99% Digital

#80 Margaret, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

Grabbing a short timeout during a family holiday I wandered down to Los Cristianos beach to see who I could find. Almost immediately I happened across a large group of people playing petanque. Straight away I was drawn to one game in particular and the first person that I watched playing was Margaret – she and another lady were taking their shots. The game appeared to be quite competitive but the spirit was great – every shot no matter who the outcome favoured was met favourably and the atmosphere was extremely good natured. Quite early on I decided that I was going to ask Margaret to be part of my project so I started thinking how to go about it without intruding. The only way I could achieve that though was to wait until they were finished but thankfully the red team were close to the requisite number of points and after a couple of ends they needed 2 and took 3 – much shaking of hands ensued … time to spring into action!

Margaret was reluctant to say the least and even suggested a couple of other people that I might like to ask instead but she relented whilst I was trying to tactfully explain that that is not how the project works and having made my initial approach Margaret was the only person that I was interested in photographing. A much larger problem existed though as I suddenly realised that they were in fact not finished – they were in the middle of a match and the handshaking only marked the end of a game – and even worse, Margaret would be the first to play.

It was eventually agreed that Margaret would take her shots and then I could take mine. From here on things got a bit easier as I had already decided how I would like to position Margaret and she made it very easy by asking and also by offering to take her glasses and hat off so I took a few shots with her glasses on and off. At one point Margaret commented on the camera looking very professional but after I’d taken a few shots she commented that I must have enough by now unless the camera was broken 😉 I was obviously pushing my luck again!

Unfortunately I didn’t really speak to Margaret much, learning only that she is retired and on holiday in Tenerife – the rest of the time was taken up with me providing Flickr details to Margaret because I had stupidly set off without my cards.

Margaret’s turn to play came around again and that was pretty much it so I retreated back to street level to watch for a short while. One of her friends then started talking to me so I walked down to the pitch again and he told me a lot about the game in terms of the types of players and balls but as this information didn’t come from Margaret I won’t include it other than to say that I learned that Margaret is a pointer rather than a shooter.

I was clearly overstaying my welcome by now so when I got a chance at the end of the current end I thanked Margaret properly and left her to enjoy her game without me constantly hovering.

Margaret thank you very much for taking part in my project and I sincerely apologise for the intrusion – I tried to time it to not be a nuisance but clearly I misjudged it.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #80 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

#79 Mad Dog, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

A short encounter today and having recently photographed someone’s boot, today I found myself photographing someone’s belly!

I first saw Mad Dog walking up behind another man and rubbing his head – the man turned around and as soon as he saw who it was he smiled and they started chatting like the old mates I presume they are. Deciding this wasn’t the right time to ask I walked on but soon turned back and decided to interrupt anyway. Mad Dog instantly agreed without any question and as normal I handed him a card and explained very briefly what the project was about.

When he introduced himself as Mad Dog I asked where the name came from and he lifted up his shirt to show me the tattoo with Mad Dog emblazoned right across – I realise with hindsight this didn’t quite answer my question but who cares – Mad Dog is easily the best name in my project so that’ll do for me. Although Mad Dog does, I presume, become the first person in my project whose real name I don’t know.

In response to the tattoo I asked what kind of bike he has and after a bit of checking names I eventually learned that he has a Suzuki Intruder 800 and a Honda Magna VF750C – I don’t recall everything he said but I think the latter is a rare American import. Not my kind of bike (I used to be into sports bikes until I out-talented myself one day) but a nice looking bike nonetheless.

With that I thanked Mad Dog and left him to continue chatting with his mate.

Mad Dog – thanks very much for taking a few minutes out to help me with my project – cool mohican, no way I couldn’t ask!
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #79 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

#78 Naoise-Ryan, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

Now I know what regular followers of my project are thinking – oh yes, another trip out for Ivor’s "what’s the maddest thing you’ve ever done?" question … well no, I didn’t get around to it! But don’t worry, I have plenty to talk about anyway ;).

As part of my description of Kimi I made a comment about my strangers and tattoos but I realised afterwards that they don’t feature nearly as much as I thought they did – so it was time for another one. Today, I added another tattooed stranger and one heck of a lot of tattoos to my project.

