Encounters

Beyond the Ordinary




Portugal, 2014



As a photographer since the 1960s, I have always tried to make exceptional pictures of human behavior in visually interesting settings. For such encounters I look for people’s expressions, their postures, their gestures, the way they move, their interactions with each other and with their surorundings. I look for strong compositions.
    For me, a photograph of an attractive setting inhabited by an interesting person (or people) is usually better than one of just the scene itself.
    For example, the Portuguese fisherman waiting patiently for a fish to strike, lends another visual dimension to the other graphic elements in the scene: the cobblestone pier, the foreground tree, the fishing poles, the rolling hills, the faint glimpse of a town in the background, the wispy clouds, the stillness of the water.
    However beautiful the scene, it is the human presence that makes the difference.