Poise
by
samtrundleComment: ahhh, back to your favourite subject...and understandably so...
I love how you handle light, and the beautiful details in your grandfather...strange to see his coat disappear, and yet appropriate...
yes the space at the top makes him smaller, and perhaps more vulnerable, and certainly ties in with the need of voters to really see the 'negative' space, but I am struck by how this seems to cheat me...without the context of some information in the background his being there is enough, the top part could then be cropped by 1/5th or so, and then I am not wandering, for the missing eye beside the darkness is what grabs me first, but then the seeing eye is the one where the real tale is told...
knowing you have entered this shot leaves me wondering where your artistic choices in the composition are and where your competitive ones are, a shame really because I think you're portrait here is sublime...
I would certainly be proud to have taken this shot...