13 Comments

1. Patrick | September 30, 2006 5:30 AM

   Wow, great appearance... Believe he doesn't want to work :)
   Good one - I like it very much!

2. Mike Dougan | September 30, 2006 6:13 AM

   my reaction is also WOW!! did he know you were taking this picture? This is so much that "Monday morning feeling" excellent capture.

3. Jack Bush | September 30, 2006 8:49 AM

   A beautiful picture, Travis. He's just been fired? He's just been dumped by his girl? Many possible stories there.

4. steve bingham | September 30, 2006 10:57 AM

   Good shot. I think the key is in the way you've used the lighting. The top of the door behind the guy is quite strongly lit and the lighting on the hair is strong. For me this gives the photo the look of 'capturing the subject'. Therefore, we seem to know about this guy; he's got the blues of some kind, doesn't he? It's almost funny, in a cruel kinda way. You see him and you think, with some detachment, "I'm glad I don't feel like that guy!"

   But the light that falls on his hands and face is much more gentle. The face looks forlorn, true, but I feel more of the mystery of his possible misery and the uncertainty brings me closer to some kind of genuine sympathy. (Often the faces of your subjects have this almost religious resignation; I think it is one of the things that gives your shots their 'timeless' quality.)

   Two other things: the hands and the sign. The hands are beautifully shown. One is pulled down and barely hanging on to the heavy case; the other reaches out, slightly larger due to perspective, and holds on, not is desperation, but with calm capability. It seems to obey the sign above his head - yes, I 'do not hold doors' - and quietly refute the message not to hold. He is holding on. We all are holding on. For a moment, he is simply showing it more than the rest of us. And you took the picture of that moment.

5. otilius | September 30, 2006 11:38 AM

   great urban portrait...

6. SD | September 30, 2006 5:22 PM

   Great shot.

7. Kolboree | September 30, 2006 5:41 PM

   I'm sorry but this photo is fuckin' way full of stories.

8. zen | September 30, 2006 10:54 PM

   I think he just got fired.

9. Wolfgang | October 1, 2006 5:36 AM

   Looks tired, good shot!

10. esa | October 1, 2006 9:13 PM

    brilliant expression!
    lovely capture - again a success!
    keep it up

11. Green B. Point | October 2, 2006 10:49 AM

    Having worn this mask, I am going to say this is 10% work, 90% life

12. Eric | October 2, 2006 9:05 PM

    He looks like he is about 22 years old and just dealt with his first real day of work....

13. Linda | December 5, 2006 4:57 PM

    what a heartbreaker--