Having a Sunday morning walkabout in Winchester, we passed The Deanery Bookstall and I noticed John on duty in his volunteer capacity. Back in January 2018, John became No.132 in my series of Haze's strangers' portraits. We stopped to pass the time of day.
We had a chat and a look around and I was amazed at the variety of second-hand books for sale. A robin came and sat beside a book with the title 'The Grumpy Old Git's Guide to Life' I did take a shot but only had my 30mm macro lens and the robin was really too far away. It caused some amusement, nonetheless.
I asked John if he would pose for a non-stranger shot and also took a few photos of shelves and piles of books and promised to make a collage for a little publicity via another photographic outlet.
A lady volunteer was sitting next to John engaged, when not busy with customers, in completing a newspaper crossword and reading clues aloud when she needed a bit of help. I was no help as my brain is useless at crosswords. After a while I thought to ask for a portrait.
She was immediately enthusiastic and introduced herself to me as Miranda and told me that up until five years ago she had been Roger but had then 'converted to diesel.'
I set the camera up and took a couple of shots. I asked if she would stand slightly at an angle to me and look over her shoulder, which she did. I reflected afterwards that when I first embarked on this project I would not have 'instructed' my subjects.
I noticed Miranda's t-shirt and thought it read Guns 'n Roses. She replied no, 'pugs and roses' and explained she is a 'pug fanatic', used to have one called Desmond Tutu, followed by William and Daisy for 17 years who went shooting with her. She is currently without a pug but thinking of having two black ones and naming them Lidl and Aldi. At home she has 100+ china pugs and other pug inspired items.
For 30 years Miranda was an investment banker. She has three children, one of whom is a pop singer. I wanted to ask about the pop singer but as sometimes happens, the conversation veered in another direction. Miranda drives up every day from Dorset in her 'yellow peril' to manage, in a voluntary capacity, the Deanery Bookstall. In addition she recycles books not wanted for sale in the Bookstall and drives all over Hampshire collecting books from donors.
I thanked Miranda and offered her a card to contact me for photos. She does not currently have an email address so we agreed to be in touch via John who will be receiving other photos which I took around the Bookstall.
this and more portraits of Miranda:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150442566@N07/48114899028/in/dateposted-public/
and a busy time volunteering for tne bookstall. I had to smile reading about the robin on the books.
Diana I admit that I feel a bit overwhelmed by your comment, thank you. For me, there is always quite a bit of ‘emotional investment’ in my strangers’ ‘portraiture work.’ and it is time consuming but I really love it.
Oh yes, sent already.
Diana, bipolar disorder is a pretty emotional 'affliction' but I have to work at it constantly to keep well - good discipline!
Phil, thank you very much.