In street photography, there are two ways of working – fishing or hunting – the first, is where you find a location, a coloured wall, window, or other setting and sit waiting for the right subject to enter your frame – the latter, where you prowl the streets and snap away as people surround you.
On this day I was a hunter. I went out armed with my new Ricoh GRiii camera and an empty memory card looking for targets.
Following my usual route from parking my car in Wapping, I walked up towards Aldgate and wandered north along Brick Lane watching, looking, hunting for characters and faces – only stopping occasionally to take in some street art or listen to a busker.
As I entered the market area towards the Beigel shops, the street got busier and I was amidst the busy street scene – I recall it was on the junction of Brick Lane with Sclater Street and I was looking out for character faces and suddenly this lady appeared – like a vision – I first noticed the obvious – her spectacular necklace made entirely of Simpsons Character Toys – it was like like McDonald’s Happy Meal Jewellery – and such colour, her hair, the furry yellow jacket, the handbag – and the covid19 face visor – and I took a shot – one simple shot and she was gone – off amongst the crowd – no chance of me getting another shot – I don’t even recall which way she went, else I could have followed her. She was gone – like an episode of the Simpsons – my time with her was short.
When I got home that night, I uploaded the SD Card from that day and could only focus on that one shot – was it in focus? Please let it be in focus! I’ll be honest, its not pin sharp, but such was the speed it was taken, and it was an only shot so it would have to do.
The more I looked at it the more I was amazed by this characterful woman – I have seen some sights on Brick Lane over the years but she was “Unique” an absolute gem of a character.
Next day, as is my norm, I uploaded her to a number of Facebook Street Photography pages to which subscribe and therein started the notifications.
To date, she has become my “most liked” street shot with over 4,000 likes
Urban Street Photography 570 Likes
Street photography In The World 565 Likes
Inspired Street Photography 509 Likes
Street Photography 461 Likes
International Street Photography and Reportage 352 Likes
Storytelling and Street Photography 267 Likes
Street photography 142 Likes
Ricoh GRiii The Ultimate group 140 Likes
The Worldwide Street Photography Group 127 Likes
Plus likes from: Street photo Daily; Ricoh GR; Capture The Street – Raw Moments of Life; Street Photography Artists; Progressive Street; Freestyle Street; United We Shoot plus many more.
Thank You mystery lady – I have looked out for you on recent visits since that day but you elude me – you were my lucky shot that day.
Photography By MrG 