DOGZILLIA

Keep the eye blue?

Love it....looks like my neighbor.

Fantastic! Love the blue eyes :) The clouds portray an errie atmosphere. Beautiful tones.

A wonderful portrait. Keep his eyes blue even though its becoming common to have one spot of color in a monochrome pic. Regarding sharpening and what Chris was trying to say to you I think he has a point. I like your compositions very much and think you are a very accomplished photographer. But I too am a little repulsed by the oversharpening of your people. Actually just your men because you never oversharpen your women. I love the work of Karsh! His famous portraits: Hemingway in the big sweater, Churchill standing there like the immovable force he was. And especially the Pablo Casals, alone in a dark stone room with only one light from the high ceiling, his back to the lens, playing his cello. If you are still enough you can hear the Bach. But Karshs pictures always look real to me. He may have manipulated them but not beyond the truth. I think its not so much a question of whether to manipulate the image or not. But when to stop and when does it become too much. Picasso was quoted as saying "Art is the lie that tells the truth." As if to say you can manipulate as much as you think required but the object is and always has been to arrive finally at the truth. Whatever it takes to get to that truth is OK.
http://moma.org/collection/depts/paint_sculpt/images/large/333_39_picasso_dem.jpg

This image is obviously a lie. But it tells a truth much more than any straight representational group portrait he could have painted and that would have been more easily understood by the world at large. If you believe that your photograph of "God in Everyman" has arrived at the truth then you have accomplished a great task. In this dark little world we need all the truth and beauty we can muster. I think its a personal decision about what is too much and what is not. And many great artists have never been understood by their contemporaries. It may be a corruption of the artists soul to even court the appreciation of contemporaries. I think its a divine relationship with the muse. Showing up every night at her balcony like Romeo until she begins to trust you and will come out and enter into the process with you. She is the one we must court. Bottom line is I admire your work and the effort you bring to your craft very much. Follow your own path because its the only one with any hope of truth and art.

Here, here, Kent! I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Tolley. Your work is exceptional. I have been obsessed with your creative talents since I first saw one of your photo's. Your style is yours alone. I've seen none duplicate its quality. You put a lot of warmth in your photo's which brings them to life. I'm amazed by the degree with which they hold my attention. Even the tiniest detail starts wrinkles forming on my brain. (so to speak)

 

Thank you for sharing them.