Thursday, July 28, 2011

In the Footsteps of Robert

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:

BW Profile

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.

"Self Portrat" by Robert Mapplethorpe

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...

1 comment:

  1. 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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