The Human Family: #145 Oliver
An early morning start on Sunday saw me in the hydrotherapy pool at 9 o'clock, then the two of us enjoying breakfast in Winchester, afterwards walking along to the community arts centre, The Arc, to visit the current exhibition: 'Beauty of the Earth: The Art of May, Jane & William Morris" in The Gallery.
While Ray presented our annual tickets I was distracted by some of the art on the walls and on rejoining him, I thought to ask Oliver manning the reception desk to participate in my strangers' portrait project. He was happy with the idea and I took a few shots, thinking that the colourful art made a good backdrop.
Finding that Oliver has full-time work at The Arc, I wondered what he likes to do in his free time. He explained his great interest and passion for designing and drawing character illustrations. It is just a hobby right now but he has had a couple of submissions accepted and told me his dream ambition would be to find work as an illustrator, designing characters for cartoons and other animations.
This all being new to me, I searched on Google for more information and found: Character Illustration: In film, animation, and video games, the illustrator is involved in creating characters. This includes conceiving appearance, clothing, facial expressions and gestures.
At home, the family have Ruby, a lively 2-year-old cockerpoo, for company.
(Oliver did mention that I had taken a portrait of one of his colleagues a while ago - not too sure if my reputation going before me is good or bad.................)
I thanked Oliver, found Ray looking at some artwork, and we continued into The Gallery. No photography allowed inside the exhibition room of course. I did note that William Morris had written a novel: 'News from Nowhere'. As we came out, Oliver was still at reception and I asked if he knew about it.
He did know somebody who had read the book and who had seen it as an antidote to some of the dystopian writings of George Orwell. Whereupon I mentioned I had just read Orwell's diaries, which revealed him to be quite domesticated, a keen gardener and 'homebody' interested in the natural world - something of a revelation for me.
A lovely and fruitful encounter: I did offer photos to Oliver but he declined in the nicest possible way saying that if I thought his portrait worthy he was happy, likewise responding to my offer for a link to this post he said he would trust me in respect of the content.
This is my #145 submission to the Human Family Group. To view more street portraits and stories visit:
www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/
The Human Family: #145 Oliver
An early morning start on Sunday saw me in the hydrotherapy pool at 9 o'clock, then the two of us enjoying breakfast in Winchester, afterwards walking along to the community arts centre, The Arc, to visit the current exhibition: 'Beauty of the Earth: The Art of May, Jane & William Morris" in The Gallery.
While Ray presented our annual tickets I was distracted by some of the art on the walls and on rejoining him, I thought to ask Oliver manning the reception desk to participate in my strangers' portrait project. He was happy with the idea and I took a few shots, thinking that the colourful art made a good backdrop.
Finding that Oliver has full-time work at The Arc, I wondered what he likes to do in his free time. He explained his great interest and passion for designing and drawing character illustrations. It is just a hobby right now but he has had a couple of submissions accepted and told me his dream ambition would be to find work as an illustrator, designing characters for cartoons and other animations.
This all being new to me, I searched on Google for more information and found: Character Illustration: In film, animation, and video games, the illustrator is involved in creating characters. This includes conceiving appearance, clothing, facial expressions and gestures.
At home, the family have Ruby, a lively 2-year-old cockerpoo, for company.
(Oliver did mention that I had taken a portrait of one of his colleagues a while ago - not too sure if my reputation going before me is good or bad.................)
I thanked Oliver, found Ray looking at some artwork, and we continued into The Gallery. No photography allowed inside the exhibition room of course. I did note that William Morris had written a novel: 'News from Nowhere'. As we came out, Oliver was still at reception and I asked if he knew about it.
He did know somebody who had read the book and who had seen it as an antidote to some of the dystopian writings of George Orwell. Whereupon I mentioned I had just read Orwell's diaries, which revealed him to be quite domesticated, a keen gardener and 'homebody' interested in the natural world - something of a revelation for me.
A lovely and fruitful encounter: I did offer photos to Oliver but he declined in the nicest possible way saying that if I thought his portrait worthy he was happy, likewise responding to my offer for a link to this post he said he would trust me in respect of the content.
This is my #145 submission to the Human Family Group. To view more street portraits and stories visit:
www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/