D700 Portraits

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Have recently been out to do some street portraits of the homeless here in Paris which I'd like to share with you, all taken with the D700.

Comments most welcome.

Mark
--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

Salman Hamid · Sep 20, 2008

Nice like the first one espacially.

mholdef said:
Have recently been out to do some street portraits of the homeless
here in Paris which I'd like to share with you, all taken with the
D700.

Comments most welcome.

Mark
--

RiverSide Photography · Sep 20, 2008

the compositions are good and the B&W does its job.. but they lack the "acuity" or "punch" required to pull B&W..

--
I see dead pixels

tomslot · Sep 20, 2008

I am not easily impressed, but I find these absolutely magnificent! Was it difficult to get them to pose for you?

-TS

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Perhaps a bit more density and contrast?

Mark

RiverSide Photography said:
the compositions are good and the B&W does its job.. but they lack
the "acuity" or "punch" required to pull B&W..

--
I see dead pixels

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Yes and no. I approach people and say that I am from Paris and that I enjoy taking pictures of Parisians and that I would love to take their portrait. I then have a talk with them, how they are, where they are from etc. and then take their picture.

Surprisingly people are more open then you'd think, but you do need to make the effort to relate to them. I think that in general, people appreciate people and people from the street are accustomed to talking to strangers.

Mark

tomslot said:
I am not easily impressed, but I find these absolutely magnificent!
Was it difficult to get them to pose for you?

-TS

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

duckfat · Sep 20, 2008

Well done indeed. You get really close. Lens? Much cropping? Characterful faces well worth recording. Used to work with homeless folk who generally hated cameras...
And I like the light

Piotr 01 · Sep 20, 2008

Nice work, really. Even if you don't say anything about your work I can feel "relations" between you and them. Sometimes this could be more important than phatography as a result. Isn' it?

Good to see somebody using camera for takeing pictures rather than comparing pixels...

I hope to see more of your work.
Piotr

1bradman · Sep 20, 2008

1 and 3. The eyes have it. You know that already though...
Matt,

Todd Bochner · Sep 20, 2008

Great shots. what lense did you use?
todd

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Thanks

Most were taken with the 105/2.8 VR. Amazing lens. VERY sharp - you can't see it in the embedded images here.

Mark

duckfat said:
Well done indeed. You get really close. Lens? Much cropping?
Characterful faces well worth recording. Used to work with homeless
folk who generally hated cameras...
And I like the light
--

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Many thanks. Absolutely agree, relations are what "make" our photographs. The only challenge is to then record them in such a way that others will feel what we feel, which is not as easy as it can be to enjoy taking photographs.

This said, the whole enjoyment of getting out there taking pictures is a step away from your day in and day out of things to get ironically closer to people and the environnement. All good fun!

Mark

Piotr 01 said:
Nice work, really. Even if you don't say anything about your work I
can feel "relations" between you and them. Sometimes this could be
more important than phatography as a result. Isn' it?

Good to see somebody using camera for takeing pictures rather than
comparing pixels...

I hope to see more of your work.
Piotr

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

Toermalijn · Sep 20, 2008

Most of em are excellent, except nr4, to much shadow on one side.

antonoat · Sep 20, 2008

I think these are fabulous photos of some tragic folk. I hate to think of anyone having to live this way !
Your respect and understanding of your subject has paid off well !

Your approach to these people is also to be commended, they are not exhibits in a zoo and I bet each and everyone of them, because of your approach, was happy to be photographed, great work form a photographers point of view.

regards
Tony

http://www.pbase.com/wildoat

David Nall · Sep 20, 2008

Very nice Mark, and I too like #1 and 3 the best. Dave
--
Visit my gallery at http://www.poperotzy.smugmug.com
There is a link for saving on your own Smugmug account.

gbmcleod1 · Sep 20, 2008

The photos bring tears to my eyes. They are beautiful, and they make me so sad....that's what make a photograph memorable.
--
Give me a camera, then get outta my way!

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

PS - no cropping at all, as the 105/2.8 VR allowed me to get fairly close in.

Mark

duckfat said:
Well done indeed. You get really close. Lens? Much cropping?
Characterful faces well worth recording. Used to work with homeless
folk who generally hated cameras...
And I like the light
--

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Many thanks.

I agree with you about number 4, in fact I prefer to take portraits in the shade in order to get balanced contrast across the face to bring out all of the details.

Mark

Toermalijn said:
Most of em are excellent, except nr4, to much shadow on one side.

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

mholdef · Sep 20, 2008

Cheers Tony.

It is quite sad.

To take an example, the man with the shadow on his face to the left said, "Wait just a moment, when you get your picture taken you need to think about something."

I agreed with him and then when I asked him what he was thinking about, he said "My son Vivian in Brittany."

Mark

antonoat said:
I think these are fabulous photos of some tragic folk. I hate to
think of anyone having to live this way !
Your respect and understanding of your subject has paid off well !
Your approach to these people is also to be commended, they are not
exhibits in a zoo and I bet each and everyone of them, because of
your approach, was happy to be photographed, great work form a
photographers point of view.

regards
Tony

http://www.pbase.com/wildoat

--
http://www.pbase.com/mholdef/

David Banner · Sep 20, 2008

I live in Paris and I always see interesting characters in the streets, in the metro, etc. I've always wanted to bring my camera one day but I've never had the guts to approach people like that.

You've done a fantastic job. I find the photos are full of contrast and look great in B&W. I'm curious what processing you did? Was it minimal? Just increasing contrast? Or did you do anything more complicated?

Finally, have you approached non-homeless as well? I'm curious if they participate as much.

D700 Portraits

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