Head Shots - or why I am not a professional photographer

[Rob MacKillop]

 

[Pete Askew]

I still think you had the flash turned up too high!

Pro or not, you are still bloody good!

 

[Ralph Turner]

Pro or not, you are still bloody good!

I'll second that sentiment.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I can't help thinking of a poem by J. Rodolfo Wilcock while looking at the first photo (but don't take it personally).

A Velletri

Sono andato fino alla fermata dell’autobus,
mi sono seduto sul muretto del ponte:
la mia ombra era l’ombra di un giovane,
ma anch’io sono l’ombra di un giovane.

[J. Rodolfo Wilcock, Poesie, Milano, Adelphi 1996, p. 159]

DeepL's translation:

In Velletri

I went as far as the bus stop,
I sat on the little wall of the bridge:
my shadow was the shadow of a young man,
but I too am the shadow of a young man.

Both photos are quite suggestive.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Good comments all. Merci. Gracie. Etc.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

My mom always cut heads off...

 

[John Holland]

You are just channeling your inner Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

 

[Peter Roberts]

My mom always cut heads off...

So did my father.

I'm beginning to think this must be a hitherto unrecognised niche genre.

 

[Brian Moore]

Great shot that first one, Rob. (Second not bad either.)

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Brian. I actually prefer the second...of course.

Just in case there is any doubt, the second was deliberate. Mystery...

 

[Brian Moore]

the second was deliberate

It's one thing to be able to cut the heads off people in photos, its entirely another skillset to be able to behead shadows!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Haha. I have a peculiar skill set…

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

The first one is nice, but I do like the second. Absolutely nails the sense of mystery and kind of suggests some kind of drama in perhaps Edwardian times! I'm sure railways are involved...

 

[Gianluca Drago]

The more I watch the couple of them, the more the second one is talking to me more.

 

[Brian Moore]

the second one is talking to me more.

That's because the first one has no mouth.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

That's because the first one has no mouth.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

It really pleases me that

a) your imaginations are getting involved, and

b) the second one is beginning to take hold!

The first is arresting, the second a slow burner.