My first upload as an E2 member!

The above image is of John, one of our touring group in the Baltic Republics, who became my ‘spotter’ for characters during our extremely enjoyable trip to pastures new. It began on the evening of the first full day, when John and his wife Pat shared a table with us at dinner in the hotel. We had never met before, but we hit it off straight away and talked about all sorts of things, including my interest in photography. I explained that I was interested in taking all sorts of photographs but above all I sought out interesting characters and if I could capture them in context such shots could make fascinating images and memories. Later that evening I showed John a couple of characters I had captured during the day and he was very interested – ‘caricature photography’ was the phrase he used.

John is a great character who has a superb dry wit and he would throw out sharp one-liners in conversation; something that I was always happy to try and match. We had a whale of a time throughout the trip competing in the one-liner stakes, with Pat and Tricia joining in and more than holding their own.

So how did John become my self-appointed ‘spotter’? It was all because of the above image, which I captured in Vilnius when John was with the group and was gazing intently at the place that our local guide was speaking about. I had broken off from the group and was doing my own thing - something I often do no matter where we go, when I glanced back and saw John holding a look of intense concentration – and in an instant the shot was taken. When we broke for lunch, Tricia and I dashed off to have another look around the cathedral and then made for the meeting point, near which we settled into a watering-hole for local beer and a snack. Just as we were finishing we saw Pat, John and a couple of others walking past, so I called Pat across and showed her the shot I had taken of John. Pat’s jaw dropped, her eyes widened and sparkled and then came a huge, beaming smile. ‘You’ve got to show him – You’ve just got to show him!’ she said excitedly. John was a few yards away and stopped, obviously sensing that Pat wasn’t walking beside him. He saw Pat talking to us and came over, whereupon I told him that I had managed to catch another interesting character during the morning. ‘Let’s have a look,’ said John, putting on his spectacles. I switched on the camera and located the image – and once he had taken a look he knew he’d been had. John took it ever so well, although he swore he’d get his revenge on me during the trip – something that he didn’t manage to achieve.

The following day John became my official ‘spotter’ when we were approaching Rundale Palace and he ran after me to alert me to the character portrayed in ‘Apples For Sale’. I didn’t realise it at the time, but this was John being John – and he had set me a test. I thanked him, turned back immediately to capture the shot and as we were going into the palace I was able to show him. John was as delighted as me, but later that day he said that it was my reaction he was testing. If I’d done nothing, I'm sure he’d have left spotting characters alone, but because I said I was going to get the shot there and then – and did so, John made it his mission to look out for interesting people too. Sometimes John would indicate a possible shot by the sideways movement of his head or by the flicker of an eye – there were occasions when I couldn’t keep up with him! We all had a lot of fun, especially on the last evening when John was stood next to a hatchet-faced conductress on a crowded trolley bus in Riga and expected me to get the shot. I tried and failed – people kept getting in the way - but every time I missed out all four of us laughed. The locals must have wondered what we were on!

It was a memorable trip, made all the more enjoyable by meeting up with John and Pat and the four of us having such a huge amount of fun together. They're a fantastic couple; I'm delighted to say that we have stayed in touch since returning to the UK.


FOOTNOTE: This image is uploaded with John's agreement

Tags: Travel General Man Candid Lithuania Vilnius Portraits and people

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