Passing away, a photo from Malopolskie, East

Photographer's Note

People are born with cry, but go away in silence. They become more and more distant in their minds, they go out losing those little parts of life in their eyes, faces.

This is a passage in retirement centre. The woman on the foreground is 98 years old. Usually she's not so sad, when she's feeling good she can even make jokes. But this moment I captured makes me thinking about their and my future too.

Igel, christina, jrenier, sohrab, jbweasle has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

zebrowski_artur (682) 2004-09-13 16:32

Ciekawy kadr, zwłaszcza kolorystycznie. Biel na pierwszym planie i niebieski na drugim ładnie się uzupełniają.
Doobry model to podstawa zdjęcia.
opzdrawiam
Artur

Igel (518) 2004-09-13 16:40

This is a great portrait, Piotr. With such a strong impact, very humane and moving - my respect...

bfly (5775) 2004-09-13 17:16

excellant portrait...she has such a sad face and the woman behind her is bending her head more sad that the front one...excellant in relaying their feelings and atmosphere, and technically perfect for me too..
thanks..
fusun

christina (2040) 2004-09-13 17:38

Yoiu captured something very special here. Simply beautiful!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!
Christina

Roly (2024) 2004-09-13 18:39

Photographed equally with the mind and the soul, it's a very moving portrait, technically sound. Outstanding work.

Catli (550) 2004-09-13 21:15

Very thought-provoking portrait and note. The composition and DOF are excellent. Congratulations!

clodreno (0) 2004-09-15 8:59

very nice indeed, full of emotions. Great.

Emazevedo (209) 2004-09-15 15:53

Excellent and moving photo and note. Lately,I've been thinking about this. Time goes away so fast!

Bogdan (205) 2004-09-19 15:07

I like it a lot, but i think it is too striking, it is to sad, and too oobvious, because of all the white..
It is a grea photo nonetheless, like your other ones.
Congrats,
Bogdan.

sohrab (7439) 2004-09-19 15:39

a very evocative portrait piotr. thats what makes this really good.
i think it's very nice of you to go and take photographs here :)
take care

Luko (14000) 2004-09-20 6:19

This double diagonal portrait is really good, both technically and compositionally... I agree with your notes too, there's apparent sadness in it but joy of life behind it-like if it was a mask only-.

It appears that the old woman behind reminds me exactly of my own grandma's face -who's Polish also- : I can't think of her being sad or whatsoever, even at her age she's more like a daylong singer also thinking about dancing the night away and telling funny tales.
That's also how your image attracted me and why the apparent sadness in it seemed a bit artificial to me...

.. However, at this age I guess hope cannot be at maximum height, distance might be a solution...

jbweasle (9393) 2004-10-02 19:31

A very stiking photograph. So many I see are filled with happiness and joy but to see this with so much sadness and yet still be compelling is very special. The face of the woman in the foreground is captivating enough and with the other woman looking down and leading the eye to the subject - it just makes it perfect.

Wally (6) 2004-10-16 4:27 [Comment]

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Valentia (1522) 2004-10-19 11:45

It's funny but I don't see any sadness in the woman in front. I see her looking at the camera thinking something like "That's a fancy looking camera". Truly lovely picture though. Did you give her a copy?

jongky (408) 2005-08-21 4:45

Another great Passing Away series!
The most mesmerizing was the composition, expression on both old woman and of course the skin of the woman on the foreground!