Walking Chair Lady

New city, new camera, new format. 

After more than half a year of searching, I finally managed to find someone I was excited about photographing again. This of course, is only partly true. Probably I pass a few people on the street everyday that I'm curios about getting to know or photographing. But unless I have my camera and a decent attitude, this becomes more or less imposible. When my London adventure ended in July 2012, I decided to settle down in Malmö. A small (compared to London), but very cosy city in the South of Sweden. For sure I'm going to miss the diversity of people London had to offer, but I'm even more excited about exploring Malmö and get to know the locals here. 

Eva (93) was on her way home for a well deserved coffee when I met her. Not sure if it was the contrast between her, the snowy weather and the building container, or the fact that I was a bit scared of asking and thought I would get a no, that fascinated me the most. I decided to ask anyway, and as it turned out, she kindly spared a moment of her time to stop for a portrait. I noticed how she kept avoiding my camera lens. At first I thought I was making her uncomfortable (probably I was), so I stopped photographing and went to have a little chat instead. We talked about walking chairs and her daily trip to the city center. Considering the snow and walking chair, 20 minutes is not bad for this kind of trip. After saying goodbye, I discovered it took me almost the same amount of time to walk the trip myself.

Lady in Apron

I got eye contact with this little, old lady at a traffic light when I was about to cross the street in Chiang Mai. Since she looked so cute with her apron and plastic bag I thought it would be nice to take her portrait. I held up my camera, asked for a photograph and pointed at the green wall. She smiled, and went to stand in front of it, whilst I went out in the busy street to photograph.

Woman in Yellow

In front of this partly painted wall I met Sandra. I instantly fell in love with the combination of colors and her beautiful head piece. I wanted to photograph her so bad that I think it made me a bit extra nervous when I decided to stop her. In general people are sceptic when I approach them, and Sandra was no different. She even confirmed this in an email she sent me today. After some stumbling, I kind of explained to her what I was doing, whereafter she made my day and agreed to be photographed.  

Artist - Julie Verhoeven

Julie's yellow hair and pale face was quite easy to notice along the sidewalk. It made me curious and I  wanted to know more about her, so I decided to say hellu. Little did I know that Julie is a really great multitalented artist, working with a mix of fashion, illustration, design and video. After a quick look at her website (julieverhoeven.com), I found out that she had done work for pretty much all the biggest names in the fashion industry; Versace, H&M, Louis Vuitton, Dazed, you name it. As well as some beautiful decoration work for one of my favorite London restaurants, Sketch. 

Help for Heroes

Believe it or not this will be my first post without the person's name. Maybe it was her sad story that threw me off. Or was it the lovely jumper that I thought suited her so well. She had lost her mums pills (some medicine) which she had just purchased from the chemist, and now she was desperately walking around trying to find them. As she said; pills can be expensive if you don't have a job. When she told me this I almost felt bad for taking up her time, but she explained how she used to do photography as well, and was more than happy to help me out.    

Woman with Invisible dog

In the front-garden of an apartment complex I met Mary(80) and her little dog Kerry. They were out strolling for some fresh air and didn't seem too busy, so I went over to have a chat. My original plan when approaching was to do a portrait of both of them together. However, I don't think Kerry really liked to be photographed. She was constantly running out of frame, fully extending the red leash. Mary on the other hand, insisted that her dog loved to be photographed and kept pulling Kerry back.     

Woman with Luggage

It's not often you walk down the street and see 80 year old ladies carrying bags around like this. Pauline(80) was on her way to the local club for a day of fun and games with the girls (as she put it). She was wondering why I wanted to photograph her, and told me a joke about how her husband used to say her presence ruined photographs. That was of course not true! I thought she looked really lovely, as made for an intriguing picture. The bag looked heavy and I felt like giving her a hand, but the weight of the bag didn't seem to bother Pauline at all. She insisted on holding it throughout our little photo-shoot, and as we were heading the same way I offered to carry it for her, but she refused to take my help. It was nothing left for me to do than to wish her a great day and best of luck with the game-playing.

Hipster Shoe Lady

Mary was almost too cute to be true. I crossed my fingers when walking towards her, hoping she would agree to be photographed. She seemed a bit strict at first, but she wasn't at all. In fact, she laughed about me wanting to photograph her, and asked if it wasn't expensive for me to take so many photos. Happy as a smily-face, I explained to her about the digital age and how I could view the photos straight away. Mary was obviously up to date with the latest fashion. Her shoes can be found on youngsters all over London, and her jacket I thought was quite trendy as well.

Mark & Louise - An outside bet

I noticed Mark and Louise when we were walking towards each other on the sidewalk along Southampton way. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it was something about them that fascinated me. Maybe I felt they had a typical english look going on. The photo makes them look quite serious, but my impression of them when we met, was the complete opposite. They were wearing same button tags on their coats saying 'outside bet'. I wish I had asked what it was for. Our meeting was very brief, and I'm still to this day, curious about how they were related. 

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Later I've been told that 'Outside bet' is the title of a film that will be released this April. The film is based on a book Mark wrote called 'The Mumper'. 

Joan, 46 - Her earrings made me happy

When I met Joan I instantly knew it was going to be a nice meeting. I think her earrings describes her  personality well. Warm, lovely and colorful. We talked for a while and I felt a really good connection. She kept saying things that made me smile, and I think I made her smile too. She admitted to me that she was very happy about being photographed. The reason for this, she explained with a simple image on her phone. It's fair to say that Joan used to be bigger than what she looks like today. I don't remember the exact details, but she had lost a lot of weight over the last months. It was hard for me to believe that the lady in the image she showed me was the same as the one standing in front of me. 

Unknown cuties, in a hurry

Unfortunately I don't know much about these two lovely ladies. They looked slightly scared and sceptic when I approached them, but after some convincing, they agreed to take a quick photograph, though, on one condition, that they didn't have to tell me their names. For me it made the meeting more mystical, so I told them not a problem. Our conversation was very brief, as they both had more important things to do than hanging around chatting with me. Can't really blame them.

Lillian, 76

I saw Lillian from far way, and thought she looked so warm and cosy in her scarf and pink  jacket. She was indeed! Back in the days, she used to be an archaeologist, where cameras were often used to document  the digging sites. I was intrigued! We shared some thoughts about photography, and she explained me how she could never get her digital camera to take the photos she wanted. Other than this, Lillian was very conscious about her age. Lesson learned, never to ask a lady for her age. However, after making sure no neighbors were around to see her, she secretly showed me her age using her fingers. I hope I got it right.

Elisabeth, 24

I was watching the birds in the park when Elisabeth suddenly came up next to me and started feeding them. She was definitely not your average kind of bird-feeder-lady (like the one in Home Alone 2), so I decided to ask for her portrait. It turned out, she was a sweetheart, and said yes. When I asked if she came there often, she answered: 'The birds need me'. I didn't ask more, and just assumed she did.