Every once in a while I take a photo that makes me a bit giddy. A friend needed some photos to assist with his application to an interesting new job. To that end, I was photographing him in various pedestrian activities. At the moment of this photo I was lounging in a beach chair and he was walking to the water for a dip. I asked him to pause for a moment, and shot this:
Not everything about it is perfect, of course. If I had had an assistant with a nice white reflector I could have had his eyes less shadowed. Nevertheless I knew that I had made a good capture the moment I tripped the shutter. I mused about this three years ago on this blog; that moment of knowing.
At the instant I took the photograph I flashed on a particular image by Robert Mapplethorpe and wondered how mine would stack up against it. You tell me.
Mapplethorpe has been hugely influential on my work. As a teenager his photo essay of bodybuilder Lisa Lyon was indelibly stamped in my brain.
Hmmm, perhaps I should do a post of my images that are *clearly* influenced by his work. Interesting...
I like your shot much better than the Mapplethorpe shot. His photos often just look posed while yours comes off looking natural. I like your photo a lot. There's a lot of character in that man's face. He looks like someone I would enjoy meeting.
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