Challenge: Post Faces from Far Places: Ethnic portraits, travel among peoples!

[Perry Haines]

International Portrature

This thread, started by Perry Haines, is a great idea. Perry has written a book on Latina beauty. I'm just expanding this idea to a challenge to everyone to show us the beauty in different people and cultures from everywhere so we can better celebrate our diversity. Asher

It would be great to see more work from around the world; especially from countries under represented. I love to see what unique work others have done and learn from it! I particularly enjoy portrature with and element of culture integrated.

Keep up the great work,

Perry




Edited to allow for transfer of book announcement to appropriate section in Uptown and to open the idea to a Challenge as we do that so well!

 

[nicolas claris]

It would be great to see more work from around the world; especially from countries under represented. I love to see what unique work others have done and learn from it! I particularly enjoy portrature with and element of culture integrated. Please visit my website at www.perryphoto.com. Send me an email if you like. I could even make a page for international work on my site if I receive enough! Also, if you are interested, my Latest book, "Soy Latina" can be found at https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=35440

Keep up the great work,

Perry

Bonjour Perry
be welcome here!

please be aware that soft (as opposed to "hard") advertising is allowed in OPF but not anywhere, in your case I suggest "All Photography Books, Photographic Training, Seminars &Travel" forum.

BTW I like your suggestion to see portraits from countries under represented, this is a great and welcome idea, please everyone, post here your best portraits!
Therefore we can travel and enjoy hopefully great shots and people...

 

[Kevin Bjorke]

The deuce of this is that one man's exotica is another man's neighborhood.

I was raised in a scandinavian neighborhood, but the girls in Soy Latina look like many of my current neighbors (the population in my particular suburban knot is dominated by people of latino, asian, south asian, and middle eastern descent). When I travel to Norawy & Iceland I'm always astounded by the (short lived) bizarre feeling that these people -- who all look like me -- seem so exotic. Until I come home & the process reverses.

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

Libya

Although I am aproaching old and feeble, I still do some oilfield work in the Middle East among other places. I usually only carry a Fuji f30 on these trips. This pic is not as good as some from the Fuji (1/6 second handheld), but shows a modern secretary in Tripoli.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Clayton,

I like your picture. It is very gentle and the soiftness is superb yo my eyes. He look is tentative.

What was the lens an setting? Or is this post processing?

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

The deuce of this is that one man's exotica is another man's neighborhood.

I was raised in a scandinavian neighborhood, but the girls in Soy Latina look like many of my current neighbors (the population in my particular suburban knot is dominated by people of latino, asian, south asian, and middle eastern descent). When I travel to Norawy & Iceland I'm always astounded by the (short lived) bizarre feeling that these people -- who all look like me -- seem so exotic. Until I come home & the process reverses.

After spending much time in Zimbabwe, I looked in the mirror to see a very pale guy as my brain, in spite of other European presence, was now calibrated to pigmented skin of the Mashona and Sindebele.

The issue is that one gets to identify with the group one is involved with. So when one sees someone different, they can look like "other" and foreign. Very small children, BTW, do not seem to have this categorization. So it appears that this classification of people is one of the things we get taught or learn. Part of becoming a mature civilized person is, I believe, to get beyond superficial differences and celebrate the diversity we have.

Asher

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

This is probably the best portrait I have from the f30, and it was mostly accidental. It was f5 and1/6 at iso 200. I was new to the camera and it does not lend itself to quick adjustments- this just happened to be where it was set at the time. The young lady was a bit unsure that she wanted her picture taken, but was thrilled with it afterwards. It does have some pp, but the softness is from the slow shutter.

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

Campesinos-Venezuela

This was with a Dimage 7Hi- 4.5 and 1/90 iso 200
Cinaruco River about 500Km south of Caracas.

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

Iran

After hearing all the "evil empire" stuff, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly people of Iran. This young man was one I worked with there. I could touch him up a bit in Photoshop, but the girls swoon for him this way. Dimage 7Hi f3.5 and 1/20 iso 200.
Many more at
http://www.twango.com/channel/clayven.Iran
Am traveling again tomorrow so will not be posting again for a while. Next ones should be from Morocco.

