A Portrait of Someone You Know: Guess Who?

03/22/2005 11:07:18 AM · #1

Yes...a very popular fellow here in DPChallenge.

Anyway, he can be a good subject/model too.

Manny

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

03/22/2005 11:10:06 AM · #2

Helloooo Pedro! ;-)

Message edited by author 2005-03-22 11:10:18.

soup

Canon EOS-30D

03/22/2005 11:10:17 AM · #3

boy he looks a lot younger in your photos - than his profile picture.
amazing what you can do with a camera ;}

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 24-70 f2.8 L IS

03/22/2005 11:10:20 AM · #4

Be it Pedro??

Blast! Scalvert beat me to it, LOL.

Message edited by author 2005-03-22 11:10:40.

jenesis

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

03/22/2005 11:18:26 AM · #5

Awwwww, Look at Pedro. Isn't he cute! :-P Looks like you guys had a really great time based on the photos I've seen. But the two of you getting together means very bad things for us I'm afraid.... These are great portraits Manny, I especially like the last one.

psssst.... did you give him a hard time about his soul patch? :-)

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

03/22/2005 11:19:21 AM · #6

Wow. I'll leave it at that. ;o)

zeuszen

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

03/22/2005 11:28:13 AM · #7

I think he's too handsome for a credible image, too spoiled for portraiture and too unshaven to be permitted across the border. Although... that Spanish goatie...

did look sharp on the young Ezra Pound or gainst a backdrop of windmills lashed by an angry sword.

With Pedro, you can never know where and when.

Message edited by author 2005-03-22 11:28:27.

Sonifo

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

03/22/2005 11:40:31 AM · #8

What laurie said!

aerogurl

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR

03/22/2005 12:33:11 PM · #9

Unlike Laurie, I can't leave it at Wow... I must say.. DAMN! That is one fine man. I told him so on his self portrait. Absolutely gorgeous photos. I love his little beard thing, gorgeous. I say Pedro needs to pose for a female Dr. Jones. I'll volunteer. hehhe nice photos :o)

03/22/2005 12:34:25 PM · #10

Originally posted by soup:

boy he looks a lot younger in your photos - than his profile picture.
amazing what you can do with a camera ;}

Actually, he even look younger in person. But when he opens his mouth, he sounds older than his profiel pic.:)

Manny

Pedro

Nikon D200

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR

03/22/2005 12:35:01 PM · #11

:)

I have to tell you some things about my experience shooting with Manny.

I was trying to figure out what it is that makes him so unique as a photographer, and was hoping it was something I could learn. My sad realization is that the thing he does is far more subtle than just a camera setting or choice of lens.

He walks into a room, and probably without even knowing it scans for light. A few times we'd be somewhere (like where he took those portraits) and I'd be busy looking at objects and interesting subjects. He wanders over to an empty corner where I wouldn't even think to go, and starts composing a photo. I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of a distraction in the background, and he finds a way to incorporate it (like the painting in the first one). It's really quite frustrating to tell the truth. :) I jokingly called one photo "How to Win a Ribbon", as if just standing like him or using a camera like hiw would do it. Unfortunately, I think it's part of his programming.

The work he has posted on DPC only touches the surface of what he's capable of. I browsed through some of his printed portfolio, and was awestruck, and I had previously seen a lot of his work. i didn't think he could surprise me...once again I was mistaken.

Other than being a genuinely awesome human being, he was a wonderful host and is a good friend. I'd encourage all of you to go look him up on pbase, treklens, and trekearth.

I feel very fortunate to have met him, and that he was able to make time in his incredibly busy schedule to share some of his time with me.

Thanks again and again Manny.

P

ps. the Soul Patch has been suitably trimmed since then...that photo was taken only a few hours after I arrived back in Bangkok after being in the jungle for almost a week. :P

Message edited by author 2005-03-22 13:02:28.

aerogurl

Nikon D300

03/22/2005 12:46:32 PM · #12

Manny: How do you confront people you want to shoot? Is there some "line" you give to each one? I find it really hard to walk up to a stranger and ask to photograph them. You seem to have no problems in that department.

Pedro: Excellent photos. It must be like watching Picasso paint. You are a very lucky man to work alongside Manny, he is brilliant and you aren't doing bad yourself ;o)

Sonda

Canon EOS-20D

Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Macro

03/22/2005 01:03:55 PM · #13

Originally posted by laurielblack:

Wow. I'll leave it at that. ;o)

And I concurred...

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM

03/22/2005 07:07:32 PM · #14

[quote=aerogurl] Manny: How do you confront people you want to shoot? Is there some "line" you give to each one? I find it really hard to walk up to a stranger and ask to photograph them. You seem to have no problems in that department.

In a country where I barely speak the language, a smile is good enough to maintain rapport with your would-be subject. If I do speak the language, I would engage him/her in a conversation and eventually ask for a permission. But this is in Asia. I do have some "NO's" but I persist. But usually choose my battles. And I end up being friends with them at the end of the "battle"?

