Here and Now

Posted by Duncan Galbraith (kyoto, Japan) on 27 January 2007 in People & Portraits and Portfolio.

I tried a sepia, and a black and white conversion, just to try and match this image to the style of shots he was carrying but it wasnt really happening. His had aged gloriously, sadly something this digital image wont do. If I had Craigs brilliance with processing I could do him a lot more justice.

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Comments (27)

Sidonie from Sydney, Australia

Fine portrait, Duncan.

27 Jan 2007 12:59am

@Sidonie: Cheers Sidonie!

Wayne from Melbourne, Australia

would this be the same guy from yesterday's post?
How about a partial face shot? Like half his face is off the frame while the other is at one end...the resulting blank space should draw more attention to his age...or at least that's how it appears in my mind =) Good job though!

27 Jan 2007 2:04am

@Wayne: Hey wayne, I think the framing is the weakest part of the image as you mentioned. I hope to see him again though and will keep all ideas and advice in my mind for the next time. thanks Wayne!

Untitled from Kyoto, Japan

To borrow your phrase...you kept these last two quiet, didn't you? Very nice...you just brought us all a piece of living history with these.

27 Jan 2007 3:08am

@Untitled: Thanks man!

Jerry from Tampa, United States

grand portrait - the face can tell many stories, thus the image does the same

27 Jan 2007 4:24am

@Jerry: Thanks Jerry!

jc from Ireland

great pair of shots, duncan - his formal pose really speaks volumes!

27 Jan 2007 7:27am

@jc: Yeah, he 'formalled up' once the camera turned towards his face. during the chat he was so relaxed though, really expressionate, it was wonderful. He even mimed some of his memories, soldiers in the streets etc. lovely guy.

Maoya from Rolle, Switzerland

The man with the "soft", story-telling hands.

27 Jan 2007 7:55am

@Maoya: Hey Maoya, his hands speak volumes as well as his own images dont they. he's a star.

Alfredo J. Martiz J. from Tokyo, Japan

I believe the portrait is great, the fact that this person opened the book of his life towards an stranger is so deep, so any portrait of him will be beautiful because of the great moment you had with him. Congratulations!

27 Jan 2007 8:01am

@Alfredo J. Martiz J.: Thanks Alfredo!

Craig Persel from Montreal, Canada

Superb portrait and perfect processing. To be honest this is much better than I could do. :-) The detail, color saturation and slight cross-processing tone are right on target. It is the type of image/portrait that you don't want to over-process because he conveys a very "feet on the ground, no nonsense" character. Cracking image.

27 Jan 2007 9:15am

@Craig Persel: Thanks Craig, but I still stand by comment above :-)

Damon Schreiber from Toronto, Canada

This is a great story starting with yesterday's memories and continuing with the man's face today. It's an interesting pose, looking into the distance rather than into the camera - as though he'd rather continue thinking about those memories than the present (of course the reality of what was going down during the actual snap may be different - yet that's the feeling it conveys to me).

Compositionally, I think playing with the framing might help. What I think might work better, is a medium-format style square frame with the area to the right of his helmet cut off. I think that would cause the viewer to focus more easily on his face, and as a result, give the image as a whole more authority. I don't know that sepia would be best, if you care at all about the fact that he's wearing a safely vest and helmet - those details could be lost with the lack of colour. A bit higher contrast might be good, though.

27 Jan 2007 9:31am

@Damon Schreiber: yeah I agree, im often hesitant to employ crops of different ratios, I dont know why. I'm a cautious wee chap at heart you know. I took some time off AM3 a while back if you can remember and there's currently a big empty space image wise that needs filling..I'm probably going to use it as a space to revisit some of the images and try out the advice that people have left. Think this gentleman will be one of those shots. I'll keep you informed.

Darren from Japan

Nice shot mate.
He looks like he is in pretty good shape for his age.
A trick I try when converting to sepia is to desaturate first then apply a sepia filter set between 75 and 90%. If that doesn't work for me I play with the colour levels mate.
Anyway mate, I like this one in colour as it really puts him on the job.

27 Jan 2007 9:31am

@Darren: Thanks Darren, Good advice, Ive never really got into the colour filters (not through not wanting too, just ineptness ;)) Will give this a go and repost (re: the reply to damons comment)

badala from Leiria, Portugal

The emotion portrayed here is wonderful.

27 Jan 2007 9:38am

@badala: Thanks Badala!

