Say .....

..... cheese.

It's been a bit of a photo day for me without really taking many photos. Having not left Ilkley for the last six days I decided to have a trip in to Leeds at lunch time to meet up with fellow blipper ZMT for a cuppa.

We met in Leeds market and within seconds Z was asking someone for a photo, we walked up to the art gallery to have a cuppa in the tiled café and on the way Z stopped two more people for portraits ( the man is a blipping machine ). It was fun watching how another street photographer approaches people, Z is such an amiable chap I can't imagine anyone refusing to pose for him.

Z and I had a cuppa in the art gallery ( thanks again Z, my treat next time ) and chatted about blip and street photography and his Humans of Leeds project. After we had said our goodbyes I had a wander back down to the market for a bite to eat in the Chinese food place ( it's not really a restaurant, more 4 bar stools and a bit of worktop, but very good food ). I then had a wander around the market and took this photo of the chap in the burger van, I always get a cup of tea from there when in Leeds and he always asks me about my camera so today I asked him for a photo. The woman who works with him said ' his arse is his best side' but I opted for a more conventional portrait.

In town I noticed a queue of people outside an American clothes shop and asked the manager what it was all about. Today the company were having open model auditions as they wanted some British models. Spotting my camera, the store manager said ' we're also looking for photographers if you're interested'. Nothing ventured nothing gained, so I joined the queue with all the attractive young folk ( I stood out like a sore thumb ) and filled out the form ( leaving out the details of my weight and inside leg Measurement ). I showed the woman conducting the interviews a few of my portraits on Blip and Flickr and she made polite noises of appreciation and asked me to email them a few. I don't expect anything to come of it, but it's all experience.

Whilst in the queue I photographed the two models either side of me ( Declan and Dionne ) and then photographed a couple walking down the street. In total I took five photos and have put the other four on Flickr. I also noticed much to my delight, that the Leeds branch of Jessops has reopened so I now have somewhere I can get prints done quickly and the way I like them.

All in all its been a good day, however I did have a text from Z saying that for the first time in 3 years his camera card has corrupted today, hopefully he'll be able to recover the portraits on it because they looked great on the camera screen. As it's been a bit of a photo/portrait day, today's blip is .....


..... Say cheese.