Via Flickr:
Having decided I now wasn’t going home until I shot my fifth and final stranger of my mini challenge I was pleased when I saw Maria – a very pretty girl and with fabulous eyes once I got closer.
She was a little reserved but this came across as entirely due to the odd nature of the question rather than anything else and after a bit of explanation she agreed.
I took three shots and had a look on the screen and Maria became my second stranger to proactively have a look herself (something I have found to be very rare throughout this project) – the photos were nicely focused and well exposed but Maria wasn’t smiling as much as I would have liked so I took another couple after asking her to smile (which I think I did quite bluntly – sorry) and I was rewarded with a couple more shots that I was happy with. On reviewing the photographs at home prior to posting however I realised that the original shots were the better ones and whilst Maria was only smiling slightly it was a much more natural smile.
Maria is my second Maria, the previous one I now know to be Latvian but I didn’t establish that at the time. Nowadays I’m a lot more confident though so picking up on the accent I learned that Maria is from Lithuania and is in Newcastle doing the 1st year of a Media, Communication and Cultural Studies degree. As well as studying, Maria works at Newcastle’s Jazz Bar. In her spare time she enjoys art and recently volunteered for the local AV Festival which I must confess I’ve never heard of despite it running for an entire month!
Maria, thank you very much for taking part in my project – I hope that you like your photo!
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Maria is the fifth and final stranger I photographed today having set myself the personal challenge of photographing 5 young women in a row – a "group" that I must admit to generally shying away from. Others may think nothing of this but I found it difficult for reasons explained in the introduction to Daisy.
I achieved this on the first day of trying (albeit my second attempt at the challenge) with the help of Daisy, Kat, Ah’freee, Lindsay & Maria. Thank you all!
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.
This picture is #86 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
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