"I auditioned for X-Factor once. The judges really liked me, and I even got through the first round. I regret not going into singing when I was young, but I lacked the confidence then"

Happy New Year Everyone!

I've had a short break from last year up to now, figuring out which projects to concentrate on for the year. Today, I made the decision to carry on Humans of Leeds, and learnt at the same time that I enjoyed it immensely. It can be quite a strain on my time sometimes so I'm going to carry on in short bursts rather than attempt a daily journal...but we'll see how it goes.

I met up with Angelo today (remember I photographed him back in November). When I met him last he had plans to carry on travelling but has since decided to stop short in Leeds for the time being, figuring out his next move. He has also started doing Street Photography (the proper stuff, not what I do) so we decided to meet up and take a photography walk.

We ended up in the market at one point and Angelo got some great candid shots of Patricia here but I couldn't resist going up to her and having a chat. She agreed to her portrait immediately, and I asked her to move into a central isle in the market to give me room to shoot. Afterwards, I asked her what she used to do for a living,

“I used to establish geometrical clearances between inner and outer races to within one tenth of a thou’”

That is a direct quote, and I had to ask her several times to repeat it until I finally got my phone out to record her as I couldn’t quite process it. I still don’t know what it means in detail but it was some kind of mechanical engineering process (she was an Engineer) for automobiles.

Patricia told us she had worked for over 25 years as an engineer, but what she really regretted not going into was singing. She then told us about her experiences with her X-Factor audition, at the Hotel Metropole in Leeds no less.

“It’s fixed, I tell you why. The woman in front of me in the queue, I asked her 'What are you going to sing?' She said, 'I don’t know'. So I said, ‘Haven’t you got a song you’ve rehearsed?' ‘No', she said, 'I can’t sing'. ‘So why have you entered it?’ ‘Oh, I’ve only entered it to see Simon Cowell’. But you know what, two weeks later, on the TV, there she was running and putting her arms round him and she got to see him and they passed her through the stages...although she couldn’t sing!”

I liked Patricia, she was a wonderful character to talk to, and was genuinely interested in the project. Most importantly, the encounter made me want to carry on this work...


Humans of Leeds