Jolly Old Gentleman Photo

Photographer’s Note

My last post made me realize that lots of my Nepal pictures show old gentlemen, sitting around, doing very little. It seems to be a popular occupation of elderly men in that country. This old man was a delight, full of laughter and with a wonderful smile.Enjoying the evening, sitting in a temple square,he seems typical of the happy and kindly people of Nepal. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and has suffered years of stagnation, political instability and war. The people however, remain , for the most part, optimistic and good natured.

Buin, dareco, adores, Davids, PaulVDV has marked this note useful

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Buin (38628) 2008-08-02 23:29

Hallo Kevin!
Wonderful, really wonderful. This photo made me smile - what better can a photo do!? This old gentleman seems to be content and lucky - in spite of the circumstances you described. A really "infectious" smile - and a worth seeing picture!
Greetings from summerly Germany!
Frank

CLODO (4759) 2008-08-02 23:49 [Comment]

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prakaz (55) 2008-08-02 23:58 [Comment]

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dareco (17104) 2008-08-03 0:05

A very nice portrait of this friendly and interesting man. My heart really goes out to the people in Nepal. Nice colors and good detail. TFS and have a happy day!

achakladar (786) 2008-08-03 0:10

What a lovely smile ! He exudes such happiness, it is infectious !

danasam (1057) 2008-08-03 0:16

Hi kevin, i like this photo, it is unique, good happy eye contact, nice natural colors of skin, walls and background. well done.
Sam.

ben4321 (9809) 2008-08-03 2:59

What a great character! Good interaction here as well Kevin, as it's allowed you to capture a great expression.
This is the kind of shot that would have worked better taken with a longer focal length and wider aperture - it's just that I think we need to lose all those distracting details in the background for the shot to be a complete success.
The wide approach works better when there are interesting environmental details that you want to include, putting your subject into context. Maybe you could have asked him to turn round so you could have used the open square as a background. That would have probably let you lose the reflections on his glasses as well.

Cheers,
Ben

wolf38 (13187) 2008-08-03 13:26

Hello kevin. Naturally, the man is an original, - and a eyecatcher at the same time. He is an optimist despite moderate life circumstances. Strange to say one meets these people usually in the poor countries. It is a joy to regard this photo. Very beautifully. Best regards, Wolfgang.

adores (15853) 2008-08-03 14:12

Hi Kevin!
What a smile you have here:) His expression is fabulous and I like all those colourful things he has around his head. Seems a really fantastic person.

Davids (48) 2008-08-04 0:36

Kevin,
I read the other comments . . . nah! . . . I don't see you pretending here to make front cover . . . it's an interesting guy and I like your story as much :)
so (even for a guy who has no trouble selecting any smile I want) . . . you're punished with a happy smile :)

thanks for the jolly post!
regards,
David

capthaddock (28640) 2008-08-05 19:04

I love the expression, and the carved images and brick textures in the bg are attractive, I have mixed feelings about the tighter dof (which would blur the carved image), on the other hand, that tourist at the upper right quadrant needs to go away.

PaulVDV (5451) 2008-08-15 2:43

Hello Kevin,
I really like the portrait of this older gentleman in Kathmandu. First of all there's that optimist expression on his face and he's also dressed up very beautiful.
I also like it that you show a little of the temple square where he was sitting.
Of course it's difficult to avoid other people on the background.
Best regards, Paul