I've recently commenced a series of portraits which aim to show people in their natural environments. This shot is the first in the series and I'm still lost for words at what the items in the shot represent in Matthews life, his given birth to some bad habits and addictions but underneath the front his a real decent guy just with a thick protective skin perhaps developed from a real tough life.
Thank you for viewing.
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I thought this was one of the most interesting images in this month's free study. I scored it pretty highly. Kudos to you for having the guts to show what life really can be like for many people. Paul's comments below hit the nail on the head really. Well done. I'm not surprised it didn't score higher here on DPC, but it is surely a wonderful piece of documentary photography.
For some reason, I imagined Britain to be slightly cleaner than this but I guess every country has it's slums.
:)
I'm gonna go have a few shots of whiskey then I will have a second look at this wonderful photo before I vote.
(I haven't drank in years).
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for my Mu (most underrated) award:
Positives: This is an image with a great deal of impact. The story telling in the image is very rich and it has a journalistic feel. Do I like looking at it - no, but I like that you've offered it up, I like that you make me think about the real world and how other pictures will look if not wholly contrived, at last subjectively framed. Now I know 'framing' is in essence what photography is and I know that you too have done this here, but it feels raw, genuine, uninfluenced by you.
Critical stuff: Not a vision for every audience, probably even more so if you are British - just a bit too close to the mark for some. Photographically, the lighting is flat and the verticals aren't vertical, but that's irrelevant - this is a different form of communication to the crafting of an artistic photographic vision. Any attempt to rectify the technical imperfections here would do the image an injustice - lose the rawness, lose the image.
Overall: I recognise the image, the character, the scene - this is more typical than many of us would like to imagine. A lot of tourists who come to the UK see London, York, the rolling hills of Devon, the Lake District but yes this really is Britain! If I look beyond the macro scene what do I see? Beer, milk, more beer, the computer, the chair, the stains - bedsit living at its most gritty. And then there's the axe - I look at him and how he's looking at you (about to tell you to put the fu**ing camera away!) I want to give him the benefit of the doubt... but there is the axe, at hand, ready.
I look again - I look at what he is wearing - a spinal brace? an injured man, more confined by circumstance than he would like? The flag, the patriotism and of course alcohol does dull the pain... I begin to wonder again, what price has he paid? This is Britain but is it really his Britain, has he been well served by his country.......?
Thought provoking stuff - an inspired choice for a Free Study.
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