100 Strangers : No. 66 : Jan

This is Jan, who I met in Nottingham's Market Square this afternoon.

Jan was raising public awareness about the plight of our NHS (National Health Service for those none UK residents reading this - a publicly funded national healthcare system for everyone ).

Jan and her colleagues had walked down from speakers corner (The Brian Clough Statue). Her colleagues were dressed in Hospital Uniforms, carrying a stretcher with an NHS logo on top. Jan had a Megaphone and was informing the public to "Save our NHS".

I approached Jan and asked her for a photograph for my strangers project.

Jan said she had come straight to the demonstration from her allotment !

I asked Jan about the protest. Jan said she felt passionately about the future of our NHS. She had been a Nurse since she was 18 and was now 56. Jan currently works in mental health nursing.

She was upset about how the government is managing our NHS and believes it will not exist in the future.

Jan told me the NHS has to tender for services it once ran and the trend is to give the services to third part companies.

Jan's commitment to the NHS came across well, we can only hope the people who make decisions about our NHS listen to people like Jan.

As for the photo, the light was poor this afternoon in Nottingham (a grey dark winter afternoon), so I bumped up the ISO to 500 and opened the aperture to f3.2. I used the the Council House as a backdrop, which worked well to show the colours of Jans outfit. Edited in Darktable with a tad bit of tone mapping.

I showed Jan the pictures on the back of my camera and gave her a little card with my contact details.

Thank you for being stranger 66 Jan, I wish you well with your nursing and raising public awareness of the state of our NHS under the current government.

I really like this shot and I am pleased with it

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

[belinda]

Great portrait, she has a nice energy which you have captured.

[Allison Williams]

This image is full of character. Glad you kept the color. Her scarf is wonderful

[Loopy-Lou]

Great portrait as always, nice colours.

[Beryl Lloyd]

A super character portrait , Jan has that determination yet twinkle in her eye - so well captured here - Love he bright and bold coloured scarf matching her character -- fav

[Hazel]

Jan looks, and sounds, an empathetic mental health nurse and good to see somebody campaigning for the NHS. (Like her I am dubious that it can be saved.) Interesting to have your settings flagged up, Phil. I like the detail and dof in the shot and the way Jan is looking at the viewer/photographer. Like the background. Fav for me.

[Dione Giorgio]

Fav for your capture. I really love the colours of her outfit against the blurred background. Jan is a pretty person but I hate to see her with that bl**dy ring in the nose. I see them here too, and I dislike these piercings. Thank you for sharing her story.

[The Intermittent Photographer aka Blue Rose]

A great portrait Phil. I think the way she is standing sideways on and looking back into the camera really works. She is a lovely character with the context of the building behind. Fav

[Granagringa]

I agree that her looking at you a bit off to the side adds so much character!