Deux Visages (Two Faces)

Burundian Face I

I'm not sure either one of these shots is good but I was having fun getting really close to some faces the other day. This first guy was hanging out at a coffee cleaning station and was totally cool about me taking his picture. He stared directly into the camera like 95% of everyone I shoot has been doing. I call passport photo syndrome. It's safe to assume that most of these folks' only experience with photography is with some form of identification photo. Be it a passport of some other photo-ID equivalent, I can watch the stiff, straight-ahead, serious face come out as soon as they know their having their portrait made. It can be a bit frustrating at times but more often than not it's good for a chuckle. Backing up my assumption, I learned that they refer to any portrait as a "passport photo."

Burundian Face II

That behaviored served me well for this guy. I wanted him straight-on and sure enough, he stiffened up and gave me his best passport pose. While this guy was great, I ended up sharing a cab with another man later in the day who made this guy look chubby-faced. I kept looking over at him and marveling that he could speak. It didn't even seem like there were muscles beneath his skin. So cool.

I didn't get a shot of him because there wasn't enough light. Otherwise, I'd have been all over it. Another one for the memory banks.

Make pictures.