 

[Perry Haines]

Although I am aproaching old and feeble, I still do some oilfield work in the Middle East among other places. I usually only carry a Fuji f30 on these trips. This pic is not as good as some from the Fuji (1/6 second handheld), but shows a modern secretary in Tripoli.

Great picture but a little out of focus. I always make sure that the eyes are in focus.

Perry

 

[Perry Haines]

Great picture but a little out of focus. I always make sure that the eyes are in focus.

Perry

Would love to see more pix from that region!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Eyes in focus? Sometimes not needed!

Although I am aproaching old and feeble, I still do some oilfield work in the Middle East among other places. I usually only carry a Fuji f30 on these trips. This pic is not as good as some from the Fuji (1/6 second handheld), but shows a modern secretary in Tripoli.

Great picture but a little out of focus. I always make sure that the eyes are in focus.

Perry, I must disagree on this occasion! The special attraction for this image is the tentativeness of a person coming from behind an uncertainty of being. She is not a bold "take me as I am" liberated European woman, but rather a more reserved person, somewhat restrained by the culture as her headscarf shows.

There is some ambiguity and first small steps to modernity. She is wearing a delicate pink and feminine scarf tied in a delightful way and not the black dull look hair covering can be. Also she does have makeup on, albeit, with some restraint. So in a way she is on the edge of entering to modernity but no way there. So here pink scarf is just a tentative step.

The scarf separates her for women who are really free of any cultural limitations that apply to women only. She has that scarf on and that means a lot. It says something about her family, status and limitations on her, by choice or otherwise.

The picture is snapped. It is something taken quickly and not setup like the famous National Geographic Image of the girl, then woman in the war-torn Afghanistan,

© Steve McCurry, National Geographic "A Life Revealed" Pictures of Sharbat Gula an Afghani Woman described here

where the eyes were the key to the pictures. Here, however with the Iranian image of a more modern girl we are a generation beyond that time. We are on the path of perhaps leaving the harsh more closed-in cultural restrictions. There is here a tentative sense of a woman approaching the modern world but with her loyalty and limits by to tradition.

I therefore find the image as is, respects her and does not put demands on her for perfection as we do with beauty images for Vogue.

I really think this image, as is, means more with the gentle blur. It shows a person, not an object.

Indefiniteness is a quality in itself.

Glad though you brought up the issue of the eyes, since, sharpening eyes is a standard that is worth talking about.

Asher

 

[KrisCarnmarker]

I posted this image in another thread, but it applies here as well, so I'll reuse I don't normally do people photography so there's not that much to choose from.

While this was taken in the desert, just outside Dubai, this person is not dressed in the traditional Emerati clothing. If I got my facts straight, this is Omani traditional dress.

 

[Perry Haines]

I posted this image in another thread, but it applies here as well, so I'll reuse I don't normally do people photography so there's not that much to choose from.

While this was taken in the desert, just outside Dubai, this person is not dressed in the traditional Emerati clothing. If I got my facts straight, this is Omani traditional dress.

I like that one. It has a sence of place!

 

[Perry Haines]

I understand what you are saying. Ensuring that the eyes are in focus is a personal thing; I like the connection between the eyes and the viewer. I love Steve MacCurry's work too-especially his comment that the eyes are like windows to the soul

Perry

 

[Perry Haines]

I think that most individuals know that Iranians are not "evil." It's great that you are posting images from that region! I'd love to see more.
Perry
www.perryphoto.com

 

[Asher Kelman]

Perry,

Here we can celebrate the beauty of the human form with all the endless variations. Nothing in my mind, well almost nothing, matches the look of Sharbat Gula's eyes in Steve's first picture shown above!

Asher.

 

[Antonio Correia]

From the south of India

 

[Asher Kelman]

Wow Antonio!

I've never seen eyes quite like that. I'm not sure it's normal but it's almost as if the guy has lower lids! Could be good for desert living!

He does appear have bilateral edema or swelling. His neck appears swollen perhaps and so perhaps he has kidney, or heart failure or something obstructing his return of fluid.

