“A flock of school girls ran up to me, and wanted pictures. This was in Disneyland. I felt really uncomfortable, as I was so much more taller than them, and they swarmed round me. It was because of my backpack, it’s a Japanese schoolgirl backpack, it’s one they use in little school I think. To them it was a big deal, but all I was thinking was ‘I got this because I wanted a bag for college...'"



Sophie and Luke were walking across the square when I came across them. It was, of course, Sophie’s hair colour which caught my attention.

“Oh, I love your red hair!”
“Thanks, you’re the first person to say it’s red”
“Why, what colour do others think it is?”
“Cerise, Pink...”

It turned out that both of them were photography students, and Sophie had heard of my page. Luke happened to have with him a photobook of his street photography and I took some time to flick through them.

They were very good, all candid photos taken around Leeds. I would link to them, but both were very concerned about posting pictures online due to them being stolen. We had quite a long debate about this topic, and they were torn between getting their names out there and at the same time possibly having to deal with copyright infringement. As I read in an article somewhere, I repeated for them: "Having your images stolen online is not an “if,” but a “when””.

Not that I was trying to put them off any further, I just wanted them to realise that it was almost an inevitability, however it shouldn’t be the reason for them not to have a portfolio online.


Humans of Leeds