100 Strangers : No. 68 : Colin

I went to watch Bolton Wanderers play at Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.

It is fifty years since Milton Keynes became a "new town" and to celebrate this fact the football club gave free admission to the game to any person with an MK postcode and they also had an "armed forces day" to celebrate the anniversary.

Part of the armed forces celebration day included visits by various armed forces personnel on public information stalls.

This is where I met Colin on the Army Household Cavalry stall.

Colin was really tall and towered above me.

"I will have to stand on the steps of your stall to get eye level contact with you", I told Colin

Colin has been a member of the Household Cavalry for over 10 years.

I saw some pictures of horses and asked Colin about them.

"We get to ride horses and drive tanks" said Colin

I researched the next bit from the official website of the Household Cavalry and Wikipedia...."The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment are the soldiers you see carrying out mounted (and some dismounted) ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions, whereas the The Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR) is an Armoured Cavalry regiment that sits within the Reactive Force of the British Army and is ready to respond to crises anywhere around the world"

The lighting was difficult for the shot as the stalls were in permanent low winter sunlight, so I used the canopy of the stall to cast a bit of shade over Colin. I edited the shot in Darktable which is my editor of choice and I highly recommend it for people on a mac or Linux platform.

I am sure you will all agree that soldiers like Colin deserve our utmost respect.

Colin's colleague (Lee) , my next stranger, asked me if I will post his and Colin's picture onto the Household Cavalry's Facebook page, which I will do later tonight.

This picture is number 68 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

[Beryl Lloyd]

Wow ! wonderful eyes -- he is looking straight at me !!! A beautiful portrait - fav

[Phil Howcroft]

@beryl many thanks beryl , glad you like this, the eyes are great :)

[Dixie Goode]

This is so good. I hope he gets to see it.

[Annie D]

I love this one Phil! What a great face and the eyes - the way you have captured them - beautiful

[The Intermittent Photographer aka Blue Rose]

Wonderful eyes and expression. Beneath the uniform there is much tenderness. Fav

[Allison Williams]

Wonderful direct gaze. I will check out Darktable.

[KWind]

Lovely portrait.

[Dione Giorgio]

Wow wee! This could be one of your best portraits, Phil. Huge fav. Do you mean that Nottingham Forest won the UEFA Champions League? I don't remember this. Or was it there just for display as it went round the country.

[Hazel]

A compelling portrait, Phil!

[Ivan]

@sangwann Yes, Brian Clough did it twice! " For Nottingham Forest to win the European Cup once was beyond supporters' wildest dreams. To retain the trophy the following year was pure fantasy. But so it remarkably transpired as Brian Clough's team, who had stunned the rest of Europe in the 1978-79 by winning the glittering prize in Munich, went on another magical journey - this time to Madrid."
Read more at http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/club/history/european1980.aspx#lFPIB5eHYuBUh2UB.99

[Ivan]

Great image, Phil...fav...and yes, he deserves all our respect, as do all those in the military defending free nations against the hideous ISIS etc.

[Lee]

Nicely done Phil.

[Granagringa]

Such great light catch in the eyes and such well done side lighting. You've done so well getting the tones in this shot and I really like how you've composed this.

[Phil Howcroft]

@granagringa @gamelee @ivan @quietpurplehaze @sangwann @kwind @allie912 @bluerose15 @annied @pandorasecho thanks everyone for the positive comment on this photo, I really like the shot and I am pleased with all your fabulous words :)