Where was this?

Don't lend this guy money, just give him a gift!

Asher

 

[Sue Butler]

Environmental Portrait

Hi,

I've just recently been overseas with my family to Nepal and India. Here are three environmental portraits I took whilst in Nepal. The pictures of the children were taken in a rural village, the boy dancing while his friends were looking on was taken up the top of a very steep hill we'd climbed in the morning. It was freezing cold and foggy and this was right on the top of the hill (2000m high) at a sacred temple site.
The picture of the couple with the monkey was taken in Kathmandu, we were walking to a Hindu burial site and the woman was feeding the monkey. I only got 1 shot, when she saw me pointing my camera in their direction, she went inside.
regards,
Sue

 

[Asher Kelman]

Sue,

I'm immediately enjoying your work. There's a buzz of life about it. It's very celebratory. They are not environemntal protraits, they're life portraits.

All the pictures have the same stamp of a cropping that somewhat annoys me, but then I realize it's part of the charm. Just as we can have a child puzzle over someone peeping through a space between one's hands, so this type of framing shows is how real it all is and utterly unpretentious.

We are in fact surprised that the girls are looking at us through the small rectangle of the frame. It's almost as if they know there's not enough room in the frame. Fascinating natural approach.

How delightful is the scene of the women looking out the window as they probably do each day and apparently feeding the monkey! We don't see anything like this in our own daily lives. This is what photography can do.

Now the children dancing picture is beyond honey in sweetness. These kids are precious! You can find such a group im many cities, just different songs but that priceless joy is here in bucketfulls!

These pictures do require some work perhaps a lot before printing, but right now, I have had a great experience and I thank you.

Asher

 

[Perry Haines]

Hi,

I've just recently been overseas with my family to Nepal and India. Here are three environmental portraits I took whilst in Nepal. The pictures of the children were taken in a rural village, the boy dancing while his friends were looking on was taken up the top of a very steep hill we'd climbed in the morning. It was freezing cold and foggy and this was right on the top of the hill (2000m high) at a sacred temple site.
The picture of the couple with the monkey was taken in Kathmandu, we were walking to a Hindu burial site and the woman was feeding the monkey. I only got 1 shot, when she saw me pointing my camera in their direction, she went inside.
regards,
Sue

I love the pictures of the kids with the milk/water container. Kids are great subjects. I will need to search some of my images from Oaxaca as your pictures remind me much of there!

 

[Sue Butler]

Pictures and processing

Hi Asher,

Wow! Thank you so much for your comments.

You asked me to tell you what camera settings I use and post processing used etc.

I shoot all my pictures in RAW mode on a Canon 5D using manual exposing. My preferred Raw processor was RawShooter but is now Lightroom which I find excellent.
I download my files using a card reader via Adobe Bridge but I don't use Bridge for any processing.

None of my pictures are cropped, what you see is what I've taken when I pressed the shutter.
Because I have a mentor who is teaching me about 'photography as art', none of my pictures have extensive processing because he views them first and we discuss them, before picking out the best of them for me to work on. More times than not, it's not many ....
Hence the reason why you said my uploaded pictures need work. It's true they do. Maybe these ones will be picked for working on or maybe not.
White balance, a little saturation, setting white and black points is pretty much all I do in Lightroom before converting them to tif files and then jpgs to send to my mentor to view.
Sometimes when I take a picture I have a view to converting it to black and white. I check this in Lightroom by reducing saturation to 0 before taking it back to colour. Any BW conversions I would do in Photoshop.

Currently my main aim with taking pictures is to draw a picture that is strong and creates a response in the viewer. I don't take pictures to please anyone but myself and the reason for having a mentor is to have him help me become the best photographer I can be. To find out where my strengths and weaknesses are and to create art. A picture that will hold up and be strong in form over time.

regards,
Sue

 

[Antonio Correia]

Wow Antonio!

I've never seen eyes quite like that. I'm not sure it's normal but it's almost as if the guy has lower lids! Could be good for desert living!

He does appear have bilateral edema or swelling. His neck appears swollen perhaps and so perhaps he has kidney, or heart failure or something obstructing his return of fluid.

