Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON
I was walking down a café zone in Melbourne about six weeks ago when I noticed a woman walking several metres ahead of me. It was a cold afternoon, with low cloud, a bit of drizzle and a testing wind.
She had on a hat and full-length coat and for a split second I wondered of there was a film or documentary crew somewhere, shooting her as she walked down the well-known lane in the central business district.
I had my camera around my neck, so I just sprinted a few yards and shot a quick frame, composing the shot instinctively to tried an exclude any extraneous elements and simply concentrate on a head-and-shoulders-from-behind shot that placed her in the context of the street, against colours that complemented the red-and-black ensemble she was wearing.
Yes, I know it’s not the sharpest image I’ve shot, but it’s here on my blog because it’s a real depiction of a shot taken literally while I was at full stride. A few seconds later, I realised she was not an actress, and that there was no film crew.
But I caught up with her anyway, introduced myself and said I’d taken a couple of shots as she walked ahead of me. I offered to show her the images on the LCD screen of my camera and said I’d delete them if she had any reservations about being photographed, albeit in a way that did not identify her.
But she told me she had no objections. So this is the story of that shot …
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