaze thanks haze :) , i asked chloe to 'glance', I am at a stage in my 100 strangers series where I am confident asking the stranger to take up a pose and also move to different backgrounds :)

@busylady thank you judith for the very kind comment , As soon as I saw the image on my camera display / playback, I knew Chloe was going to make a great portrait

[Lee]

66 eh! you're well on the way. I don't think i'd have got past 6.

[Judith Greenwood]

Another excellent choice!!

[Annie D]

Lovely portrait of Chloe - I like her expression

[Poppy]

GIMP is awesome. Beautiful work.

[Hazel]

@phil_howcroft

That's very good - I can do different backgrounds but had not thought of asking them to pose. I'll try!

[Loopy-Lou]

Beautiful portrait, always love reading your story..wow 65 strangers I might just make a start when you finish :-)

[Newbank Lass]

This is a really good one.

[Dione Giorgio]

Perfection in portrait shots, Phil. I wish I had a tiny bit of your skills in portrait shooting. Fav.

[Myrna O'Hara]

Nicely done

[Granagringa]

Ditto to all those good comments above.

[Phil Howcroft]

@gamelee @judithg @ahleena @annied @bizziebeeme @newbank @sangwann @sailingmusic @granagringa
Thanks everyone for the fantastic comments on Chloe's picture. I have a lot of blank days in my recent photostream. Normal service should be resumed soon. I have a backlog of shots to process 😀

[Alison Hewitt Bailey]

A modern Giaconda - she has an enigmatic almost-smile most reminiscent of the Mona Lisa. Fab portrait.

[Phil Howcroft]

@dulciknit WOW Alison that is a fabulous comment and I did actually think the same when I first saw the shot. I have done a mono shot from the shoot (on my flickr stream) which I will post on here in a couple of days, which is even more "Mono Lisa" (see what I did there) :)