Peter

The weather was very heavy today. The thunderstorms that were raging in the south of the country never reached this far north - which was a pity, not just from a photographic point of view but because the air needed a good clear out. The weight of moisture in the atmosphere weighed me down at work. It was a struggle to achieve anything, and once home in the evening I just blobbed in front of the TV win the boys, catching up with the highlights of the tour. Nibali looked so majestic in victory today that, should he carry the yellow jersey all the way to Paris (which looks extremely likely), he will be a very worthy winner. I think he might have had the beating of Froome and Contador in the form he is currently in. It's a terrible shame we will never know for sure.

I really wasn't in a sociable mood at lunchtime but it was very easy to strike up a conversation with Peter here. He was having a smoke in the freshly painted doorway of the Sun Hotel. I asked him if it was a plan for the place to go more upmarket - which raised a laugh. He said that it would need far more than a new coat of paint to attract a wider clientele. He showed a great sense of pride in the place as a genuine local, with a friendly atmosphere which never saw any trouble.

I told him about my portrait project and he was happy for me to take some photographs, but he wasn't at all comfortable in front of the camera. He said that he hated having his picture taken and usually avoided it, something which went right back to his childhood when he seemed to spoil every family snapshot by pulling a face. He's one of those people whose look is always changing, the muscles of the face in constant motion, conjuring up a different expression in each moment, often many at once! These kind of faces are certainly the most challenging to photograph but also the most rewarding.

A young woman came out for a smoke too and I explained how I was trying to capture some of Shipley's characters. She said that I'd come to the right place. "You've certainly got one here," she added. And that's the moment in which I took this shot.