The Humble Sultan, a photo from Zanzibar, East

Photographer's Note

In Stone Town, it's easy to get in contact with locals, as daily life happens within narrow streets and you constantly come across people where a small comment or a wink might lead you into a whole conversation.

On the other hand, taking photographs is a different story. They might be friendly, but it doesn't mean you can get that intimate...

I've read about their reluctance before visiting the island, so I was not expecting much in terms of portraits, but with a little insistence and genuine interest, some offered their best face.

Sonata11, jjcordier, CLODO, Kofman, tyro, BennyV, macjake, Cretense, sevy, rigoletto, raphaelhcm, LOOOK13, tty007, Robert1969 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Sonata11 (28748) 2012-01-23 19:11

Hello Andre,
what a wonderful composition of the portrait of this sultan with an amazingly beautiful colors well saturated, perfect sharpness, perfect clarity. You captured this man perfectly very well. Marvelous picture. I love this artistic picture. Awesome work. Thanks for sharing.
All the best,
Barbara

tusharkmandal (3117) 2012-01-23 19:50

Hi Andre,

You have said it well here that they can get close but not intimate. Thats the hurdle every portrait hunter faces in some different land not very known to his own I guess. And then he tailors a lot of ways to make a genuine contact enough intimate to offer for a photograph.
The tilt of his head makes it more appealing.

Tushar

patdeph (35738) 2012-01-23 22:07

salut André
tu as su convaincre un homme très photogénique, il est magnifique avec ses yeux clairs, son beau chapeau typique, sa barbe naissante,et sa tête penchée.
J'aime aussi beaucoup la façon dont il ressort sur le fond très sombre.
Alors ,malgré son air dubitatif,avec tous ces atouts, cette lumière,et ton savoir-faire,le résultat ne peut qu'être superbe.
Amitiés
Pascale

jjcordier (63042) 2012-01-23 22:39

André
Tu as bien fait d'insister car tu nous offres là un portrait de très très grande qualité. La lumière est superbe et la netteté à jeter son 60D à la poubelle. Un grand bravo, Monsieur André!
Amitiés
JJ

taypejka (1298) 2012-01-23 23:16

Hi Andre!

you wrote below that it was not so easy to capture real faces of people but you've managed it very well. The man was looking at you with very sincere eyes like he would like you to understand him.
Very good quality of the photo, nice natural colours and perfect saturation.
best regards
emilia

CLODO (24894) 2012-01-23 23:51

Salut André

J'aime bien son air penché et la faible profondeur de champ ui fait que le regard se fixe sur les parties nettes (yeux, barbe). Très jolie gamme de couleurs en accord.
Amicalement
CLODO

bergese (6699) 2012-01-24 3:04

Bonjour André
Un trés joli portrait de cet homme dont le beau visage ressort parfaitement sur le fond.Trés bon travail,bravo.
Bonne journée
Isabelle

prasun984 (5590) 2012-01-24 4:23

Hi Andre,
wonderful old age portrait shot...like his calm expression towards camera...also like his wrinkled face with nice skin tone...
very good DOF controlled with nice light management...good color contrast & sharpness...

Prasun

tyro (13579) 2012-01-24 7:53

Hello André,

First, thank you very much indeed for your long and very, very helpful note which you placed on the forum: I shall try to bear all your suggestions in mind.

And, in this case, you have clearly taken heed of your own advice. This fellow looks to me to be friendly enough, possibly because of your "grooming" of him by your affable manner, though I suspect that a chap like this would tend to be less camera-shy than the ladies in those parts; perhaps not.

His expression is wonderful - he looks slightly querulous, perhaps wondering why you would actually want to take a photograph of him, but there's also a faint glimmer of a smile there too. Which makes the picture all the more attractive - you just have to look longer at this fellow's expression and try to work out what he's thinking. Of course, other people better than us have achieved this effect too - and I'm thinking of Leonardo's Mona Lisa - she has that "unfathomable" expression which you can't help but stare at as you attempt to read her mind.

Technically, the lighting is wonderful, the colours and exposure perfect, and the image pin-sharp.

Beautiful!

Kind Regards,

John.

faubry (35335) 2012-01-24 8:28

Bonjour André, tu reviens de temps en temps, comme moi, et avec plaisir tu nous proposes un superbe portrait au regard profond, les détails de la peau sont bien rendus;
félicitations
francine

batalay (32930) 2012-01-24 20:20

Hello André,

You've created a wonderfully incisive portrait of the man. The only suggestion I could make is to have composed the shot (or cropped it) with the subject's right eye on the vertical centerline. Take a look at the lengthy comment following the portraits, “Rembrandt's Rabbi” and “The Old Rabbi”.

Warm regards,

Bulent

cbrman (21637) 2012-01-24 21:52

Hello André,

Voici une image qui me plaît plus que la précédente.
Le regard de cette homme est vraiment captivant.
La posture de la tête et le rendu de la peau donne une image qui accroche. Un choix de profondeur de champ parfait.
Bravo !

