Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas MAY. 11, 2021
As promised here are my Totnes People shots. I should explain that I never photograph people as it seems to go against my nature but I wanted to try my hand at it and make myself do it. Normally I am cloning people out of shots so it is a new departure to be deliberately trying to get portraits.
You can check out my Totnes Market post, my Totnes Close Ups post, my Totnes Town post and my Totnes Signs posts here.
Some of the people I engaged with, and some were candid anonymous shots. I don't know what the general opinion is regarding candid shots, what are your opinions on doing it? My opinion is that I like candid shots as they are very natural. However hard people try to act normally, once they are aware of the camera, they do not act normally. There is also the issue of not giving names to these people as they will be forever anonymous. I don't post unflattering shots of people though as I don't think that would be fair, but I choose what I think is a fair portrait hopefully with some humanity and character.
I am starting with the wand man. We had a bit of a chat and it turns out we have almost identical hearing problems, so it's amazing we had a chat at all really with all the hubbub of the market and the traffic nearby.
This is Ruth the accordion player below, busking in Fore Street, she was very happy to pose once she spotted me, and then asked me if I would send her any photos that turned out OK, which I have done. Ruth also gives Argentine Tango lessons and English lessons.
I caught up with Ruth again as she had moved locations up to the High Street by the time I had got there.
These are The Zips, complete with Tea Chest Double Base, I haven't seen one of those for years. They were busking for charity, raising money for nurses in rural Southern India.
Amongst all the other general noise, the bin lorry arrived to collect the rubbish.
This is Sophia who had a stall selling her artwork, which she was amazingly producing amidst the chaos.
The lady on the left runs Blue Pebble Flowers stall on the market and I was really grateful to her last year during the first lockdown as she home delivered plant orders, as all plant sales were closed down.
This is the local Totnes Town Councillor doing his rounds on market day.
