Days 10 and, especially 11, of my challenge were always going to be particularly tough. My day job took me to London by the train on Monday afternoon for an all day meeting on Tuesday with a very late return to Sheffield Tuesday night. So this meant that I wouldn’t have much time free to get my stranger portraits.
In the end I found the time to take some stranger photos pretty easily but there were other challenges I had to overcome – and these were all of my own making.
Because I was travelling by train I decided to travel light and only take the bare minimum of camera gear with me, rather than lugging around my relatively bulky and heavy Lowepro CompuDaypack backpack. So when I left my house on Monday morning I only took with me my Canon 50D camera, my trusty Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens and one memory card.
Unfortunately I forgot to check the status of my battery before I set off – and I think you can guess what happened. Yes, when I found my first stranger of the day I turned on my camera and was horrified to see that the battery was almost flat! And as I didn’t have my usual backpack with me I didn’t have a spare battery – oh what an idiot I thought (or at least words to that affect!)
Thankfully the camera just about had enough juice to take this photo of a student on Monday before it died and she became my stranger for the day:
As I didn’t have time to go home to get a spare battery (or even time to visit a camera shop to buy one) I had no choice but to use my iPhone 3G to take my stranger portrait on Tuesday.
I was staying at the Premier Inn near Euston Station and I hoped that a suitable stranger would be in the restaurant for breakfast. And that they would want to have their photo taken by an iPhone. Thankfully this lovely German lady was more than happy to have her photo taken. She wouldn’t look at the iPhone when I took it which annoyed me a little as all my other subjects have looked straight at me. But upon reflection I am really pleased that she didn’t look at me as it is a nice affect.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised just how well the portrait turned out especially as the iPhone 3G only has a 1.9MP camera. Obviously I wasn’t able to blur out the background as I have done with all my other subjects but I don’t think the background detracts from her at all.
Thankfully today I was able to put a fully charged battery into my camera and so didn’t have to use my iPhone again. I spotted my subject today outside of the Students Union. She was trying to persuade people to join in with a march to protest about the cuts and student fees. I politely declined her kind offer and asked her if she would pose for me. I was thrilled when she said yes.
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