Proud Man, a photo from Cluj, West

Photographer's Note

Negreni - a village on the half way between Oradea and Cluj, in the West Carpathian Mountains. Where the valley of the river named Crisul Repede becames a bit larger, was place enough near/among the river to keep market.
I don't know if the tradition is continued till now, but there was once in a year a marketplace, three days long.
People - most from the surrounding villages, but also from over 100km - came with traditional products, most of them homemade. Also food, cereals, animals.

The old gipsy man was discussing, they have a very intensive body-language, expressing/underlining a lot with gestures.

Taken with a russian camera named FED II, with a "shotgun" 350mm teleobjectiv from Zenit.

Beeing so far back in the past, about a time has gone, tried a sepia version from B/W

roconnell, touristdidi, dmitriy55, CliffW has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

glider (690) 2004-01-14 4:34

Interesting b/w shot. I like composition, spontaneity and impression of movement. Nice b/w tones. Well done..

jrj (34843) 2004-01-14 5:08

Fine shot Janos where the grain and use of tele underlines the "old" feeling coming from this picture some 20 years old.

avigur_11 (22553) 2004-01-14 7:40

Very good shot. The subject is very interesting, and the use of sepia is very clever here. I like the cropping and the noisy background. It really looks like a 19th century scene. Vert very well done.

joseelias (0) 2004-01-14 9:24

Good use of sepia and the grainy feel. You've captured that body langauge well. Also like the composition with the man in the bottom.

eelliott305 (776) 2004-01-14 12:25

Excellent photo. The sepia effect works very well.

pascalbene (1717) 2004-01-14 18:40

A very well done picture "on live". The composition is perfect.

Clochette (8076) 2004-01-14 18:50

Stunning old pic, you did very well in using sepia tones. It's funny to think that nowadays, people sometimes spend a lot of time in postprocessing works to give their pics this very look...

The composition is good, I like the other guy posture in the foreground, he seems to be very interested in the "proud man" story..

A last detail makes me like your image, but you've got nothing to do with it : the man really looks like my grand father.

olli (2091) 2004-01-15 8:57

The pose of the man is just perfect. Your choice of adding noise and using sepia works very-very well. Great, moody shot – very-very well done, Janos.

mikee (2354) 2004-01-15 18:29

Great and interesting photo. The sepia tones add something to it, giving it more personality, making it even more wonderful. I like the way the two men are positioned and how much you have captured in this shot. Looking at your photo, one can almost hear the man's thoughts. I don't think the man is a gypsy, just an old man, but maybe I'm wrong.
Great work!

clodreno (0) 2004-01-16 4:45

This is a great shot Janos. I love it. The composition, the way he is unaware of your presence.
The hat of the guy in the foreground is also adding to this image. Very nice.

gotlogos (3) 2004-01-17 13:58

This looks like it was taken in the middle of the 19th century - great atmostphere...what a great shot and good decision on the coloration.

kriseeva (343) 2004-01-21 14:26

Excellent photograph. The composition is super with the background being the blurred trees on the hills - very nice contrast. I love his watch chain which can easily be seen.

mcreider (673) 2004-01-22 15:33

B/w, genre portraits - Golden Age of photography, far before the Photoshop...

(And I visited Kluj and some other places in Romania)

Luko (14000) 2004-01-24 5:00

I missed this one but this is the kind of shots I usually feel close to.

Of course, the gypsy looks like one of a kind and deserved a shot, but the strongest points in your shot are for me your timing, his move to show his hat is wonderful, given that the whole compo - the second strongest point- relies on a diagonal line anchored to the two hats : hence, not only the backbone is strong but the old guy is also showing how to read the pic!.. in case nobody knew how to!

At last, other remarkable points are the softness of the trees that populate very nicely the whole background, also the toning that takes us back in the 30's...at least.

The only downside is that we only guess but cannot see the pocket watch he's wearing tied to a chain, that's a lovely detail : unfortunately the chain looks more like artefacts than anything.

jhonny_blue (4956) 2004-03-19 5:27

Wonderful picture Janos !
Great choice in sepia, itґs realy very good !
Congratulations

roconnell (327) 2004-05-02 15:58

You caught his body language so well and the sepia adds to the composition nicely as it brings out the many textures in the frame. Well Done.

nygus (8178) 2004-05-21 12:08

You got the nostalgia mood quite right. Carpathia is close to my heart.

touristdidi (8583) 2004-11-02 10:21 [Comment]

Show Comment

Homerhomer (4080) 2005-03-07 10:32

The whole theme is spectacular, but I chose this one to write a comment about because this is simply the cream of the crop. I find that everything about the image is simply spectacular, from the one of a kind man, his gesture, composition with him being the strong centre point anchored by the person in the foreground and complementing background, the overall feel of the film and it's tones, all the way to even well fitting frame.
Congratulations.
Peter

avis2avis (4264) 2005-03-10 8:17

Looks like a still from a black and white Hollywood classic ... most amazing! To my mind the best shot in your theme. Its a pity we dont get to see such shots these days.

faubry (35447) 2005-04-08 8:09

very good portrait sepia, this shot seems going directly from very long time ago!
well done
i konw all romania and negreni,tradition is always coutumes
francine

andreineamtu (466) 2006-07-17 3:44

si, ultima poza pe azi.. foarte buna. daca ar fi fost tehnica de azi.. sepia/monocolor mi se pare o idee buna. asta chiar mi se pare o poza foarte buna..

Olrik (1645) 2006-11-03 3:39

Hi Janos,
Great expression and good use of the sepia. I like all the little details : the stick put on the arm, the moustach, the cigarette ant the position of the hands. The hat on the background is also interesting for the balance of the frame.
Olivier