The Jazz Saxophonist by phil_howcroft

The Jazz Saxophonist

This is the Saxaphone player of a Jazz quartet who were playing "in between talks" in the "Kitchen Garden Talks Tent" at the BBC Gardeners Live show.

They should have been playing outside in the gardens entertaining people, but it rained hard most of the day.

I was going to put this in my 50 mono portraits series,but I do not know if it qualifies as a portrait as the head and shoulders are a little small in the frame. I still might slip it in the series, let me know what think

Nice angled shot......this is a perfect mono! The sound would be great too.....love the sax! I call this a portrait!
June 14th, 2015  
Nice b&w portrait Phil.
June 14th, 2015  
Just the right angle for a saxophonist! They wave their instrument around as they play!
June 14th, 2015  
Looks like a portrait to me. I am not good on rules. In this instance the head and shoulders are given meaning because of the saxaphone but i guess you lose some detail. When I took my pic of Hilda yesterday I took some shots just of her head but preferred her with the cake (and crumbs down her coat) because i knew the tea and cake were making her smile. Perhaps not technicaĺly the best but the photo but for me emotionally correct!
June 14th, 2015  
Awesome shot
June 15th, 2015  
Great shot I love the shine of the sax against his matt skin and clothes! Fav
June 15th, 2015  
Really great shot. Fav.
June 15th, 2015  
I like the angle. I shall have to look up the definition of a portrait, just out of interest!
June 15th, 2015  
As usual I have no idea what the rules are for portraits - or anything else technical about it for that matter - I agree with @maggiemae and @bluerose15
and like @quietpurplehaze shall google the rules lol - not that I am likely to follow them
June 19th, 2015  
@annied thanks annie, i think it just about passes as a portrait , but i've already got one dodgy portrait definition in my series so I will not add it to my 50 :)

@quietpurplehaze thanks hazel , the angle gives a little dynamism
June 19th, 2015  
@phil_howcroft I am meandering through some now - I doubt I will notice anything dodgy ha hahaha
June 19th, 2015  
@annied

Annie, some articles I've read about portraits class whole body shots as portraiture. Perhaps it's a bit like the distinction between close-up and macro. Or could be "A rose by any other name etc......?!"
June 20th, 2015  
@quietpurplehaze thanks Hazel - some definitions can be quite confusing or diverse - I just label and if someone with more knowledge corrects me I have kearned something new lol - I do love googling though
June 20th, 2015  
The OED online says this : A painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders...
So according to the OED it's not exclusively a head and shoulders image but maybe there's different 'rules' in the world of photography?
A lot of painters' portraits include details, akin to this man's saxophone, that tell the viewer something about their subjects.
My eye is drawn to the man's eyes and I think your emphasis is on the subject's face but you've told us something about him as well - the sax is instrumental to who he is. 0:-)
June 20th, 2015  
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