Shooting strangers at the International Tattoo Convention

One of the best parts of the flickr 100 strangers group is when we meet up and go shooting for the day. The International London Tattoo Convention is held in London every year and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a get together. I joined Barbara (who organised it all – thanks Barbara) along with Katya and Shayne in Shadwell ready for a day of shooting.

I had met Barbara at a previous 100 strangers meet up, Katya is a very good friend of mine who I have known since my school days and Shayne travelled down from Manchester for the day. Our photography skills and 100 strangers experiences were all at different levels and it was great to be able to feed off each other. The convention meant that there was a plethora of amazing subjects to gain portraits of and by the end of the day we had all come back with a variety of really cool portraits.

Barbara was off the mark first with a great portrait of a Callum who had his grandma (or “nonna” in his words) tattooed on his back, Katya soon followed with her shot of Alex in his dapper waistcoat (see below).

Shayne was struggling to approach people as he was a relative newbie on the 100 strangers project. Barbara and I could relate as we were the ones who found it hard to approach people at our previous meet up. We were encouraged by more experienced “100 strangers” photographers who “forced” us to take some shots and this time it was our turn to help. I had also got a few shots in by this time and so some tough love was required so that Shayne could get of the mark. Asking the first stranger of the day is always the hardest as you need to warm up, it get’s easier from there. So in order to get Shayne on the road, we all agreed during a cake break that none of us would take anymore portraits until Shayne got his first one of the day. With encouragement, especially from Katya, Shayne got of the mark with this cracker of a shot.

Although I had got my first shot of the day, I wasn’t satisfied and I wanted more. We roamed around the edges of the convention and headed down towards the entrance where I found Eduard and I knew that I had to ask him for a shot. I was initially attracted to the tattoo on his neck but once I got to shooting him he had some great fun making his eyes bulge (which you can see on my flickr page). He even shared some Jack Daniels with me.

Some shots are just made for black and white and some are perfect for colour. When I saw Oliver, I was over there like a shot to ask him for a portrait to which he kindly agreed. His cool retro style meant that a black and white portrait was the only way to go.

On the other hand, only a colour shot would do for Natasha to really bring out her sense of style and the red of her lipstick against the blue of the background

We all had a fun day taking portraits of strangers and celebrated with a few drinks afterwards. As always it was a fun learning experience, a great way to meet people, both strangers and photographers alike.

To see more of my friends photographs you can see them from there Flickr Link as follows: