This is Richard and Bonny, who were stood outside the Macron Stadium this afternoon, just before Bolton Wanderers hosted Chesterfield in the EFL League One match.
“Is your dog going to the match?”
“No. I’ve just dropped my wife and nipper off, they are going to the match”
“Aren’t you a football supporter then?”
“No we have walked around lots of football stadiums together. I drop them off and then we go for a walk”
“Two hours. It’s a long time to walk around a football stadium !!!”
“We will go and find a dog friendly pub. I think the Beehive is dog friendly”
“Well it’s sunny, you could sit outside with your beer. Are you not from Bolton?”
“No we are from Portsmouth”
“Portsmouth ! That’s a long way to come for a football match”
“Yes I know, my wife said do you fancy going for a drive, so here we are”
“Well, it’s £5-00 a ticket today”
“Well that will be why”
“Ahhh , so who do your wife an nipper support?”
“Bolton”
“Bolton, really , from Portsmouth?”
“Yes started with her Grandad, he’s from here and it has carried on down the generations”
“That’s good. Actually can I ask you a favour, I am an amateur photographer and I’m doing a project on street photography. Is it OK to take a picture of you and your dog?”
“Yes, that’s fine , I don’t mind”
“Thank You, it is for an online project known as 100 strangers.”…I then go on to explain the 100 strangers project in a bit more depth
“Do you mind moving over here by the exit gate as it’s in the shade and will make a better picture than in the direct sunlight”
“Yes that’s OK”
Richard then picks up Bonny.
“Come on Bonny, smile for the man, you are going to have your picture took and be famous”
I then take a few shots of Richard and Bonny, using the exit gate as a blank canvas background.
“Do you want me to email you the pics?” (I give Richard one of my cards)
“I don’t do email but my wife will”
Richard reads my card
“Nottingham, so you are not from here”
“Every game is an away game for me , Yes I come from Nottingham but I am a Wanderer”
“What’s your dog’s name again”
“Bonny”
“Bonnie with a Y or an IE?”
“I use a Y”
“Is she a Miniature Dachshund / Sausage Dog”
I stroke Bonny.
“Yes Miniature Dachshund, but most people call her a Sausage Dog”
That’s it, we shake hands and say our goodbye’s and I have a final little stroke of Bonny and tickle her ears.
“Do you know the way to the Beehive?”
“Yes, I just walk back that way and get to it” (Richard points to where we walked from)
Actually Richard could have carried on in the direction we had been walking as you can walk all the way around the stadium, but I didn’t want to complicate things for Richard, as he had obviously done his pre match pub hunting.
I edited the image in Darktable and got a really good colour image. Bonny was wearing a dog sou'wester style coat and the vibrant yellows and oranges against the blue exit gate seemed to be a bit too distracting, so I did a nice mono instead using the channel mixer rather than the monochrome wheel.
Thank you Richard and Bonny for making a great stranger portrait.
Oh and the football ! The Wanderers , struggled to breakdown a resolute Chesterfield defence as the game finished 0-0 in front of our best home gate of the season with 23K+ enjoying an afternoon in Bolton. There was an incredible goalmouth scramble in front of the Chesterfield goal in the last minute, one where the ball ping pongs around the six yard box, lots of oooooh's and ahhh's and excitement as the ball somehow failed to find the back of the net !Looks like we might get promotion despite dropping 2 points today
This picture is number 75 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
@allie912 Allison thank you for your very kind words. As for remembering the conversation , I met Richard at 3pm and posted the picture and narrative to flickr around 10.30 pm so it was quite fresh in my memory. Although I can still remember most of my stranger chats as you are taking the information in for the story. My greatest difficulty is remembering names ...so I enter those onto my mobile phone 😀
@beryl Thanks Beryl. I am really pleased with this photo ancd also the really nice comments it has received too 😀
@granagringa Thanks for your really appreciative words and observations they are most kind
This is my husband and Bonnie dog
I am the bolton Barmy wife
Rich passed away 8 weeks ago and this was on his order of service
Summed him up to a tee
Thankyou for finding him that day and creating a memory for myself and my boy x