Emma [Stranger #44/100]

This picture is #44 in my 100 Strangers project;

Meet Emma. I am a little behind on my uploads and have to still uplaod Stranger #42 and 43 – need to work on their narrative. However my meeting with Emma just happened today I guess it’s a little fresh in my memory.

After another long day in office decided to drive to my recent haunt. There is something nice about the anticipation of a potential great image that may be lurking around the corner I guess. But after a pretty uneventful 30-45 minutes I was again close to giving up when I spotted Emma with an elderly couple (presumably her parents or maybe relatives). I was not sure if Emma would consider participating given her ‘no-nonsense’ demeanor but decided to take a chance drawn to her bright hair and a strong personality. Even as I was making the pitch, her elderly companion indicated that there was a famous Indian tennis player around and I should go and take his pictures. She could not remember the name of the player and we played a guessing game. However, in the corner of eye I saw Emma applying some lipstick and just working her look – I knew I had a good chance of a stranger and when I turned back to her – she had a okay let’s do it. Immediately
she was in the groove working her expressions and variations in poses. I asked her if she had done this before given her ease and confidence and she shrugged nonchalantly. However when she saw the pictures she wasn’t terribly happy – mentioning that I got her wrong side. Note to self – always ask the subject especially a lady if she has a ‘better’ preferred side. It’s one thing to have a great image that may be liked by many but the other challenge is to create a picture the subject will love. In any case we changed her angle to the other side of the face – and she definitely liked the pictures more though she felt that maybe some make-up would have helped. We even did a few pictures with a hat on which I will add in the comments section. On another enquiry, she said that she had done fashion in her college days which explained her relaxed nature facing the camera. In the meantime her companions were getting restless so she had to leave
which didn’t really allow any opportunity for a conversation.

Honestly I have mixed feelings about pictures with Emma – happy on some counts but some things that could be definitely improved. For one thing, I hardly got to know anything about her other than her name and that she was an artist (not sure what art form though). But on the good side, I have been lately learning or trying to observe ‘good light’ based on interacting with the wonderful photographers on this project , and this location is one spot I had identified to test out due to an Apple store on the opposite side that supplemented some of the reflected sunlight. But due to the fact that it was late evening I had to bump up the ISO. But the fact that I managed to get decent catch-lights and lighting on her face without a flash at almost 8.00 in the night did make me happy.

I did use Lightroom to further process this image – using the Cloudy WB for the warmer tones and the matte finish

Thanks Emma for being a part my project – wish our shoot was a little less rushed but I still appreciate the opportunity and all the very best!!
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
For my other pictures on this project: www.flickr.com/photos/vijaybrittophotography/sets/7215764…

Posted by Vijay Britto Photography on 2015-07-30 04:30:16

Tagged: , natural light , Outdoor , 100 Strangers , portraits , bokeh , reflected , light