Angry Buddha from United States

Don't you hate that. I can spend an hour(or three) trying for a look, and going right back to the original image.

27 Jan 2007 10:05am

@Angry Buddha: Tell me about it ;) If i think about the number of 'lost hours' I spend in PS I start to cry;)

Michael Zhang from New York City, United States

Oh mann you can see the dust on his glasses. Fantastic detail in this portrait.

27 Jan 2007 10:28am

@Michael Zhang: Cheers Michael. He was so perfect a subject I couldnt really mess it up too much. I could have shot the back of his head and his character would somehow have shone through. He was made of magic this chap.

benjamin from Singapore

i feel right there infront of him... wonderful work.. especially the lighting and tones... beautiful

27 Jan 2007 10:59am

@benjamin: Thanks benjamin!

MontereyJohn from California, United States

Duncan, that is marvelous. The image bespeaks "character."

27 Jan 2007 11:26am

@MontereyJohn: Cheers John. many many thanks!

M.E. from Encino, United States

I love the facial expression and how it contrast the background.

27 Jan 2007 11:39am

@M.E.: Thank you M.E!

Zach Siebert from Bologna, Italy

Duncan, your posts over the last week are very strong. it's really nice to watch you improve. i wish i were doing the same! this one is cool, but i would have framed it more dead-on. regardless, it's a fine shot. yesterday's was really fantastic. i look forward to that email about your processing techniques, but no rush. i know what it's like to be busy, especially lately.

27 Jan 2007 11:53am

@Zach Siebert: Hey Zach, email is a coming! thanks for the words of encouragement and your work is always always on the up! 'se fossi lei sarei' was one of my faves of the week!

Shuva from Hyderabad, India

You did a good job by not making it B/w or sepia..it works out well here.

27 Jan 2007 12:42pm

@Shuva: Thanks Shuva. I think those two conversions in someone elses hands might have been alright. But in mine...maybe not!

Carol from Turkey

I love this portrait - the light on his face, the strength of his glasses and the history in his face. Very nice. And looking forward to your 'bugger all' series :)

27 Jan 2007 1:11pm

@Carol: hehe! the 'bugger all' series (all those not in the know, please check out Chris's marvellous series about nothing) may be here sooner rather than later, although it wont neccessarily go by that title ;)

Craiger from Vacaville, California, United States

Excellent image! You captured his spirit wonderfully!

27 Jan 2007 1:11pm

@Craiger: Thanks Craiger!

Ali-G from Ottawa, Canada

Hey Duncan thanks for your comments - your points were well-taken. Obviously you put much thought into them and that is much appreciated. Was questioning the approriateness of that series of photos anyway and was planning to move on to something a bit more light-hearted - and hopefully of reasonable quality, photo-wise. Feel free to offer critiques/suggestions anytime.
AG

27 Jan 2007 3:15pm

@Ali-G: Hey AG. glad you got where I was coming from. The appropriateness of your subject was never in question. In fact it's the most valid of subjects. You did well.

Damon Schreiber from Toronto, Canada

One more thing... Congratulations on making it to 100 images! Looking forward to the next 100.

27 Jan 2007 4:25pm

@Damon Schreiber: Cheers Damon!

Still from Valence, France

Beautiful portrait. I think that it must be works very well equally in B&W. I like how you encounter your models...

27 Jan 2007 4:55pm

@Still: Cheers Still! it was a lucky, and most rewarding meeting.

Chris Sullivan from Melbourne, Australia

An excellent portrait of the man Duncan. I really like how you've processed this photo and feel that it suits your subject incredibly well, maybe more than a black-white or sepia toned photo would look - as the image is still very sharp but also still has nostalgic qualities to it. As always nice work!!!

27 Jan 2007 5:05pm

@Chris Sullivan: Thanks Chris. The PP in this was very subtle, yet one of the most time consuming, due to the amount of restarts I had to make. I decided to settle on something best mirrored my memories of the day itself. Might give it another whirl with the aforementioned ideas. I'll let you know once it's backposted.

Kelvin Chan from New York City, United States

I hope you can continue doing this interview/shooting thing. you'll be the next Ryan Keberly. He stopped photographing homeless people, but what he did was unlike anything else. You can start doing what he did.

27 Jan 2007 5:27pm

@Kelvin Chan: Thanks for that link Kelvin. That is truly some stunning work from Ryan. Really knocked me for six. He's got way more nerve than me though.