This was my second choice of portraits from my session with Alison during my 100 portraits project. This was a darkening, rainy evening. 6.30 on the 26th of March according to the exif data. The combination of Alison’s bright dress, the bright graffiti and ISO 1600 on the very capable 40D I was using at the time made it all OK. Alison made my first choice for me, she insisted on a playful, dirt-smeared-face picture; it’s therefore nice to post my actual choice.

It’s been a while since I posted a second choice from my 100 portraits project. This is Michelle, we did the photographs at the People’s Palace in Glasgow. This one was taken after we were thrown out of the indoor garden area. We took advantage of the lovely, freshly cleaned fountain and late low light to snatch a very Glasgow portrait for a very international and far-travelled young woman.

Guess what, another choice with my Sigma 28mm lens. Why do magazines continue to encourage portraiture by walkie-talkie or semaphore with the 100mm ideal length advice? I don’t think so….

OK I cheated. I couldn’t choose my 2nd favourite picture of Linda. I have chosen my 2 joint 2nd favourites. (What a cop-out). Looking through these was a load of fun and brought vividly back to mind how great a time Linda and I had doing these pictures. For those who are interested the arch is one of the bridges over the Kelvin in Glasgow’s botanic gardens.

Guess what, both taken with the Sigma 28 f 1.8. What a lens…

Ruth was not only a lovely subject to photograph, but was also a great pianist. She brought a relaxed and fun approach to the session. I have a particularly fond memory of meeting Ruth as she insisted on giving some lovely wine and fine biscuits to say thanks; a really lovely person.

Sorry for the posting delay. Truthfully there are up cycles and down cycles in any hobby, and I have been going through a bit of a “down-phase” recently. I thought I might start gently again with my second choice from Bethan’s shoot from my 100 portraits project last year. I didn’t do many pictures that didn’t have a full facial view, so this one was highly odd for me. It was in the botanic gardens in Glasgow.

Continuing with my series of second choices from my 100 portraits project of last year. Breege met me in the botanic gardens in Glasgow, (a frequent choice for my subjects), and we spent a fair amount of time playing with this colourful bush to bring colour and depth into the portrait. It was fun going back to this one and adjusting the saturation and the “curves” to get the effect I wanted. I used the selective brush in Lightroom to reduce the mid-range contrast (clarity control)  in the purple flowers to ensure that nothing distracted from Breege’s face. In the end we used one with the glass structure of the greenhouses behind Breege which you can find in my 100 portraits pages.

And look cropped sensor portraitists, I checked the data and again it was my 28mm f1.8 Sigma that brought home the goods. I still think the general advice on portrait lenses out there is poor. 100mm or its equivalent is to long for an intimate portrait.

Charlotte and I met on the roof of the National Museum in Edinburgh. It was incredibly windy and this made it difficult to get many pictures of Charlotte with Edinburgh’s roofscapes behind. This one was my favourite of the windswept images we did, and would have been my second choice overall. I love the intensity of Charlotte’s look and her eyes have great catchlights. (Oh and Edinburgh looks OK too).

Once again my favourite lens, the Sigma 28 f1.8 was the choice.

Taken in early March on the stairs running up above Kelvingrove park in Glasgow. Caroline is a keen sportswoman, and I remember being out of breath just keeping up with her as she strode uphill to her chosen place. I felt I was beginning to grow my confidence a little about this point in the project, and the whole session was very relaxed as a result. Caroline was easy going and very quick to smile. This picture was just before a burst of smiling/laughter and I think shows something really interesting about Caroline. The background is just the way I love portrait backrounds to be, evocative but not sharp or distracting. This would have been my 2nd choice and looking back I really did agonise over it.

Tommy was my first taste of photographing someone who had no shyness at all. Not that he was overconfident or vain, far from it, he just had fun and so did I. I could have used most of his photographs. This one is my second favourite from our shoot.