Lenny

Street Portraits
Written By Mark Moran

Most times it’s me who will initiate a conversation with the intention of a creating a portrait.

To converse about anything to build up a little friendly confidence and rapport before popping the question. Sometimes the camera itself can be the icebreaker.

So when I saw Lenny and his wife walking towards towards me I raced through my mental checklist; lighting, shutter speed, aperture, is the shutter release locked? Did I take the dark slide out? But it was Lenny who made the first move. “Quiet isn’t it?” he said. Simple. That was all I needed.

Lenny’s wife declined the opportunity of being immortalised on celluloid so I started with a couple of close ups of Lenny. Lenny is 84 and an ex-roofer from Anglesey. The older people are the more they want to share their age. I don’t go around telling people I’m 24 (I’m not). My grandmother would be chuffed to bits at the opportunity to share her age with strangers, it seemed to take years off her.

He started pointing up at the roofs; telling me how he’d worked on some of them and what he’d done to repair them. Such a warm friendly 84 year old, smiling constantly, happy to pose and reel off a few stories about the dangers of falling off roofs.

I backed away so I could frame him in the doorway behind when a couple of lads photo-bombed, “Take my picture, get me, get me!” Ha, the confident exuberance of the plucky-go-lucky youth of today. But ever the opportunist I asked them if they’d wait so I could get some more shots, “Sorry I can’t do that”. Damn, they had better things to do.

It was only after developing and scanning the negs that I noticed how Lenny’s body language altered when he was photo-bombed. How he shifted posture and attitude in keeping with the kid, not wanting to be outdone by this young whipper-snapper. Maybe a hint of a 16 year old Lenny emerging.

Camera: Mamiya RZ67 Proii / 110mm f2.8
Film: Ilford HP5 @400iso
Dev: Ilfotec HC 6.5 mins @20°C

Mark Moran https://www.markmoran.co.uk
Previous

Stitching Sketchbooks
Next

See a Penny…