Portrait of Photographer's Wife

[iluxa]

TMax400CN, 6x6, pre-digital age.

[Killakoala]

Wow, what a beautiful portrait. The square crop works really well and your B&W conversion is excellent. But even though it's a busy background, i get the feeling that your wife is very comfortable in that environment. That's a difficult thing to do but when you can it really shows up well like you have got there.

Interestingly upon first viewing the image, my eye movement went from your model's face, straight to the books to read what they were and bypassed the cameras altogether and headed to the star chart. I just find it fascinating how our eyes wander over a busy image and what piques our interest first.

One other thing, this style of image is popular in those weekend magazines of the very large format newspapers.

[gstark]

Steve,

B&W conversion? It was shot on TMax.


Ilya, I love the framing and the composition, as well as the subject matter. It all comes together beautifully.

I'd like to see a tad more contrast introduced though: make the blacks a little blacker, and the whites a little whiter.

Wonderful relaxed portrait; thanx.

[jamesw]

I'd like to see a tad more contrast introduced though: make the blacks a little blacker, and the whites a little whiter.
.

ditto

excellent shot

[phillipb]

Interestingly upon first viewing the image, my eye movement went from your model's face, straight to the books to read what they were and bypassed the cameras altogether and headed to the star chart. I just find it fascinating how our eyes wander over a busy image and what piques our interest first.

I did exactly the same thing, especially the upside down book.

[sirhc55]

Relaxed, beautifully composed, and a proliferation of surrounding objects to make this a superb photograph. Also fascinated by the book on the great Czech photographer Sudek who only had one arm. The cameras, can’t tell from the photo but are they a Lubitel and maybe a Kiev

All-in-all a superb photo to be proud of.

[Alex]

Beautiful, natural looking portrait and amazingly convincing B&W treatment. I love it!

Alex

[Reschsmooth]

I think this is a great shot and shows the beauty of the square format. What kind of camera did you use?

[ozimax]

Strike, what a corker of an image! This is excellent. I can't quite figure out what her half smile means - maybe it's the standard wife's "Alright, I'll pose this time but get it over with.." comment? Maybe it's just a tad cheeky?

Great image with some wonderful background objects.

Ozi.

[Alpha_7]

Great shot, nicely composed and as others have said, different elements draw you in for a closer look. A potential POTW in my opinion.

[shutterbug]

Lovely image....my eyes went to the cameras first

[iluxa]

Folks, thanks a lot for all good words!

B&W conversion? It was shot on TMax.

That's correct. It was shooted on a B&W film.

I'd like to see a tad more contrast introduced though: make the blacks a little blacker, and the whites a little whiter.

Good point! Thanks for that. Will try to increase contrast for a little bit.

The cameras, can’t tell from the photo but are they a Lubitel and maybe a Kiev

You were right about the first one - it's Lubitel. The other one is an old but still very good rangefinder Yashica Electro 35 GSN with 45/1.7 lens.

What kind of camera did you use?

It's an old 6x6 TLR camera - Yashica Mat-124G. I'm still using it sometimes.

Sooting this protrait I tried to reproduce one "technique" I "stole" from one famous Russian photographer. When shooting he puts people in some crowded environment (not always but...) and not near a blank or plain background. And this environment actually emphasize the person. So I tried to do the same.

[gstark]

So I tried to do the same.

And you've done this remarkably well.

I'm glad it's not my week for PotW - there's been a couple of truly wonderful images posted this week that makes this task particularly more pleasant but difficult.

[macka]

This is a lovely portrait that shows not only a little bit about the subject's personality, but also the photographer's affection for the subject, and the relationship between them.

The square format is great. I really like square compositions, but they are hard to do well. This one has been done masterfully: there is such a great balance between all the items in the frame and the main subject. Your eye wanders around the image never getting bored.

One to be proud of, and I think certainly has to be a strong contender for POTW.

Cheers

[Oscar]

A lovely shot Ilya. Well composed, beautiful exposure.

Well done indeed.

Cheers, Mick

[marcotrov]

Gorgeous and classically composed image. Real B&W!
cheers
marco

[Alex]

Prekrasno!

[Mal]

Sooting this protrait I tried to reproduce one "technique" I "stole" from one famous Russian photographer. When shooting he puts people in some crowded environment (not always but...) and not near a blank or plain background. And this environment actually emphasize the person. So I tried to do the same.

What a great example of this process.
And thanks for the inspiration to pick up the camera at home again!
Wonderful.

[Matt. K]

A fine portrait in the classical style. Film has its charms. Nicely done!

[Bindii]

Oh thats stunning... truly stunning.. it tells a story...

I'm not sure what it is exactly that draws me in so much... but it does...

[iluxa]

Thanks a lot everyone! Really appreciate that!
Truly speaking this is the first portrait of my wife made by me that we both like. Usually if I like her photo she doesn’t. And vice versa.