I post today’s selection with sense of angst, and not for the first time in this series—whenever the photographer is absent online for sometime, which appears to be the situation with Chris Zerbes. His website generates a DNS error, the most recent status on his Facebook photography page is June 2013, and the last dated Flickr pic is October of that year.
I came to Chris’ photostream by way of this image discovered when searching Flickr for “Berlin”. The graffiti and model shot was my first choice until finding self-titled “Stranger Portrait No. 44” being used or referenced by several sites and subsequently my taking a closer look at the album/set from which it comes. The 68-pic collection is most interesting from No. 37, when he begins giving some backstory about the subject and/or his shooting technique. Chris explains about the forty-fourth:
For this shot, I stopped a couple right before entering a shop, mainly because their very interesting look. After explaining them my project, they told me, that they’ve been a couple of times to India and that they get constantly asked by passersby to pose for a shot with their mobile phone camera, because of their interesting look. But they’ve never been asked in Germany, so that was a new situation for them. Nevertheless they agreed instantly, and I made two single portraits and one with them both on it as well.
Shot in Germany? I chuckle because Matador Network features the photo in March 2015 post “The 24 Funniest Expressions from Spain (And How to Use Them)“. Georgia Perimeter College also uses the image in short primer “Photographic Composition“, explaining about eye-level:
The most neutral, the subject or object will be eye-level with the camera and thus eye-level with the audience. This is the shot you want to use when you want to give the audience least amount of emotional manipulation.
Chris used Canon EOS 50D with EF50mm f/1.2L USM lens, which is a fabulous prime for portraits, to shoot the photo on Nov. 11, 2011. Vitals: f/1.6, ISO 200, 1/400 sec. He joined Flickr in July 2011.
An aside: I found Chris’ photo before the previous two, Days 95 and 96, which together make a trio of stranger shots. While placed last, this one was the first prepared to post.
Photo Credit: Chris Zerbes