Beautiful light, pose, tonal range. This has a candid quality that I really like. Wish you had the feet but since I'm thinking this may well have been "found" and taken quickly, that they are cut off is almost a plus rather than a minus. A top pick for me.
Seems to me like he is just out of focus? I would have preferred if the focus was him and/or the image a bit crisper. Lovely composition though and great for this challenge, also like the crop
Love the black and white. Especially the brightness of the papers the old man is writing on. Makes me wonder what he's working on.
The only thing that bothers me with the photo is the blurred right bottom corner and upper left corner. Other than that, this photo is fantastic!
I like your story but I'm not crazy about the tight crop on top and bottom. Maybe it's intentional to symbolize the ending but for me it detracts from the image. Besides that, it's a nice study.
The B&W is just great here. I think I would have composed it a little differently, but sometimes that is not possible when photographing someone. Very nice.