The moment after..., a photo from Zachodniopomorskie, Ouest

Photographer's Note

Talking faces… continuing…

Fascinating theme…
Many years ago, one of my photography mentors told me:
When you photographing people's faces make sure they (those faces) talk their names loud and clear…
The ones that don't talk their names are good enough only for passport or driver's license…

Dear Stan…
I remember your lesson well…

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After murderous stage. Day after day…
Comes hail and high water...

He was one of the favorites. He didn't win.
He's fallen once or twice… He hit the curb, lost time waiting for his bike exchange…
His face talks… What are his thoughts ?
" I'm too old for this crap…
Why I'm doing this " ?

-----------------------------

Tadeusz Mytnik (PL)
Street Criterium, Szczecin. 1978

……………………………………………

Photo Information
Copyright: George Grabarczyk (Polonaise) (18354)
Theme(s): Talking faces, Celebrities, brevbrev14 fav. 2007, Faces [view contributor(s)]
Original Date Submitted: 2007-08-27 3:53
Viewed: 611
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 44

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rigoletto, pgorod, ktanska, vinicio, MiguelP, mark88,
Clairedelune, Preetie, ninaL, kdialyna, bhardwajkapil78, luisafonso, jlynx, riclopes, noborders - has marked this note useful

Some excerpts from the original critiques:

A talking face, an expression which would surely be rejected for Schengen Visa applications.

This one looks like a J.P. Sartre portrait Dear Gollum.

In grains you live peacefully

The hand also does some talking and that helps...

The grain has jumped from film to his face and clothes.

"Am I too old for this crap?" The kind of 'simple' questions that start of nagging oneself, once in a while... like bugs flying around and annoying us with their incessant buzz... :)

A philosophical defeat..an entire life..the moment of truth or all at once ..

A typical Polonaise crap...

Gritty reportage as its best - timing is everything here - to catch the man at his most puzzled moment

And we thank for the lessons. You are our mentor, G.

Revisiting again your gallery - kick in the teeth

ls7902, mark88, ed_galagan, Clairedelune, BennyV trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

ls7902 (7380) 2009-01-09 20:12

I don't know how you do this "When you photographing people's faces make sure they (those faces) talk their names loud and clear…" but I hope to get it one of these days. Regards. Latiff.

MrCairo (0) 2009-01-09 23:24

Wszystko ma swoj sens, prawda ? Popatrz Twoje obrazy przezywaja swe zycie po raz ktorys.
Lubie na nie patrzec i zastanawiac sie co jak i dla czego. To najlepsza szkola.

Doskonaly portret, gdzie rece mowia !

Serdecznie z mroznego rana
Wojtek

bantonbuju (51815) 2009-01-10 1:42

teraz, gdy mam okazje drugi raz spogladac na to zdjecie w kontekscie twojej notatki - wydaje mi sie, ze ten etap wyscigu nie byl najlepszy dla mytnika...
tyle czytam z niego na tym zdjeciu (niepaszportowo-nieprawojazdowym)...

pozdr. j.

CLODO (45118) 2009-01-10 2:42

Hello George
thank you for your photography lessons;
first taking the shot: here you don't catch the eye, but you reveal the sadness of this person
Second issuing: you managed to have a B&W grainy picture, adding some more interest
Thnk you again
CLODO
PS: and for those who are asking for camera body and lenses, it is NOT important

jasmis (58653) 2009-01-10 8:30

Żywe zdjęcie. Zmęczony kolarz. Wspaniały reporterski pokaz.
Pozdrawiam.

noborders (1010) 2009-01-10 11:32

What did I write back then ? An introverted face, trying probably to analyse what went wrong... I still like it, it's a bit like the photo from a sports journalist...

Blah blah... Reading the comments there, I don't think that I wrote any of these sentences. Still, what comes closest to what I think of this photo is (copy and paste, but not from me) :
"A philosophical defeat..an entire life..the moment of truth or all at once .."

See you in a few weeks,
Keep your morale high,
Take care,
Katarzyna

ed_galagan (374) 2009-01-11 5:01

Very professional!

Clairedelune (4923) 2009-01-13 18:53

[2007-08-27]
If my informations are good, Mytnik won the first place in 1975. Somehow, it should be difficult, once you had been the winner, to be left behind... Then comes the time to ask yourself the BIG questions... Should I keep in doing this? And why? And "Am I too old for this crap?" The kind of 'simple' questions that start of nagging oneself, once in a while... like bugs flying around and annoying us with their incessant buzz... :)
That's how I understand this photo, the hand on the chin, the eyes looking downward, I get the feel that it brings me inward, in his possible interior life, where lay the secret world that everybody has somehow.
And it is a great achievement when a photographer who takes a photo of what is happening outward can show us the inner secret life of a human being, even if it is a brief glimpse... And this photo is one of these achievements...
Claire

[2009-01-13]
I don't think there is something else to say... the look inward...

michelloupis (0) 2009-03-17 4:28

Hi,

The D&G,... just where I feel best!

Dirt as hell. Beautiful!

His face does talk... oh yes. But for me, it's the talk of someone who has nothing to prove to nobody, someone that knows where he stands in spite of winning or loosing.

Keep the fingernails dirty bro...

n.

BennyV (34748) 2009-04-10 8:46

Hello George,

Excellent post, excellent post...and sublime note. And the strange thing about portrait photography is that the more it "talks their names" the more universal it becomes!

Anyway, I couldn't agree more, but it's such a difficult lesson to master.

Humbled.

Benny