Stanley Reilly - Stranger #01/100 - a photo on Flickriver

This picture is #01 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

While photographing a custom car on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, I got speaking to Stanley who was also taking an interest in the car in question, a bright yellow Ford.

As our conversation developed, Stanley told me he had been a photographer in the 60s. He left Edinburgh for London at the age of 21 after living most of his life in care. He would join the paparazzi in London's West End as a keen 'guy with a camera' and began to be accepted by the other photographers as a regular on the scene. He said he is still friendly with David Bailey and Harry Benson.

Stanley told me some other stories about parties with the rich and famous and that he retired back to Edinburgh when he was 60, with a collection of portraits that he was proud of.

Stanley admitted that his move to London, with pretty much nothing, was a bold move, but one that paid off in the end and has left him vindicated by the move. This was his key message for younger people today - follow your dreams even if it is a big risk.

I explained the 100 Strangers project to Stanley and asked if I could take his portrait. Naturally, he agreed and I asked him to look up the street for a more natural pose instead of looking directly into the camera. I decided to take this image exactly where we met, in line with how he photographed his famous subjects in the 60s.

After this, he told me that he has a book of his images in print - 'Being There'. Stanley has never made money from his photos, instead it all goes to a local Edinburgh charity - Waverley Care. He used to volunteer there when he came back from London.

After meeting Stanley I found this piece from The Scotsman newspaper:

Every weekend, the children in the home would go rambling in the hills around Edinburgh. When he finally got his first film, Stanley took his camera with him. He couldn’t wait to start taking pictures. But it wasn’t hills or beautiful landscapes that he wanted to photograph, it was people.

In his adult years the pictures of children in the care home were replaced with pictures of the celebrities who graced London’s film premieres and theatres. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Bob Hope, Dustin Hoffman and Judy Garland. The Queen and Prince Charles. Lee Marvin and Charlton Heston and Liberace. They smile out from his photo collection instead of the mother and father and brothers and sisters he never had. "They became," he says, "like my family."

This was an enlightening meeting with my choice as my First Stranger that gave me a wonderful feeling that I was with him that day.

Taken on: December 16, 2019

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