Hannah posing behind her stall

Today I had my fortnightly market stall indoors at St Laurence church hall in The Shambles, Stroud. The ‘good old days’ have gone and trade is no longer what it was pre Covid, but I enjoy it still for the contact I have with customers, and those who just like to look at my photos. I mostly print greeting cards, and a select few A4 window mounted prints, of landscape and wildlife scenes, particularly birds.

We get quite a few visitors to the town because of the renown of the Saturday Farmer’s Market and its produce, which is sited about a hundred yards away in another street. But tourists to the Cotswolds in general find their way here and local pictures interest them. I also enjoy chatting with other photographers, some professional ones, but mostly amateurs who love the medium. I try to encourage them where I can, and today one interesting young man was taking notes of some of my suggestions.

There are quiet times too, and at one point my colleague Hannah was posing for a visitor’s camera behind her stall, so I sidled up and asked if I could take a picture too for my Blip. She is an artist with a studio nearby, although she has a full time job as well. She has an easel behind the stall and paints when it is quiet. 

Today Hannah wore her ‘headdress’ that she’d created some time ago and then used when she painted her self portrait, which is obviously hanging on the wall behind her. Normally I have one of my smaller cameras with me, but today the iPhone was all I had, and only had time for a quick snap. 

Thank you, Hannah. You can find out more about her and her work on her website here.