I was in Nottingham this afternoon, looking for two strangers to get me to the 300 mark. I got one stranger, which leaves on 299 !
I was walking my whippet around the Lace Market and noticed two students leaving the Adams building which is part of Nottingham College and home to lots of Art courses. The students walked across the road and hung about on the street next to the doors to another college building, with some other students who were waiting to go into the building. I was a little nervous about asking as there was a large group of students and approaching just one might be a little tricky. I don’t know why they were all hanging about outside the building, waiting to go in, maybe it was a Covid protocol, only opening the doors when the lecture starts !
Anyway I decided to approach Izzy as she had fabulous piercings, make up and hair. Izzy said yes when I asked her for a shot. Izzy was smoking a cigarette and I asked her did she want me to include the cigarette in the shot. She said she didn’t mind either way. I decided to include the cigarette as it was part of the story. I don’t understand why young people smoke, everyone knows how dangerous it is, but hey I’m not here to judge my strangers, I am here to tell a story of the meet and share any photography tips.
Izzy is studying fashion , she is a first year student and Izzy is from Derby. It was dull and cloudy when I shot Izzy, so it was difficult to get catchlights, but I think the photo works as is. I asked Izzy is she wanted copies of her photos, but Izzy didn’t want any.
That was it, shoot over and now I am one shot away from 300 ! I might get stuck on 299 for a while as I want number 300 to be a stand out photo.
This would have made a fantastic finish to your 3rd hundred portraits. I think it is one of the best ever, Phil. Great clarity, Izzy is a fantastic model, I like the pose. And the colours of her clothing make them pop. Fav.
I think you'd have had a hard time getting any catchlights in her eyes, her eyelashes are masking them quite heavily. Fascinating and cool make up, though; I think you can usually depend on an art student to come up with something a little original in that respect.
As for smoking, as an ex heavy smoker (it became more of a nicotine habit, really), I'm sorry to see youngsters take it up because I know how hard it is to kick it. These days it's not the cool thing to do as it was when I began, so I guess it may be a coping mechanism. These are tough times for all of us and the pressures on today's youngsters are more than I think us oldies really understand.
I applaud your ethos re not judging, it always comes across loud and clear in your choice of subjects and accompanying narratives.
As for smoking, as an ex heavy smoker (it became more of a nicotine habit, really), I'm sorry to see youngsters take it up because I know how hard it is to kick it. These days it's not the cool thing to do as it was when I began, so I guess it may be a coping mechanism. These are tough times for all of us and the pressures on today's youngsters are more than I think us oldies really understand.
I applaud your ethos re not judging, it always comes across loud and clear in your choice of subjects and accompanying narratives.