I made it to 50!!! As I had promised myself that I would buy myself a full frame camera if I got to 50 strangers, I am so happy that Richard agreed to help me reach the milestone.

It’s been a while since I had posted on here and that was because I had a few specific shots in mind where the elements just weren’t coming together. I met up with Katya and Barbara and we roamed the streets of London for about 2 hours before anyone got a stranger shot. The girls eventually got going and you can see there shots in the group.

I, on the other hand, was being extremely picky. To be honest, I was getting a bit disillusioned and was going to just pick any person. However, luck was on my side and when Barbara/Katya noticed Richard I knew he was perfect.

I approached Richard and when I explained that I liked his style, he something along the lines of “Nah, surely you don’t want me, I am working class”. I reiterated that I liked his style and he agreed for a portrait.

I walked with him for a few metres when I saw the cracking backdrop that you see in the pics and took a few shots. His style demanded a full length shot where I ended up on the middle of the road just to get all of him in the frame (I was using 50mm on a crop sensor camera). For the close ups, I asked him to come forward as I wanted to blur out the background a little bit more.

Richard was at a car show taking pictures of ridiculously expensive cars with his Lumix camera and was a laugh to chat with. I decided to include all of these elements in the picture to give it more context.

In hindsight, I should have tried a few shots with the reflector and Barbara did offer. However, I thought the shots looked good on the screen and I had also sensed that Richard had wanted to move on by now.

Thanks Richard for being my perfect 50th stranger.