This is my brother in law, David. He's bright, fun, super-smart, and twenty one years older than this image of him.
Shot with a tiny Novatron 220 flash in a tiny studio with a Yashica Mat 124G camera on medium speed black and white film. I like this portrait of David better than most of the portraits I've subsequently shot on systems many multiples more expensive and sophisticated. When did we re-aim our focus and our attention from the subject to the equipment? How can we move it back?
I expect that the remedy is looking to our early work and finding the things in it that we like. That's a good reason to sift thru stacks of old prints from time to time.
The outpouring of posts this evening isn't from any hypo-manic compulsion. (Well, maybe just a little) Rather it is the result of sifting through an enormous number of old favorite photos in order to put together a presentation due up in June. And of course there is always the five presentations I'll be giving at the Austin Photo Expo the weekend of the 15th and 16th of May. Maybe it's also the presentation I'm giving to another group this Sunday. It's fun to see the full circle.
