This ruggedly handsome chap kindly let me take his portrait as part of a seasonal series I am work on. He was pulling a large cart of wood up a steep lane when he kindly stopped for me. He looked great – straight out of Lord of the Rings I thought. I just need to get three other local folk to agree to seasonal environmental portraits for Winter, Spring and Summer and that’s my Four Seasons of the Ceiriog Valley exhibition entry sorted. It all sounds so straightforward in words. Oh, and I really need to find this chap again and ask him to sign a model release form. Easy.
I wonder how transient such stylised photography is? It’s so temping when looking at a straight rendition of a portrait shot next to something stylised like this, tweaked for high-contrast and de-saturated colour, to be drawn to the ‘sheer f**k off-ness’* of the latter. Looking back in a year or two though, will this image scream 2008 styling and the handsome Mr Cranwell take second place? In funky 1970’s magazines I have found in charity shops, it almost looked like soft focus and star-effect filters were fashionable. Probably best to stop thinking about it and go take some pictures.
*Apologies for implying swear-words on a photography blog, in my defense though, it’s a quote from the rather good film Sexy Beast.
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