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Spo / Photos

Smells like teen spirit

Instead of quoting a famous philosopher or more Nirvana here, I'll just say that I am likely to shoot my first moustache in this one. I was 17 or so. Lighting is a total accident, literally: municipal electric supply was flimsy in those days, and lights flickered every night.

I have lost the negative so I scanned it from a proof I made back then. As a result there is plenty of blind black in the dark end. But it was winter and dark anyway, so it kind of fits, I guess.
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18 comments

Ch'an said:

Excellent autoportrait, adolescent au coeur sombre ....:)))
11 years ago ( translate )

Spo replied to Ch'an:

Thank you, Didier. It is slightly on the dark side, I would guess. :-D
11 years ago

Sami Serola (inactiv… said:

He he! Very good teen spirit! I suppose I should/could post something similar... When I look back to my old photographs, they look surprisingly innovative. I guess around twenties people are rather creative.
11 years ago

Spo replied to Sami Serola (inactiv…:

You should, Sami!
Perhaps we are the most creative as children. Then things like photography just don't interest us yet. After that it is just a veeeeery slow downhill... :-)
11 years ago

Annemarie said:

happy to be back to your wonderful photos:)
11 years ago

Don Sutherland said:

Outstanding shot.
11 years ago

Christel Ehretsmann said:

an excellent title and kind memory towards the romantic teenager you were...
11 years ago

Spo replied to Christel Ehretsmann:

Thank you, Christel. The unwritten law of the teen spirit of course dictates that I'm much more kind to him now than he was to himself back then. :-)
11 years ago

Eefje said:

Sorry, when I look at this photo I forget about the moustache and/or the light.
All the attention is drawn to the eyes, the staring gaze. Only one word comes up, intense.
This is truly a wonderful intriguing photo.
11 years ago

Spo replied to Eefje:

To me he just looks sullen. At that time I had already found out I didn't mind appearing before audiences – which you really cannot tell looking at this! 15 years later that kid lectured in an art university, always without papers, and enjoyed every minute of it. :-)
11 years ago

Eefje replied to Spo:

That makes this photo even more valuable for you. I sometimes read my diaries again, now and then it feels like I'm reading about a different person.
11 years ago

Jaap van 't Veen said:

Fascinating portrait.
11 years ago ( translate )

Spo replied to Eefje:

Experiences and memories of them are from 1st person point of view, and when you write a diary you of course save them as such. But when you read the diary years later you read it like any book – that is you look at the events from above, from a 3rd person pov like you were a fly in the ceiling. That can be very confusing, and at worst you end up messing your precious memories.
11 years ago

dolores666 said:

Who's a pretty boy, then? :-) Great chiaroscuro, toots.
11 years ago

Spo said:

I bow to thee, dear Ranger. I'd rather say that when one shoots a lot during the decades, something is bound to work out now and then. This picture is a good example: I never saw anything particular in it, just the annoying old self, but over the years I started to notice that people had these funny little reactions to it.
11 years ago
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