Actually, I usually get their full-cooperation after I give them a feedback of how they look by showing them the LCD. And they want to look better so, there goes...

Manny

lentil

Canon EOS-5D

03/22/2005 07:12:45 PM · #15

they are fantastic shots manny. You are certainly a talented man :o) And can I say on behalf of girls everywhere , you arent a bad looking man pedro. :)

03/22/2005 09:08:49 PM · #16

Originally posted by aerogurl:

And btw, one TrekEarth friend told me that "everyone likes to be photographed". As I go deeper and deeper into photography, portraiture in particular, I am very much inclined to believe in him. Have that mental set. People you will approach will get that vibes.

And BTW Peter, I never knew you have some fan base here.

Manny

Message edited by author 2005-03-22 21:10:11.

Pedro

Nikon D200

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM II

03/22/2005 11:09:13 PM · #17

Originally posted by librodo:

In a country where I barely speak the language, a smile is good enough to maintain rapport with your would-be subject. If I do speak the language, I would engage him/her in a conversation and eventually ask for a permission. But this is in Asia. I do have some "NO's" but I persist. But usually choose my battles. And I end up being friends with them at the end of the "battle"?

Actually, I usually get their full-cooperation after I give them a feedback of how they look by showing them the LCD. And they want to look better so, there goes...

Don't let him kid you. When he wants a photo, he goes and takes it. The photos of him shooting those two kids above was poetry to watch. They spoke no english at all, and I see Manny (who apparently invented his own sign language) working those kids better than I can work with models who do speak english. He's very persistent, and has such a trusting manner they were begging him to shoot more.

Originally posted by librodo:

And BTW Peter, I never knew you have some fan base here.

Manny

It ain't the subject bro, it's the photographer that makes the photo. You could make Woody Allen look good in print.

P-ness

Ivo

03/23/2005 11:22:41 PM · #18

Having an opportunity to sit down with Pedro on a somewhat regular basis over a fast lunch and the occaisional soda, I must share some rather delicate insights. The whole photography thing is really a front for his true passion......knitting. I've expressed my displeasure for the torrent of mittens and booties received by him over the past several years yet he is obsessed. He only takes photos as a means to subsidize his insatiable appetite for Mohair and Angora. The trip to Thailand was simply part of a continupus quest for exotic yarns and advanced "pearling" techniques. His chance meeting with Manny was awkward, to say the least, since there was a chance his true intent may be revealed. The splendid photos taken by Manny, do not reflect contemplation but rather exploit the anxiety associated in being without his ball of yarn. Yes, he is youthful and a master at his cunning photography ruse but do not be fooled..................his bliss is in an armchair, watching telletubbies with his pet cobra and whistling a merry tune while he knits booties for his son. ;-)

timmotyka

Nikon D70

03/23/2005 11:24:15 PM · #19

pedro

colyla

Canon EOS-50D

03/23/2005 11:27:45 PM · #20

I would have to agree....
he is very pretty :)

lentil

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM

03/23/2005 11:30:25 PM · #21

btw pedro i love your web site. I didnt expect your photo to change when i put my cursor over it :)

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

03/23/2005 11:50:03 PM · #22

@Ivo... bwahahahahahaha!

Pedro

Nikon D200

03/24/2005 12:52:44 AM · #23

Originally posted by Ivo:

Now Ivo. We had a deal. You were supposed to keep my secret, and I would have kept yours. Since you've chosen to share my no-longer-secret passion, I'm forced to reveal your secret identity.

For many years John was a successful condom model in Uzbekistan. Then after a freak accident at a nuclear reactor plant he moonlighted in (condom modelling was not allowing him to maintain his lifestyle) his life was forever altered when a condom he was "breaking-in" was somehow molecularly fused to his scalp.

Alas, Johnny often got confused as to how to wear the condoms. Unfortunately on this fateful day it was on his head.

Grief stricken by the permanent effect this would have on his once-perfect hair, Ivo wallowed deeply in his sewer of despair for many months. After a chance meeting at a hair club for men counselling session with a former cross-dressing IUD activist, Ivo met his calling. 15 light beers and a series of events we now only refer to as 'the incident' an embryo had hatched...the underworld was about to face the newest in a line of ridiculously-dressed-but-socially-conscious crime fighters.

Ivo became: PROPHYLACTIC MAN

Sadly after 8 years he has yet to do anything of consequence, but at least he's kept his sense of humour.

:D

I thank you for your time. Please go back to your regularly scheduled lives. there's nothing more to see here.

Regards,

H.R. P-ness, knitter extraordinaire.

ps anybody need some mittens?

bdobe

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

03/24/2005 01:16:08 AM · #24

Wow, the love and goodwill emanating from this thread is palpable.

But seriously, Pedro and Librodo, the work that you guys do is simply gorgeous -- the images that you two have captured, and share with us in your portfolios, are definitely worthy of that august icon of photography: National Geographic.

Great captures.

suemack

Canon EOS-20D