Eritrean girls from the late 60's.

[alfredo]

The dress was quite difficult. The sun is quite bright on top of this 8,600ft mountain. The white dress washed out really bad.

[CC]

1. Wow, these are great.

I like the dress being washed out, the hard light with her expression is haunting. Love both photos.

[alfredo]

3. Thank you.

I didn't realize that the girl on the stoop is also in the fence image until I started processing them.

It's been a few decades since I've seen these pictures.

[F.Gordon]

2. What CC said

That first one..... the way the shadow covers her eyes almost like a mask. Hiding.... someone that young shouldn't have "old eyes" like that. Very powerful. I wouldn't have even thought about the "blown out bits" if you hadn't mentioned it.

The second is a little disturbing.... but if Art stirs emotion of any kind. And these are both Art.

Incredible photos alfredo.

[alfredo]

4. *blush*

The fence picture has flown under the radar since the 60's. I didn't notice the impact of the image until I scanned it and started working with it.

I'm glad you like the pictures.

These two are more in the line of slice of life images. One was taken at the 1969 Ethiopian Expo. The other was in the yard of a compound where I was living. The two girls were house girls, servants for families in our compound. It seemed to work better with less contrast. It could have been taken in the 1920's and you couldn't tell the difference.

[alfredo]

5. I made the wash day image duotone. I think it works

I might play with it a bit to make it "older."

[GOPFighter]

6. Beautiful!

Sometimes black and white is more powerful than color. I think this is such a case. My neighbor is from Eritrea. She looks very much like the girl the foreground of the two girls cleaning dishes.

[alfredo]

7. Thanks. Copy those to your drive and show them to your neighbor.

The pictures were taken in Asmara in 1968 and 1969.

[FM Arouet666]

8. Nice shots, You captured the mood perfectly in the second photo

Do you always shoot in B&W? I am new to photography and with the advent of digital technology I only shoot in color, and convert over if the picture benefits. What is your opinion about conventional film vs digital?

Nice posts. Are the subjects shot without posing? If you did have them pose, how do you go about getting them to look natural? I had a great shot in a market near the Great Wall, however, the old lady was very shy, and I guess I was rude, I didn't ask permission. Couldn't get her to look natural after she agreed to be photographed, I missed the brief second I needed to catch her before she saw my camera.

[alfredo]

9. Thanks. None posed. For a while I was using a lens with a

90 degree mirror to make it appear I wasn't pointing the camera at the subject. Many people in that region believed we were stealing their soul by taking their picture. With the Muslim, it was just not polite to photograph the women or children.

I worked in B&W because we could process it for free on base. I did some color, but B&W was more flexible. I did some color slides because I could also do them myself.

Digital still is not up to film in the consumer models, but it is catching up. Digital is fine if you don't want to blow the image up too much. I have a 5mp. I know I can't make an image over 8X10 without sacrificing quality. Most of what I do is online, so digital is just fine for that.