I find Hei Ming’s portraits striking.
top to bottom, Common People
© Hei Ming
top to bottom, Monks
© Hei Ming
However, I think the pictures of the monks are less interesting than the common folk. The people just appear to be more real and genuine.
Portraits of the common folks can be found here and monks, here.
These are great, thanks. I generally agree with you, though some of those monk portraits look pretty interesting.
I feel that the images of the monks appear to be just representations of people in robes, the interestingness lingers only on the surface. I’m thinking that perhaps they lose much of their personalities due to the way they live, resulting in an embodiment of buddhist teachings.
The calm faces and robes really do add a barrier, I think. That’s probably why I find the one with glasses and especially the fellow making the hand sign more gripping than the others.
(Shi Yinhai and Shi Yanguang, that is.)
the photo is awesome… but does it inspired from Richard Avedon?
It does look similar with Richard Avedon’s work.
Well, it definitely looks inspired by Avedon but so are all black and white portraits on white backgrounds!