When I first saw Nick I was immediately struck not only by his tattoos but also by his colourful and individual style. Seconds later he dug a camera out of his bag and walking into the middle of a pedestrian crossing he took a few photographs of a bus, much to the bemusement of the driver, before returning back to my side of the road. I approached and popped my question up front as usual … "why?" he replied with a smile and as I’ve commented before an answer like that is as good as a yes (with one recent exception in my experience) and sure enough he agreed as soon as I mentioned the project name.

No sooner had he introduced himself as Nick then he explained that he would also give me the name by which he is commonly known which is Naoise-Ryan, the gaelic version of Nick (although I didn’t find out what the Irish/gaelic connection was). At first I thought Ryan was his surname but I later realised that it is hyphenated, which explains why it was so important to him that I include it. I handed him one of my cards and asked him what he was photographing and whether it was the bus and he confirmed that it was and that he takes lots of photographs of buses as well as trains, highways (I think) and other transport related stuff and he has been all over the world pursuing this pastime. He has lots of such photographs and his computer at home is "full of them".

Naoise-Ryan took a lot of interest in my card and asked me to send him the pictures so I explained how he could get hold of them – he is by far my most interested stranger to date and described himself as quite narcissistic and self-obsessed. I began to understand a bit more in that respect as I googled him later (I quite often do this with my more interesting strangers) and on this occasion I was rewarded with a view of one of my strangers that I have not experienced previously. You are already armed with sufficient information so I will leave this as an exercise to the reader but tread carefully if you’re the shy and retiring type. If your eyes water then you found the same image that I did ;).

As I was taking some shots I started to ask about some of his tattoos and picked on the green one on his right side – I thought it was a set of wings but it turns out that it is the old logo for London Country Buses which Naoise-Ryan used to work for. He explained a bit about the logo: the central bullseye represents London and the bits around are the surrounding counties – as the company covered them all they decided to "put a roof over it", arriving at the logo that you now see. We were looking at the photo on my camera screen as he explained this and he also offered a reason for a couple of other tattoos – "Feral" simply because he is and "Mayday Verdict" because he was in court one Mayday for a traffic offence … the verdict was "got away with it".

Naoise-Ryan has obviously had a few encounters with the law but was at pains to point out that he would not harm an individual (as he put it "if someone dropped a fiver he would pick it up and give them a tenner if they needed it") but the "system" is different – that’s fair game! He also has a couple of prison numbers tattooed on his hand one of which portrays his number from a Latvian jail sentence. I didn’t find out or ask what this was for but did ask about how it compared to British jails and he replied that the standard of accommodation and food was poor but as a life experience he almost seemed to talk fondly of it – I don’t mean glamourising it in any way just that the people were the richest aspect of the experience.

When my home town cropped up in the conversation I learned that Naoise-Ryan has met Charles Kennedy several times and thinks quite highly of him and wanted to know my opinion of Alex Salmond. This coupled with his anti-establishment attitude made me wonder how politically active he was but it’s purely an interest – football and rugby don’t do it for him and nor do women anymore but politics and photography do.

As our encounter came to an end I shook hands with Naoise-Ryan and thanked him, stating that it was a pleasure meeting him … and it truly was, in the grand scheme of things I know nothing about him but he came across as a very genuine and colourful character, knowing what his weaknesses and strengths are and completely confident that he is who he is and the world can like it or lump it.

As I watched him walk away he took my card out and had another long look at it, which is cool, much as I love this project for my own enjoyment it really does make me happy when my strangers are also intrigued by the concept. I fully expect to hear from Naoise-Ryan again.

Naoise-Ryan, as I said – thank you very much for taking time out to help me with my project today – I enjoyed our chat and I hope that you like your portrait. If you would like to get hold of the original images then please get in touch – miraculously all 5 that I took are decent quality ;).

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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #78 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

#77 Gabriel, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

I walked to the Metro (Newcastle underground) station two stops away from my work as I often do but saw nobody of interest but today I was particularly disappointed because I’d had a rejection at lunchtime that I hadn’t enjoyed and I really wanted to "bounce back". So I was really pleased when I saw Gabriel in the station – he was pretty much the first person I saw on the platform and my mind was immediately made up but there was a train drawing into the station which was of no use to me so I waited to see if he got onto it then approached him when he didn’t. He was open to the idea once I’d explained the reason and so I introduced myself, learned that the gentleman I was talking to was called Gabriel, and then set about trying to take a portrait in what I knew was going to be really challenging (low) light …

When I sized up the shot I was getting a really slow shutter speed and even after bumping the ISO to 800 it was still too slow for me so I tried the pop-up flash for speed but that was predictably horrible. At this point, however, I realised that Gabriel seemed content to humour me whilst he waited for his train. I asked him to move into the concourse instead where there was less people and I fished out my speedlight and pocket wizards and tried again with my left hand holding the flash positioned 45º/45º as best as I could (probably about 10º/10º). Again they did not fail me and thankfully I finally got a decent shot – and I am NOT kidding when I say the others (7 of them – ahem) were awful!!!

