I love portraiture and am always trying to do better with it. They say if you want to capture the soul of a person, do a portrait in black and white, and I have found this to be true.
Kelly is a favorite portrait subject of mine, she is strong, patient, open and has a radiant beauty I am always trying to capture. Today I got hold of a small and inexpensive art lens which uses the Russian glass I have come to love in my art lenses. It is an 80 mm lens, not much in style any longer, and I got a converter for the Canon.
It will take me a long time to figure out how to use this manually-focused lens, especially in a darkened bar with bright neon lights. But I did take the portrait of Kelly from a different angle, and I think I did capture a bit of her strong and generous soul.
I think people are right when they talk about black and white photography. Some day I would love to set up a portrait studio in a barn and do portraits, but I also know it will never happen. I do love capturing the souls of people in my pictures.
i also enjoy taking photos of people in black and white using my manual Rebel Cannon camera. i love the emotions that come thru in a black and white photo, the softness.
i have a photo of a woman sitting on a wooden picnic table that i took in black and white.
wearing simple everyday clothes..with her wavy hair waist length..to me she reminds me of Mary Pickford. an actress famous during the silent picture era.
taken in color i know that it would just have been a photo of a woman.
black and white film picked up..shows the true essence of a woman who seems to have stepped out of the early 1920s.
i usually read your blog on my kindle. there is alot expressed in your photos themselves which appear in black an white.
Give us the link to your photos, Alexa, be neat to see them..
I’m not on facebook so no link. plus its from regular film. i will see if i can get a print made of it for you. 🙂
Jon, seeing your photos in black an white on my kindle….
the Mansion resident sitting in a wheelchair this past Christmas inspired me to write a poem,
i remain focused on Kelly not distracted by whats around her at the bar area, seeing little else but the Mansion resident/staff and red..how red leans into each person. that special bond between them. reds intense focus on the sheep, fate poking his head up under a hanging quilt..” hello marie i’ve missed you i love you” . the starkness of trees barren of leaves against a winter sky, feeling the coldness of winter in your farm photos.
I also go online to see your photos and Marias esp. her art work. but it is in the black and white photos of her fabric drawings/stitching that i notice little details.
speaking for myself as a poet..black and white cancels out the noise of color.
black and white and shades of grey. involving our emotions.
i also enjoy seeing the beauty of pictures that belong to color. taking pics. in color with my digital camera capturing the beauty an emotions of nature.
in color or black and white, photos speak to us with words felt.
your blog and Marias in written word and beautiful photography..Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this beautiful message..