Abstraction: Lithuanian Eyes

I was examining a snapshot-portrait I took of a colleague last summer

and asking what I might remove from the image to improve it. Then I

really took a flight of fancy: What is the maximum amount I could

crop from the photo and still convey the essence of the whole: an

attractive, perhaps mysterious young woman?

 

Here is my attempt in only 4.8 kb, 159 x 97 pixels. (I chose the

dimensions of the crop to approximate the dimensions of the golden

rectangle, 1:1.62. The number phi worked for the ancient Greeks,

maybe it will work here too.)

 

The camera qualifies for this forum, a Fed 2C and a Jupiter 8 at

about f/4. Film is Fujicolor 200.

 

Does anyone else want to play this game? Take a favorite photo,

decide what the subject means to you and then remove as much as

possible and still retain the same essence as the whole.

 

Have fun doing it. I am rarely this focused!<div></div>

Having fun? then do pay it.

 

Only you know that this is a woman and not a young boy, ther is no make up, or any clue, so I take your word for it. I believe you that she is Lithuanian as well

 

Enjoy yourself. Ask her if she likes your experiments with her phtotographs, and her comments could be more meaningful to you.

The Green to the left is very distracting

That's a cheap nose-job. I'll have to tell my wife about this next time she's taking a pic of me. ;*)

I'll try the game later Dennis, but here is an observation. I was in Lithuania in 1997 chasing my genealogical roots. I hardly saw anyone with any color eyes other than blue. I've been to Sweden and lived in Denmark and I can say from my observation , neither country came close in percentage of those viewed in towns and in city public transportation to the percentage of blue eyed people I saw in Lithuania. Granted there had to be foreigners visiting or living there, but of those speaking Lithuanian, that was my visual experience.

 

So my question to you Dennis is, "is your model a Lithuanian on both sides of the family?" And for others that have visited Vilnius or others cities in the land of amber, have you had the same impression?

 

I have a vested interest as my surname Gediman is a shortened form of the name Gediminas. My namesake, but so far I haven't found any direct blood line to, was Grand Duke of Lithuania and founder of the capital Vilniusand the Gediminas Dynasty

 

I have a chit in the form of a coupon that'll get you into the castle tower where you can have a tankard of mead on me. It's my seal, print it out and tell the tourist official that the pretender to the throne is a friend of yours.<div></div>

Well, I didn't crop quite so tightly, but being B&W mine still comes in pretty small, under 10 kb...<div></div>

Donald,

Thanks for playing. Your image certainly conveys the essence of a thoughtful person. The slightly low contrast conveys gentleness too.

 

Lester,

Thank you for your response and the certificate. Your gesture, plus the quality and sensitivity of all of your PN postings, mark you as a gentleman of the highest order.

 

Sincerely,

Dennis

<center><I>Lithuanian eyes</I><P>

<img src=http://www.geocities.com/dainisjg/jim_eyes.jpg><P>

Seneca view, Gundlach Turner-Reich convertible</center><P>

In color the eyes would be blue, as would those of my mother, father, sister and brother. Not sure of my grandparents, both sets of whom came from Lithuania.

I'll play, but I am not sure how well this works.

 

Wayne<div></div>

I'm reading your question from a slight angle here, Dennis, but the principle is the same. This is 1/24 of the full frame shot, and the action is all in this little fragment - everything else was background and context.<div></div>

Sandeha,

 

You really wiped my eye with that shot! Beautiful! You caught the spirit of my somewhat mis-titled offering. That is a beautiful abstraction.

 

 

Thanks for the reponse,

Dennis