There was a moment I really loved when he commented that I had quite a bag load of gear and I said yes "all the gear but no idea" – corny I know but I then raised the camera to my eye … complete blackness … "see what I mean" I said as I lowered the camera and took the lens cap off ;). I have absolutely no idea why I put the lens cap back on – I knew I wasn’t done and I hadn’t changed lens or anything – must just be automatic.

I chatted to Gabriel throughout and he was really easy going, completely comfortable talking about whatever I asked.

Gabriel is from Nigeria and has been in the UK for the last 7 years moving about quite a bit having lived in Plymouth, Brighton, London, Leeds , Wales (Llandudno I think he said) where he did his Masters and now Newcastle to complete a PhD in Petroleum, Geology & Chemistry. If I followed correctly Newcastle is the only place he can do this as a PhD with everywhere else doing it as a Masters only.

In his spare time he enjoys chess and dancing – Hip-Hop and Salsa … at this point I came to the conclusion that Gabriel gets quite passionate about everything he does and when the chat turned to music I realised we really had found a passion of his. It was inevitable that the conversation would go in this direction – the ubiquitous Dr Dre Beats adorning his head were part of why I asked him and eventually I got around to asking him what he was listening to. Once Gabriel started talking about Hip-Hop he was off … Rakim is his favourite artist but I could only look at him blankly before finally admitting that he was talking about a different world to the one that I live in – he mentioned one or two other artists but the names meant nothing to me although I did learn that he likes modern Hip-Hop and older rap doesn’t do it for him as he enjoys the more intellectual style of the modern artists. Our paths obviously didn’t cross with my Rock leaning but we found some common ground as he likes to listen to Classical music on a Sunday, when he’s relaxing … but only on a Sunday! The rest of the time music is to waken him up and stimulate – not for relaxation.

As I heard our train approaching I decided to leave Gabriel alone – my hearing isn’t perfect and I struggle to talk with my mates on the metro so I knew that trying to continue a chat with Gabriel would be strained at best and besides I’d already taken up a good chunk of his valuable time so I shook his hand and thanked him very much then wandered far enough up the platform (and therefore train) to be out of sight and out of mind.

Whilst mulling over the encounter and starting to think about my write up I suddenly realised that my camera was still set to ISO800 … all the gear, no idea ;).

Gabriel, thank you very much for so much of your time today and moreover for your patience – it always amazes me how dim artificial light is but nonetheless the light conditions were right on the edge of my competence I think and your obliging and patient nature really helped me work through how to tackle the situation. I wish you well with your studies and wherever your qualifications take you.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #77 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

#76 Hugo, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

I’ve never photographed somebody’s boot before but that’s what I found myself doing today – I was crouched down as low as I could and Hugo was stood with his legs in a wide stance – much more so than necessary 😉 – to ensure that the foot I was photographing was isolated. What a picture we must have presented … so it’s lucky that I no longer get hung up and Hugo is a performer!

I had just finished with Ian and was heading back to work when I passed Hugo – oh boy, another no-brainer – fantastic!

Yet again I was given the go ahead with no questions asked but as ever I explained about the project anyway and handed him one of my business cards. I took a couple of half body shots of Hugo then asked if he would mind if I took a full length portrait as well and did so after switching to my 35mm lens (with hindsight changing lens was perhaps quite brave after the problems I had with Ian). I chatted casually with Hugo throughout and learned that he is a dancer and performs cabaret in a venue that I’m pretty sure he said was called The Boulevard and if it was, then he performs Burlesque but I didn’t actually establish that while talking to him. What I did learn though is that he has been a dancer since he was 9 and has been doing it professionally for 5 years. Whilst he doesn’t tour with his current job, dancing has previously taken him all over, including Slovenia, Madeira and New York (Broadway? Hmm … didn’t think to ask).

In his spare time Hugo enjoys sewing – making costumes. He doesn’t do this for his work but he does produce costumes for another dance troupe. When I asked if he had made any of the clothes he was currently wearing he looked down before replying "no, but I customise my boots" – the rest, as they say, is history … the boot shot immediately sprung to mind and my diptych became a triptych!

