From the heart [stranger 6/99]

(Kodak Retinette IA, Fuji Neopan 400, EI 400/27°)
This picture was taken straight from the heart.

I mean, I was walking around the streets, the Retinette on my chest hanging from the neck strap on its ever ready leather case, which is pretty worn-out by the way. I had already set the exposure for the dim light that we had in the morning (EV10, if I remember well, which meant probably 1/250@f/4 for my ISO 400 film). Then this old lady crossed my path and, without thinking, almost as a reflex, I aimed my camera at her without bringing it to the eye and pressed the shutter release with my thumb. I then totally forgot about it.

As I was checking the developed film afterwards I discovered this picture and I liked the angle and the somewhat random and casual feeling that it conveys. Though the lady was badly underexposed, I made a quite radical processing when digitizing the negative.

My sixth stranger had an umbrella because it had started raining just a minute before .