Two Monochromatic Portraits

[Nnnnsic]

Title says it all... first one is my brother, second is one of my aunts.

[Steffen]

Thanks for posting these, really. I cannot make head and tails of the first one *yet*, that Virgin logo seems to grab the eye, no matter where I look. The second one is quite sublime IMHO. It has an intensity and integrity you don't even feel like looking for technical flaws. Isn't that what photography should be about?

I just add this to my long series of humbling experiences...

Kudos,
Steffen

[Sheetshooter]

Nnnnsic,

A male Stark without a beard - that IS stark.

Bad attempts at humour aside - both of these are very compelling portraits in their own way and each for reasons quite particular to themselves. The sibling shot works at several levels and at most of these I find the Virgin logo quite indispensible. The tonality and the 'colour' of the brother portrait sets it in a time warp that could be just yesterday or the 1930s. The picture is timeless and yet it is also a time capsule - a hint of a lamp of one era, a chair and upholstery of another and yet informed by yet another, and the slither of a TV of today.

Leigh, this is one of the best pictures I have seen from you and I applaud you for it. Not that that is to detract from your other stuff - this is just different and 'your' presence is more subtle - more invisible.

Now, Aunty!! This is a cracker also. I love photos that pose questions but offer no answers and this image is abundant in questions and devoid of a resolution for any of them. Is aunty pensive? Grievous? Bitter? In disbelief? Her expression telegraphs all of these qualities that she might be experiencing from the letter she is reading and it also reveals none of them. The chin and the lips along with the gesture of the hands indicate that hunky-dory-ness is possibly pretty thin on the ground. The flower appears to have seen better days and she is surrounded by comforting fragments of her life: the books she has enjoyed, the family pictures that reassure her of 'belonging' and the gentle and seemingly short-term disarray of the desk-top. Has her day been interrupted? Or ios she fed up with household chores and simply taking a well-earned rest?

But the element that most indicates to me that Aunty could do with some consolation or empathy right now is the steadfast, stoic and reassuring glance of the person in the portrait on the wall. For me THAT is a potent and defining element in this very intriguing narrative of yours.

Thanks for posting them - they've given, me something to ponder over breakfast.

[Geoff]

Leigh there is something about the first image that I really like, yet I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the 'tonal qualities' that have been explored I'm just not sure.

So..another Stark...another Virgin?