Simple but powerful

Was extremely happy how this one turned out.. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but I have some thoughts on it.

Firstly as this was taken with the Nikon FM, with T-max 400 B&W film, there is a certain archive quality that the image seems to have. Makes it feel like a documentation shot from earlier era. The aboriginal kids head tilted pose and strong side lighting provide great isolation and work together really well to give the image some kind of mystery. What is he looking at ? What are the items in his hand ?

Truth is, he was preparing to do a native dance at a Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander cultural festival. While waiting to go on stage this guy was wondering around getting all the attention that he deserved. I managed to grab a snap of him without anyone in the background. His tilted head pose was because his headgear was falling forward over his eyes, so he tilted his head to stop it falling further and to allow him to see..

Anyway, It was one of those images that I just loved the moment I saw it on the contact sheet. When shooting film on an all manual camera like this, there is great satisfaction in pulling of the shot. Hope you enjoy it too.

Happy shooting.