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Archive 2014 · My Friend Kesava

  
 
paul31003
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · My Friend Kesava


Phenomenal portrait, Evan.


Jul 25, 2014 at 12:00 AM
Evan Baines
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · My Friend Kesava


Thank you!


Jul 25, 2014 at 01:24 PM
canerino
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · My Friend Kesava


Just a really well done portrait. I know your goal is to achieve simple, but effective portraiture. I have to imagine this one is close to your goal as a photographer?


Jul 27, 2014 at 12:19 PM
Evan Baines
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · My Friend Kesava


canerino wrote:
Just a really well done portrait. I know your goal is to achieve simple, but effective portraiture. I have to imagine this one is close to your goal as a photographer?


This one is probably up there. It looks like my friend (I am perennially amazed at how hard it can be just to get a good likeness). The expression has a good story. If I had one picture of Kay I feel like I could do worse than this one. Hopefully it will print well when Robert gets his hands on the negative! That will be the deciding factor. I'm in love with what he's been doing on this Fomatone MG 131 "Glossy" (actually more of a lustre) paper for me lately, so I suspect I'll have it printed on that.



Jul 27, 2014 at 12:52 PM
cmcleod
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · My Friend Kesava


Evan, the simple response to this portrait is I like it. Ive looked at it a few times and still, I like it. This morning I read your post on laziness and revisited this post and now have a better understanding of why I like it and why I think its successful in your efforts to create a "nice, simple portrait of a friend".

Per usual, you have executed the lighting and posing perfectly allowing me to get lost in his expression and explore other details that will help tell me the story of this stranger. His positioning on the chair and overall build tells me he is physically strong and possibly exhibits leadership qualities. Knowing your history with the armed forces, this is my first clue that this may be a friend whom you have served with. The juxtaposition of his expression tells me there is more to this person than strength. The way in which he leans on his hand breaks the mood of strength and the slight smile offers an insight to his kindness and possible sense of humor.

Further exploration of his wardrobe tells me he is married and I wonder if he is a father. The watch is the final detail and second clue that he might be military. Enough of the watch is showing that I recognize the brand and know that it is commonly marketed to and worn by military.

Not sure if it was intentional to use these small details as accents to his character but it worked for me. Well done.



Jul 29, 2014 at 09:27 AM
Evan Baines
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · My Friend Kesava


Thank you for what was one of the best and most helpful analysis of one of my images I've received on FM! Its immensely useful to see what comes through in one of my images to someone looking closely.

cmcleod wrote:
His positioning on the chair and overall build tells me he is physically strong and possibly exhibits leadership qualities. Knowing your history with the armed forces, this is my first clue that this may be a friend whom you have served with.


Kay is not an Army buddy, but he's been my running partner when we lived near each other. He is a leader in his work, but I think the strength/leadership I was preoccupied with during most of the shoot was his role as a father. Kay is one of the best and most dedicated father's I know, and his boys are my godchildren. I was shooting the portrait of Kay as my friend, but also hoping to create an image that the boys will cherish one day and in which they will recognize their father as father, if that makes any sense. As I mentioned in a previous post, the expression was prompted by his description of watching his eldest hit a home run.

cmcleod wrote:
The juxtaposition of his expression tells me there is more to this person than strength. The way in which he leans on his hand breaks the mood of strength and the slight smile offers an insight to his kindness and possible sense of humor.


Kay is actually an amateur standup comic. I spent a lot of time thinking of ways to include a hint of lightness/humor in the image, and varied my emotional approach to the subject trying different blends... everything from wardrobe (even did a few shots with a bow tie, ) to setting (my father has a very funny old car that Kay loves, and used that as a prop to introduce some humor) to Kay's expression of course. I think the mood of the weekend and the sessions (we actually did three mini sessions over the course of 2 days) wound up being maybe a little more serious than I anticipated, and the humor aspect didn't wind up as a central feature of the images, but I definitely was looking for an expression that softened him a bit and maybe suggested a sense of humor, and I am supremely glad that a bit of this nature peeks through. I think the counter-point to my essay this morning is that preparation and planning is important, but I try to leave room for spontaneity and to allow the shoot to go where it naturally flows.

cmcleod wrote:
Further exploration of his wardrobe tells me he is married and I wonder if he is a father. The watch is the final detail and second clue that he might be military. Enough of the watch is showing that I recognize the brand and know that it is commonly marketed to and worn by military.


Kay is recently remarried (hence the prominent feature of the ring), and a father of two amazing boys as mentioned. You have an amazing eye to pick out the Flieger (in this case a Laco), which was actually a gift from my wife and I a few years ago.... I didn't instruct him to wear that one, but I did think of it before the shoot and suspected that he would wear it while visiting us. I was happy to have it in the frame when my suspicion was confirmed. Otherwise I had instructed him to wear a solid mid-ish tone oxford button down shirt, as a nice compromise between dressy and casual. When I saw him in the shirts he brought, however, they were a bit lighter than I'd wanted and I wasn't thrilled with how they were draping in the light I was using. So I rummaged around my dad's place and found some nice darker sweaters to layer, which gave some depth and texture, and also brought down the overall tone so as to avoid becoming the contrasting center of interest, which allowed me to make a predominantly mid-tone image overall.





Jul 29, 2014 at 01:59 PM
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