“We met last night in a dark alley. Seattle was the occasion. There were bright lights. Please send me the pictures.” So read E’s email after our encounter. It captures the essence of the shoot perfectly.

Having found an interesting alleyway just off Pike Street, where the warm orange of a lit doorway made a neat contrast with the green cast of fluorescent lamps, I’d only had to wait five minutes before E walked past. As a rule I try to ask people head on, but it was only as E passed that I noticed the intriguing combination of his sleek profile and a confident swaggering stride. He had a feline sort of cool, compelling me to speed up and ambush him twenty paces on.

“E, the letter?” I asked as we walked back to the alley.
“Like the letter,” he clarified, assuming a languid, elegant slouch. His friend Troy, tasked with reflector duty suggested we move further down the alley, as we were attracting a fair number of stares from passersby. E was entirely unphased by the attention.

As we shot E explained he’d been looking to get into modelling. I think be incredible at it – a strong look and that magic dust combination of charisma and confidence that comes across as a positive, magnetic arrogance. A raw, singular cool that persisted throughout our shot, despite a few motley bands of hawkers interrupting to offer contraband Grey Goose and other wares that had either fallen off the back of a lorry or been given a discrete kick out of one. A little like Andrea as we shot a little circus had gathered, and E was its ringmaster.

E – thanks for stopping, and I hope you like your portrait. It’d be awesome if it kickstarts your portfolio.

Info for Strobist;

The key light is from a Canon 600EX-RT shot through 43″ umbrella, camera left at a 45* angle, two feet out of shot, fired from ST-E3-RT manual mode at 1/64. E’s friend Troy is holding a 1.2m gold reflector a couple of feet from E camera right.

This is portrait #92 of my 100 Strangers Project – check out the group page and get involved.

Home this weekend – looking forward to catching up with contacts streams.