We went to Mottisfont Abbey mainly to to visit the current exhibition: the Schlee Collection of drawings.
Arthur was working as a volunteer in the secondhand bookshop and he took payment for a book I found of photos and short lyrical passages about gardens to send to Auntie Betty, who is feeling unwell.
As Ray paid for the book, I was wondering about asking for a portrait and then found myself doing just that. Arthur did seem a tad surprised but agreed, took off his glasses, and stood in front of some bookshelves. He was a bit serious; light was coming in from a window to his right; I took a couple of shots.
Arthur told me that he used to be an 'industrial photographer'. He was communications officer for the fire brigade and part of his responsibility was taking photos of dead bodies at scenes of fires. He used an MPP 5x4 plate camera and also a Rolleiflex.
The other volunteer on duty in the bookshop, Ann, was Arthur's wife and she told me that he celebrated his 90th birthday two weeks ago.
By this time Arthur had sat down in a corner near the bookcase and I was hoping to get a less serious shot of him. He agreed to one more shot, which you see here, and then said he thought that was enough.
Ann also enjoys photography. She wondered why I was taking a portrait in landscape format. I explained that I've never really liked portrait format, even for portraits, strange as it may seem and I usually crop my landscape- format portraits, to some degree at least.
I wished I'd taken my Sony + portrait lens with me but nonetheless it was interesting, as always, to hear the story of one of my 'strangers' and to capture a smiling subject.
It seems increasingly to me, in the context of taking portraits impromptu and in a limited time-frame, that lighting and background are key points. The subjects are the stars!
Very sweet characteristic looking man.. ! Yes, sometimes objects are not in ideal places, but more annoying is you only find the 'clutter' in the frame once you get back home.
Another great story accompanying your portrait Hazel. What would such places do without volunteers like Arthur & Ann, they will reap so much pleasure & feelings of usefulness from their stints on duty.
Portraits in landscape seems very popular Haze. Most of my portraits have morphed into landscape as I have progressed my strangers. Excellent narrative. Difficult shooting conditions I think
Yes, agree, and I try to think about what I learn from each portrait I take, which, after all, is one of the main reasons for 100 Strangers and I feel that I learnt a lot from this one: always take the best 'equipment' out if you might ask for a portrait, consider the sitter (Arthur obviously did not want to sit for lots of shots), look for the best background (which ties in with the subject's needs). The best was perhaps that Ann,seeing the shot on my camera screen, told me that Arthur never smiles for photos! I also had to make sure not to intrude on their volunteering role - running a bookshop and looking after customers.
May 3rd, 2016
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Or the 'selfie'!!!! You didn't find!
I guess there was an element of 'cornering' in this!
Yes, agree, and I try to think about what I learn from each portrait I take, which, after all, is one of the main reasons for 100 Strangers and I feel that I learnt a lot from this one: always take the best 'equipment' out if you might ask for a portrait, consider the sitter (Arthur obviously did not want to sit for lots of shots), look for the best background (which ties in with the subject's needs). The best was perhaps that Ann,seeing the shot on my camera screen, told me that Arthur never smiles for photos! I also had to make sure not to intrude on their volunteering role - running a bookshop and looking after customers.