Rachel and I are currently on a short holiday in a rural part of Nottinghamshire and near the artist’s studio, mentioned in the last post, is a house in slight disrepair and an overgrown garden. I struck up conversation with the elderly owner who was outside with his gorgeous golden retriever dogs. After 20 mins or so I went on my way but reflected how nice it would be to take his portrait. I returned the next day and knocked on the door. A different man answered and I said I’d been chatting to another man; ‘Yes, that’s my brother, he’d said he’d met you’. I said I was an amateur photographer with a cheeky request – ‘would they mind me taking their portraits?’ ‘Yes, that would be fine’‘ he said. We arranged a time for the next day!
Well what a glorious time I had yesterday. Two lovely gentlemen and their faithful dogs. Alan and Neil, a retired gamekeeper and a taxidermist. So many stories about their lives told in their wild, wild garden. Both are sadly crippled with arthritis but they look after each other and friends lend a hand. To let a total stranger in to photograph them and be so kind and friendly – well it was an amazing experience.
Here are a selection of the portraits:
On my return home I’m going to print several of these and send them to Alan and Neil as a little thank you for being so kind.