Shepherd No.2 (Remake No.2)

A very simplistic shot with one primary point of interest and a secondary motif. The former is a farmer-65 years old perhaps. He is looking directly at the camera establishing direct eye contact with the viewer. There is a faint smile on his lips. His figure has occupied most of the frame. The simplicity of the frame is stunning here sharpening the focus on the main and secondary motif ( I think you could angle a bit to the left to put the face smack on the left golden mean. The watch is already on the lower right golden mean, so it has positional advantage whereas it is not the main motif. The face need to be sharpened (compositionally I mean as hypothesized by leading Gestalt intellectual Kurt Kuffka )).

There is little information in the background except a barren land, so we don't take that into account.

There is a very subtle contrast in situation here intensified by our expectation and experience. we can't readily justify the presence of the second motif. what we

expect a farmer is holding a spade instead of a watch, so we have to rethink the situation and look at it from a different angle.

The watch is placed at a considerably large distance from the face and is in competition with it. we focus on the face and then switch to the watch and back repeatedly. he might want us to ponder about how he has lived out his life with him in constant race with time. His smile invokes a sense of satisfaction in me

. I take that smile as a sign of consummation; he has completed a major portion of his journey on earth and he has accomplished what he had set for himself.

thanks indeed for sharing this inspiring photo imbued with underlying messages.

superb one!!

regards!

Very expressive portrait, intriguing.

Cheers

Carsten

Excellent!

Alberto