A+

Dominique

BennyV (12859) 2012-01-25 6:21

Hi Andre

Fine portrait with great dof to bring out the stubbles of the beard. Well framed too. I like the white left corner.

I also like your note. I think it says more about the way you travel than about the people of Zanzibar. :)

Benny

macjake (39962) 2012-01-25 13:21

Hi Andre
now thats a portrait!
the tilting of his head is what makes this one stand out. If he's looking directly at you flat on, it would not have the same impact.
its almost as if he's curious, an investigating the camera man.
fine work my friend
cheers
craig

Cretense (68663) 2012-01-27 8:36

Hello Andre!

Perfect portrait, clearly the job of a pro! Excellent tight framing, perfect eye contact, perfect sharpness and overall definition! Flawless light management, but most important great sensitivity!

Hercules

barrufeto_77 (28876) 2012-01-28 3:10

Mr Portrait's back!!!!!

What can I say? I have, as usually in you pictures, no words. I'm impressed again!

Rgs, Oscar

ourania (13057) 2012-01-28 3:22

Hello Andre,
this is a great portrait! Wonderful sharpness, framing and colours against the dark background, fantastic posture and directness from the man with the very interesting face. I like the ambiguity of his glance and posture, can't determine whether he's friendly or not. Marvellous work!
All the best,
Ourania

P-S-I-G (25532) 2012-01-29 9:38

Salut André,
Un excellent portrait. J'aime beaucoup le fond noir qui sert très bien de toile de fond en mettant en valeur le sujet. La profondeur de champ est aussi très très bonne.
Amicalement,
Fabrice

sevy (13367) 2012-02-03 3:45

Bonjour André,

As tu signé un pacte avec le Saint Patron des photographes portraitiste de voyage? Si oui, c'est efficace ;-)
Un portrait vraiment réussi (sincèrement) avec une forte présence, un cadrage qui construit une diagonale via le hochement de tête et un fond sombre qui fait ressortir les teintes subtiles de la peau et de la coiffe qui se répondent.
Cette photo aurait sa place dans un National Geographic.
La preuve aussi qu'avec un matériel 'standard' et en lumière naturelle on peut faire de très belle chose. Les magazines ont parfois tendance à l'oublier en allant vers l'impact d'un post-processing musclé et des éclairages alambiqués. Le naturel est aussi capable de belles choses.

Ce post me plait d'autant plus que je pratique assez peu ce type de photo. Mais j'y accorde un intérêt de plus en plus fort. Le problème n'est pas trop l'aspect technique mais bien plus la maitrise du contact humain qui est finalement la clé de la réussite. Un bon portrait est avant tout une belle rencontre.

Yves.

rigoletto (30986) 2012-02-05 12:31

I think, this one is more precious than the previous "sneaky" one. Directly taken, the fruit of an intensive communication, also well fed with the so called "photographer's luck".
In addition, i must say that i find these kinds of "reluctant and conservative society" portraits much more difficult and worth appreciation than the "easier" ones made in Far Eastern countries. I have always heard how easy it was to make photos in India or Myanmar etc. I don't even mention the issues which you pay the people in order to achieve their portrayal.
One should write a photo-sociological thesis on different cultures and their reactions to being photographed. I heard that somewhere in Africa, they believe that by photographing them, you steal their souls. So they would always reject even a simplest pose. Closed societies (like Jews), pious societies (like Arabia), terrorstricken societies (like US or Turkey), paranoiac societies (like many in Europe), war victims (like many in Africa) or post despotic societies (like many in Asia) would react in different ways to being photographed.

Anyway, i like the colors and the light, the details of the face and his pose in this photo :))
Best regards,
Deniz

raphaelhcm (760) 2012-02-06 7:29

Portrait d'une qualite artistique et photographique impressionante: la composition, le pique, l'exposition, le detail et l'expression de ce bel homme! Et ce superbe fond qui reste dans les tons tout en faisant bien ressortir ce regard!

Superbe portrait!
Bonne continuation,
Raphael

m00n (2187) 2012-02-06 8:51

This portrait also I enjoyed.
I will not write more is simply overpowering!

LOOOK13 (19022) 2012-02-06 8:58

Bonsoir Andre.
Wonderful portrait of this man...
Splendid details.What a fantastic quality.
Best regards.

Robert1969 (6330) 2012-03-19 0:13

Hello Andre,

A timeless picture, with a great composition
and a great light management and DOF.

Friendly regards,
Robert

i9l2y1m8a8t3 (4496) 2012-03-20 23:22

Greetings Andre!

Superb portrait! Love the DOF, the POV is very direct. One thing I really look on portrait is how the eyes are exposed very well such as this. You can see various emotions through this man's eyes. Well captured, well presented! Love the vibrant tones as well.

compliments!
Matt