As I stood up from photographing his boot I commented "that was probably one of the weirdest things I’ve ever done … what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done?". Regular viewers of my project will no doubt spot what I did there – weirdest / maddest … same thing! And segued like a cheesy DJ – I was so proud of myself! How does "dressed up like a giant clown … with a broken umbrella" grab you for weirdness – it does it for me!

Hugo, thank you very much for taking time to help me with my project today – it was a real pleasure talking with you.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #76 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

#75 Ian, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

I’ve seen this gentleman wandering about a few times but today things came together and I decided to ask him to take part in my project. So I started walking after him but for some reason I "chased" with less purpose then normal when I have made a decision – it’s one of my own little techniques to pick up my pace to force myself to carry through with the approach but I didn’t do that today although I did nonetheless ask him and he immediately agreed with a slight smile. After a brief explanation about the project I introduced myself and learned that this was Ian. And now the fun begins …

… at first I couldn’t move the focus point and blaming the camera (bear with me) I released the lens and reattached it but that made no difference. Thankfully though it finally occurred to me that I had simply locked the focus point by mistake so I rectified that and tried again. Still no good though – now the camera wouldn’t focus so I checked the focus settings on both camera and lens and they were both set correctly so off came the lens again, reattached and … beep … thank goodness! These issues cropped up when I was photographing Becca as well and I got really flustered on that occasion but today I was able to calmly work through the problems until everything worked properly (despite getting a bit confused as it would appear that I tried to solve the first problem with the wrong solution and thus caused the other issue – faulty contact between the camera and lens).

Throughout this Ian was remarkably patient with me – I wasn’t talking to him because I was too busy trying to work out what the problem was but he just waited until I was ready and then looked obligingly into the camera.

I did speak to Ian a bit afterwards but I’ve decided not to post any of it because I don’t think he really wanted to chat and after a couple of short answers I cut my losses and thanked him then left him to continue on his way.

Ian, thank you very much for taking part in my project today and for your patience whilst I wrestled with my camera. Ultimately though I am pleased with this portrait and I hope that you like it as well.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #75 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

#74 Jake, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

Whilst out on a "100 Strangers" hunt today I stopped to change lens and check a few settings on my camera and get one of my cards out of my bag to put in my pocket … I’m not sure it made it though … as soon as I had closed my bag I looked up and there was Jake walking towards me. This was a no-brainer, what a fantastic style!

As soon as I asked Jake for a photo he agreed but as usual I pressed on and explained briefly about the social aspect of the project before taking a few shots. Although the photo I eventually posted has Jake sporting quite a serious expression, he was smiling in a couple but unfortunately my framing was a bit off and I didn’t want to post a portrait that chopped part of his bow tie off – that was part and parcel of why I asked him after all.

Jake is a craftsman, leather work mostly and making stuff out of old rubber tyres – I asked if this was for art but it is more from a recycling point of view.

When I tried my "maddest thing" question Jake became the first person to ask me to qualify what I meant by "mad" – deciding that my project is generally light-hearted I went for daft or funny rather then "psychologically unbalanced". Jake chose not to pick a particular incident though and simply informed me that he likes to live his life in a generally abstract way. I hope my little interruption helped to further that behaviour.

Jake thanks very much for helping me with my project today – you have a great style and it was a pleasure meeting you briefly today.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #74 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

#73 Marke, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

I had the coolest rejection today – a very smartly dressed gentleman that kept walking for about 20 yards until I sparked his interest enough for him to stop but alas no … but boy did he smile the best smile throughout ;).

Ten minutes later though I walked past Marke and instantly impressed by his style also I turned on my heels no more than a couple of metres past him and asked if I could take his photo. Marke looked really taken aback but asked why so I explained and no sooner had I mentioned the word "project" and he was holding his hand out gesturing for me to carry on. I took a handful of shots and explained a bit more about the purpose behind the project. When I asked Marke what he was up to there was no stopping him and he talked quite enthusiastically about what he was doing today and moreover why Newcastle was special to him.

Marke is from York originally but lived in London for 37 years. He has taken the day off work (Bank Manager) today to come shopping in Newcastle – a city he has frequented many times as a child as both his grandparents are from Newcastle. His Grandfather used to run a business in the 1920s quite close to where we were stood and whilst I’m not 100% certain I think that he said it was a Chandlery.

