PAPA NEFITUS

Sorry for my English and my hopes are that you will forgive my

mistakes and hope fully will understand my English...

This photo off Papa Nefitus was taken in Sinai dessert where this monk

wrote his letter to some one. I saw the wonderfull lieght on his faice

and with his permition I took that one on B/W 125 DIN of Kodak film

Great shot. Excellent contrast range. You captured a timeless expression -- this could be a 13th century monk (just switch the pen for a quill). Very well done. The unfocused area in the lower left corner is slightly distracting but it doesn't kill the rest of the shot.

very nice shot!

Beautiful composition and range of tones. Worthy of POW

Superb. I love it. Well done.

Excellent shot, wonderfully composed with great range of tones and contrast.

like an old russian writer!

This is outstanding. Love the messy hair and beard. He looks positively ancient.

Dear Michael

 

An excellent shot seemed to be Tolstoy

 

Cheers

Dini

Natural and beautiful. What else?

Subject, composition, light. You could not have done better. To my mind good photographs tell an interesting story that reveals the world. Your photograph is more like a novel: a Pasternak or a Kazinzakis. I am in awe and you did this with an old beater! I saw and had already guessed that you would like the old violinist click here--It is beautiful isn't it. As beautiful as that is, if I could save only one photograph from a burning building, Papa Nefitus would be the one.

I came back. I see it wasn't such an old beater when you took this in '68. Do you know what became of Papa Nefitus? Is there anything more you can tell us about him?

 

Me again. I started here in your portfolio and want to finish here. I have not been so moved by photography as I am right now by your brand new porfolio. I am no expert. In fact I am just now taking a beginning course in B&W photography. But I wanted to say thank you for these truly amazing photographs. They are deeply moving, beautifully crafted and rich in human stories. This is the power of photography and why I love it so much. I think you are a Master.

One could look at this and think. "Santa writes back" Amazing photo. POW Material if I have ever seen it.

+ + +

I don't mind the soft foreground, not at all. My only (slight) objection would be with regard for the window in the upper left. It's ok included, but I would still prefer if it weren't included. The main interest is the man and he is able to hold attention away from the window. I like this picture very much.

Excellent B & W.

I disagree with A Z (whichever A Z this is). The master of light in painting was Vermeer, and an interesting thing about Vermeer is that the light source is almost always visible; I think this helps orient us and let us understand what we are viewing. I very much like photographs that have a subject who is put in a broader context rather than isolated.

 

In this, it looks like light is coming from two sources (see the light on the arm in the right of picture, the other source being behind him. That is part of what keeps him well illuminated on all sides even while there are truly dark, fully black shadows behind him. But the two-sided light leaves me looking for a bit MORE rather than less context.

 

These are the kinds of quibbles and discussions we can have, however, only over truly wonderful photographs - this is tremendous.

That makes sense, Sam MM. (for the time being, I'm the true AZ. Maybe I change that to A-Z to really take the alpha and omega? Yeah, that's what I do.)

 

I'm not overly familiar with Vermeer's work: Were Vermeer's subjects this close to the viewer? If not, I think the inclusion of the light source has a different impact. For instance, my eye is drawn to the bright window on the left. What if the window on the right were included, too? Would that be better, or worse, and if so, how? I understand and agree with your comment, just that I'm wondering if photography demands, or maybe allows, different treatments of things like this. But we both agree the issue is relatively minor in this case and the discussion is academic.

POW for sure! Regards

This is Stunning - an absolutely beautiful shot ... the tones, the light, the expression - i love it. great work

Very nice picture; but could be even better if the angle can catch of of the old man's expression/emotion..

After Doug's comment above, partly because I am fond of academic discussions, especially where there is a worthy subject like this one, I went and looked at some Vermeers and did note that the ones closer to the subject sometimes did leave out the light source, and that the paintings with light source often did include a broader sweep of the setting than this one.

 

It strikes me there is a big technical difficulty in photography to including the light sources, because they are, well, light, and so can overwhelm a photo. But compositionally, I think they are often a plus, and like this one - as Doug notes, it does pull my eye over to it, but only momentarily, and the window also gives me a broader feeling of the whole setting.

Absolutely the finest portrait I've seen on this site to date. Congratulations on great work!

Gorgeous image! It leaves me speachless! A minor technical point...back up on the contrast a bit. This would perhaps open up the shadow areas. Keep up the beautiful work!

My only gripe here is with the large black area on his left shoulder. If there is detail on the negative, great. If not, it still works. I love the inclusion of the light source, as even it seems to have texture. Also, the out of focus foreground is essential, imo. None of that stuff(papers, whatever?) should compete with him. cheers

Excellent!