Dude Pol

Dude “Pol”

Pol..doesn’t mean police! It is not an abridgement. In Italian language we do pronounce “the English Paul” as “Pol”…..so he is “The Pol”!

I’m not a portrayer…but sometimes I commit this crime. I prefer taking piccies of landscapes, instead. I was in Krakow for a few days as guest for the wedding of Paolo; my wife’s relative, that after several years spent in Ireland for job moved to Poland. Here he met Miss Anna and they became “bride and groom-till death do us apart”. While taking this photo we were inside Hotel Europejsky (it well worth a visit!) waiting for going to the Church. I decided to take a few portraits(in different locations) of the “Dude”() when… looking at inside the Bar Room of the Hotel I discovered a very typical Saloon. Beautiful atmosphere; a nice game between dark and light; an interesting “neutral” background rich of light; an interesting and almost shadowed foreground to place a figure, as well. I thought “All very Moody” (I mean an ideal place where to take a psychologic portrait). I immediately thought about a warm tone “soft” BW treatment. I supposed that right pose was to let him sitting on the chair….relaxed! Well…difficult to be relaxed before one’s marriage. His closed hands bear this evidence. I prefer so because he has been natural “at his own way without instructions”. This is almost a snapshot of that “his own special moment”. I simply wanted to manage a compo of a “character embedded inside an historical setting”. I hope I succeeded in doing it. TIPS are welcome. No tripod this time…and my fav 12-24 mm PENTAX Zoom. Hand-Held camera PENTAX K20D. Natural light only. I processed file in PS- Silver EFEX PRO 2. I fixed a few features using local adjustements using same software. I’ve prepared other BWs(of same file) using TOPAZ or Alien Skin but honestly speaking I do prefer version you are looking at. SEE EXIF for techn. infos. Original coloured file has been processed in Photomatix 5.1 too...but BW still remains my fav version,IMHO.