In Winchester, among other errands, to take some books to the Oxfam Book Shop, we stopped at the market to buy goodies for lunch, We bought artisan bread, and olives with sun-dried tomatoes/garlic at one stall.
Then on to the next stall, 'the cheese stall', where we found it difficult to choose from all the different cheeses. We finally settled for Comté and a cheese new to us, Cantal entre deux. As Ray paid (I've been copying the Queen lately and not carrying money - just my camera) we got into conversation with the stallholder, Graham.
I noted a good number of French cheeses on the stall and said I love everything French and would like to have lived there. Graham replied that he and his family lived for 3 years at Pleaux, south of Bordeaux and returned to England to be closer to the grandchildren. They have kept the house on and visit quite often.
Since last year, Graham and family have been exporting cheese to Bahrain, this venture being the fruit of an unlikely encounter his son, Ed, had whilst working on the stall when the CEO of a company in Bahrain stopped by the stall one day, bought some cheese, and subsequently asked if they would supply his enterprise, which in turn, supplies shops and hotels.
The stall in Winchester operates on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and is staffed by various family members.
At some point in this narrative I asked Graham if he would participate in my strangers' portrait project. I had just my RX100 with me intending to take some street shots using the selective colour option, so I did hesitate a bit before asking but this little Sony has obliged with some good portraits during my project.
Graham was happy to have his photo taken. The stallholder of the neighbouring bread/olive stall called over that he had not been asked for his photo. Next time perhaps but will he technically be a stranger?!
I gave Graham my card and thanked him and offered photos if he emails me, and we were on our way, home to lunch. It was certainly a cold day for Graham and his 'Girl Friday' to man a market stall.
couple more pics here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150442566@N07/25572789647
▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ ғαv ♥♥♥ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁
Someone you could easily chat to.
Thank you and interesting, Richard - we were thinking that the entre deux had reference to the region entre deux mers!
Such great comments, Helen, which make me feel that the effort I put into my strangers’ project is worthwhike. I really love it too but it takes more energy than most other shots. Thank you!