Candid camera

April's assignment in my online photo group was to 'take a photo of someone you don't know, either posed or candid'. That's a real challenge for me. Partly because I'm so deaf, I find it hard to engage with people I don't know - and I feel voyeuristic taking photos candidly. I had to have a go though...  

First, I took the photo of Alex at the mining museum. Though I would have liked a less cluttered background, I wasn't entirely comfortable about 'posing' him, so it was a bit rushed. Then I decided to have a go at taking some 'street shots', trying to catch people unawares. My new camera makes street photography slightly easier as it has a tilting backscreen, so I can compose surreptitiously and avoid lifting the camera to my eye. Still a challenge though. Somehow, photos with cluttered backgrounds taken by Martin Parr look OK; photos with cluttered backgrounds taken by me look... cluttered. At least the top shot doesn't have a cluttered background. 

The lady and the two boys were enjoying a picnic. I've blurred the boys' faces a bit as I'm never very happy showing identifiable pics of children on a public blog. I've a friend who is mother to adopted children and, as she points out, it can actually be dangerous to show identifiable children in identifiable locations. Some children's lives are very precarious and you just never know.  

In St. Peter's Square in Manchester there was a small group of 'Remainers' (Manchester for Europe) trying to convince people that staying in the EU is essential. They didn't have to work too hard to convince me... but others perhaps were less open to their message.

I spotted two older ladies just sitting watching the world go by (as the saying goes). It reminded me of my childhood, sitting with my parents on a bench somewhere. I think I asked what we were doing and mum said: 'Watching the world go by'.  After a while my sister asked: 'When is it coming?'

Some friends were having a warm chat over coffee:

and a little girl was running through the water jets, without her shoes but still in her (very wet) tights.