Where was this?

Don't lend this guy money, just give him a gift!

Asher

Asher. Good morning.
This was shot in the south of India.
One of the things I am lazzy about is to write down or connect the photos with the places.
A shame indeed.
I can remember that this was in market.
May be he is hill of some disease of course I don't know.
I have this picture in color as well.

I post here another one - also from the south of India - of a man who worked in the salt, as you can see at the foreground.

Thank you for commenting.
Cheers


The light was terribly hard.
As you can see the sun was up in the sky, almost vertical.
I was using a NDF and I had to work with 2 files, one for the foreground and another for the background.

 

[Perry Haines]

Asher. Good morning.
This was shot in the south of India.
One of the things I am lazzy about is to write down or connect the photos with the places.
A shame indeed.
I can remember that this was in market.
May be he is hill of some disease of course I don't know.
I have this picture in color as well.

I post here another one - also from the south of India - of a man who worked in the salt, as you can see at the foreground.

Thank you for commenting.
Cheers


The light was terribly hard.
As you can see the sun was up in the sky, almost vertical.
I was using a NDF and I had to work with 2 files, one for the foreground and another for the background.

Did you "ask" for the picture or just take it? I think a lot of us still feel uncomfortable about how to get the image. As much as possible, I try to get to know the subjects and eventually ask for the photograph. Post some more!

Perry

 

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you Parry.

As he spoke even less English than I do, I made gestures like: Can I take a picture ?
He said yes. And then ... bang, bang.

There are countries where it is very difficult to photograph people.
Example: Vietnam (they turn their faces, as we are occidentals or look like so and may be, they remember the war); Marocco (no, no, no picture. but sometimes with some coins ...)
But there are other countries where they ask us to photograph.
Examples: India (super nice people); Burma (super kind people).

I suppose in the US people does not like to be photographed.
Even asking.
In Portugal, that depends: you may find people who say OK and others will say No.
But genarally Portuguese are very kind to foregneirs ...
I have some here which have been posted in this very site.

But I post another one.
Again, bad light. Not so bad thought...

Please click on photo to enlarge. Thank you.

 

[Clayton Lofgren]

Reluctant subjects

I see what you mean about the reluctance of people to be photographed in Morroco- it is very frustrating. I spend the daylight hours in the countryside, where the people are very conservative, and because of my job I must be careful to not offend.

 

[Kevin Bjorke]

Sometimes you have to go to them.
Sometimes they come to you.

Special delivery from Taiwan,
this morning in my garage​

A vital question: what function do these photos serve? Documentation of... expensive holidays? I have to admit to a wariness about photos of "distant" people, of an attempt to make them exotic and to therefore objectify them as "others."

It's important to avoid cliche images. Cliches let the viewer slip into easy, predefined relationships with the picture (and by natural extension, to the subjects in the picture). Instead of promoting understanding, such images can reinforce stereotypes and create barriers to understanding.

Just a thought.

 

[Brian Lowe]

West Hollywood 2005

West Hollywood 2005

©Brian Lowe

 

[Kevin Bjorke]

You know, I can't help but feel that a common element is many of these pictures is a social equation that goes:

poverty = exotic​

A photographic formula that goes back as far as Street Life in London and in literature yet further.

Personally I find it troubling, though at the same time it's important to balance this concern with an acknowledgement that for at least some viewers, the photos may elevate their understanding rather than just confirm and conform to their social assumptions.

One thing I've noticed about many of the great journalist/portraitists is that very few of their subjects are described as, say, "the lady with the red bag," but rather as "Helen." Bruce Davidson was at SFAI a couple of nights ago & it was surprising to find that he knew the families of people he shot on assignments in the 1960's ("the little boy in the back is a lawyer now, and the one on the right bought a new truck last week"). Davidson, Eugene Richards, Mark Ellen Mark, Robert Bergman... none of them back away from "the agency of the subject."

When we photograph across linguistic and cultural divides, we almost always nullify this agency. It seems the inevitable poison of most vacation and street portraiture, and a real struggle to overcome.