Whilst Marke was talking I became aware of a lady off to the side that was watching quite intently and when I glanced back a bit later and she was still looking I asked Marke if that was his wife that I was keeping him away from at which point he replied that it was and held his hand out so I shook it and thanked him for his time. Marke walked off to be with his wife and I could just make out her asking "what was that all about?". I have no idea what Marke’s reply was.

I went and sat down immediately after he had gone and reviewed the photographs on my camera. As I was sat there I saw Mr Stylish Rejection walking down the street in my general direction – he politely turned down one of the many charity workers (not my #65 Matt although he was only a stone’s throw away) and walked on. As he passed close by he spotted me and broke into that smile again and waved – I waved back and couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as well. I had a good "100 Strangers" day today!

Marke, thank you very much for taking some time out to talk to me today – I hope that you had a good day as well and that you like the photograph.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #73 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

#72 Isaac & Widget, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

I’m not one for going dewy eyed over cute dogs but a week or two ago I came home and told Mrs H&C about the cutest dog that I’d seen at lunchtime – you should have taken a photograph she told me …

… today I saw the same dog again and unable to resist I decided to "stranger" its owner. Isaac readily agreed to the photo but I don’t think he realised at first that I meant a photograph of him and a separate photograph of Widget but after explaining about the project he was perfectly happy so I took two shots of him and then set about the task of trying to photograph a somewhat excitable puppy. I managed two shots but then a young lady that I’d spotted across the street looking somewhat interested came over and interrupted to ask if she could stroke the dog.

The interruption came just as I was starting to strike up a conversation with Isaac and probably cut things quite short but I have to be honest that it was the dog that had caught my attention and with diptych already in my mind I most definitely got what I wanted out of this encounter. Nonetheless, I am pretty pleased with my photo of Isaac as well – which is 100% straight out of camera.

What I did find out is that Widget doesn’t belong to Isaac – it’s his boss’s dog and it’s 32 … eh? … this turned out to be Isaac’s age and after we’d sorted out the confusion I learned that the dog is about 4 months old. Isaac looked vaguely familiar to me and coupled with the fact that I was only 50 yards from my office and the last time I saw Widget I was even closer I asked Isaac if he worked in the same building (there are about 15-20 small companies in the building) but this was the point that the lady interrupted and I never got the answer to that one. I expect to bump into Isaac again though.

Isaac – thanks very much for taking part in my project today – I hope you like the image and if you want a copy of the individual shot of you for whatever reason then let me know.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #72 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

#71 Kimi, a photo by haggisandchips on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

After my previous (technically) disappointing 100 Strangers encounter I decided that I wanted to make sure my next "stranger" ended with a photograph that I was happy with.

With this in mind I was pleased when I spotted Kimi – a very pretty young lady with great hair. I was already vaguely ‘stalking’ someone else but they were on the phone and I had no hesitation hot footing after Kimi instead. When I asked if I could take her photograph she immediately agreed and smiled – I explained it was for a Flickr project and complimented her on her hair … another smile … cool!

I took a few shots, as she was blinking in several of them and I was also quite cold so my hands weren’t particularly steady either (although they never are). That plus I started at f/2.2 to try and ensure a keeper then I opened up to f/1.8 for a few more. Kimi seemed really relaxed in front of the camera and smiled a lot throughout. This photograph is one of the f/2.2s but that’s more to do with the composition and pose than anything else – I had several that I was happy with.

Once I put the camera down I asked her what she liked to do but I suddenly realised that I hadn’t actually explained the project properly such was her immediate agreement to the photograph. Once I’d rectified that omission Kimi told me that she was a gaming freak and loves playing console games – XBox not PlayStation, this seemed quite important to her ;). She also loves movies and drawing … oh yes … and tattoos! She currently has 18 tattoos, mostly food or zombie themed … apparently she loves zombies. She explained that she has a large tattoo across her back which I think she said wasn’t complete yet but the cold weather was keeping all of Kimi’s tattoos well hidden today. Unlike several of my strangers though it wasn’t her tattoos that caught my eye.

With that I thanked Kimi, wished her a good day and left her to get on with her lunch break.

Kimi, thanks very much for helping me with my project today – especially when I was making you stand around when you were already cold. I hope that you like the photograph.

PS: I’m delighted to say that this photograph is pretty much straight out of camera ;).
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.

This picture is #71 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