Gypsy Boy
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan 2012
This boy was standing next to the village wall as Torie and I approached the ‘gate’ to the center of the village.
(Maybe here is a good place to tell you that the village is quite small. Maybe thirty families live there. No shops, just small homes filled with large families.As I have told you before, I was reluctant to enter the village, but Torie was eager and from the moment she stepped from the car, she was smiling and shooting. I felt awkward, especially when I noticed that a teenaged girl sitting on the ground with her baby was crippled. I decided to turn my lens in the other direction and this little boy was the object.)
He was standing straight as a soldier clutching his ‘toy’. Even as I held the camera to my eye, I saw myself deleting the image later. Just a split second before I pressed the shutter, however, he shifted his weight onto his left hip. Suddenly, his body changed from a tiny oblong to a tiny ‘S’ curve. It was magical. He smiled, a somewhat self-conscious smile. Oh! Perfect! I knew I had a beautiful portrait of a little boy then.
Notice the boy’s shadow on the wall. If this had been a flash shot, the shadow would have been harsh and dark. Here it is soft and diffused.It adds to the portrait. Funny how it works that way.