Candid Portraits,  People/Portraits

Tom

January 25, 2011
Tom

I would like to introduce you to one of those people who has a contagious smile: Tom. His Greek heritage may have something to do with that smile. He is always joyful, enjoying life, and thus the smile. He travels along in this life at a slower pace than most of this western culture. However, he does quicken the pace when he steps on a soccer field with his league, one of his passions. He is not controlled by a cellphone or computer since he does not own either one. He loves people and the conversations that can be shared and therefore never knows a stranger. He likes Greek food (chicken lemon soup) and his ouzo. He has this ability (actually it’s more an obsession) to sense when any beautiful woman is nearby. And, then his smile gets bigger! 🙂

Retired. Having fun with photography. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku/poetry. Have a love for fountain pens.

9 Comments

  • Earl

    January 25, 2011 at 7:47 am

    Monte, nice portrait and Tom sounds like a good guy…certainly can’t blame him for his obsession. 😉

    With that window back lighting did you use any type of supplemental or reflective lighting for this shot?

    • Monte Stevens

      January 25, 2011 at 9:34 am

      Thanks! I had to laugh when I thought of the answer to your question. Here’s why. When I saw Tom laughing and the wonderful window light directly behind me there were several things quickly running through my mind. First I knew I did not care about the blown highlights in the background as Tom was my subject. Those windows would be blown out with matrix metering, which I use 95% of the time. So, I switched to spot metering and took just this one shot. After chimping, I knew I had what I wanted, yet I switched back to matrix metering, popped up my flash (which I normally keep in rear sync mode), reduced the flash output by -2 stops and took two more images. All three images were technically okay but I like his expression in this image the best. It’s another demonstration of how seldom some of us take snapshots. 🙂

  • Paul

    January 25, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    Monte, I had to laugh about the adjustments, as I am using, more and more, the film camera, which doesn’t have all of those cool adjustments. I see the window light, meter, open the aperture one or two stops, shoot, and hope. 😉

    Great shot of Tom. Cool that he doesn’t have a cell phone or computer and, as I can see, he is still alive, though I don’t know how. LOL

    • Monte Stevens

      January 25, 2011 at 6:37 pm

      I’m not sure how he has managed to survive without a cellphone, either. I’ve done the same thing in the past. With spot metering I get a more accurate reading. And, as they say the more we practice the more second nature it becomes to us. We did similar things except the metering.

      I checked out the new Fujifilm X100 and like what I see. Now if I could only find my sugar-mama. 🙂

  • Mary ann

    January 25, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    No cell phone? No computer? From where does this Tom-person come?!? Lol 🙂 that’s a great photo, Monte. He looks like a man with a very good soul.

  • Anita Jesse

    January 25, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    Tom looks and sounds like a great guy. I pretty much think of my cell phone as a safety device rather than a social connection—have a land line for that. But no computer!? Anyway, it’s geat to have someone like Tom in your life.

    Nice job with the portrait. By the way, I love using spot meter. Often saves the day.

  • Monte Stevens

    January 26, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    If he reads all these comments I’m afraid it will go to his head. Wait a minute, he does not have a computer so he can’t se this stuff we say about him. I be he still smiles.