Stills

I like this as an environmental portrait. It shows the setting and gives the feeling that he is a very arty person. The hint of a menu tells us more about the setting. The low angle emphasises his importance here, ie he is the owner. There is a nice tilt to his head and he has a nice expression on his face. I would tend to clone out the light at the top. I find that is distracts.
 

love how he (and the wardrope?) is reflected in the mirror(s). an unusal portrait of a certainly interesting guy. agree about the spot on his head. would only darken it a bit. unsure if denoising was necessary. there is a hint of that typically 'sleeky' denoising look. wouldn't mind about some 'grain'. would also probably help to 'fix' the dark shirt.
 

I like the composition here, it seems very natural and works well I think. I do find the west facing wall a little distracting but cropping would perhaps have 'moved' the mirrors a little to far left. I felt that I should dislike the light fitting for some reason but, frankly, I don't. It works.
 

I agree with JohnJo about the light fitting. First reaction was get rid of it. Second thoughts said that it is an important part of the picture.

I've left commenting on this picture for a while because I am undecided about it. The composition is rather fun and all the different elements work well together. I hesitate partly, I suppose, because of labels. Not quite a portrait; not quite a street shot. What it reminds me of is the style of corporate photography which shows the business leader in a relaxed, slightly wacky, setting. The Noise Ninja-ing pushes it in that direction as well, although the smoothness in the corporate versions is achieved with lots of lights, fine grained film and make-up. If this business does an annual report, then this photo would be in it.

Why is all this important? As a viewer I don't have eye contact with the subject, but somehow feel that he was aware of the camera. This pushes me into feeling more consumer than viewer. Does this make sense?
 

Matt - the colour version is here:
http://www.johnelliseone.co.uk/gallery/photo.php

The t-shirt is black so it doesn't particularly bother me that it doesn't have much detail. I tend to go for more contrast. Don't forget that the room was pretty dark, despite that light bulb.

As to Noise Ninja, when I printed this out for him it looks very natural, not 'sleek'. I could live with the original in this case but if I'm in doubt I filter and then compare, choosing the one that seems to do the job best.

Corporate picture? I think that if such a picture were to be in the Mosaic annual report it would include happy diners at the table raising their glasses to Brennan in an apron bringing in some highly decorated dish, no? Thinking of Henry James - trying to achieve/succeed?/was it worth it? - I wanted to use the mirrors and did get a reasonably interesting picture but would have needed a tripod to make it passable so we stopped the formal posing and then this opportunity came. There is no difficulty with the label; this is a portrait of someone in their setting. It's not a street shot because we were talking together but obviously he was aware of the camera - anyone is when a portrait is being taken. Ultimately, it was worth it because I got a shot that I would never have posed. It reminds me slightly of a photo in a '50s photo essay from Slovakia that Jana has: the author took a close-up picture of a watchmaker using his tools and got an excellent portrait but the subject, when told that this was a portrait was most upset and asked to have his portrait taken in his best suit, stiffly posed! So I suppose that I am not sure what you mean by consumer rather viewer - definitely a sub-category of portraiture that I haven't looked into!
 

Apologies - the last link went to the wrong picture!! Try the one below:

http://www.johnelliseone.co.uk/gallery/photo.php?photo=152&exhibition=26&pass=public&size=default&lang=eng
 

Thanks for the link to the color version. I think I prefer the b&w. The colors are a bit strange in the original. I'm guessing that those walls weren't really white?
 

I like the lead from eye to menu with the furniture and the pictures.

I just love the echo of his pose in the picture on the wall.

Why am I the only one to comment on that?
 

Rex, when I first started reading your sentence about echoes I thought that you were referring to the shadows on the wall but you are talking about the mirror (not picture). Michael did mention that. Thanks.

Matt, I'll have to check out the walls. As far as I can rmember they are white. I can only imagine that what the camera is picking up (and failing to sort out) is the different light sources and the reflections from the various artefacts.
 

Ah! That's 'cos I didn't see them as mirrors, and probably didn't read Michael's comment properly!

The more I look at the image the higher significance they have in the composition.
 

If I'm ever in the area of Carmarthen I think I'll pay Mosaic a visit. You've really brought Brennan across as being a warm and welcoming chap. However, the Brennan in the mirror looks like I'd not be welcome. This dual personality view is quite astonishing. How ever hard I look, I just cannot get mirrored Brennan to smile...

My only nit with protraits is background objects growing out of the subject. I'm as guilty as the next of doing this. I find the curvy bar from his eye to chin a little distracting (though not a lot). I'm more than happy to clone (a little) - and given the clean background I may be tempted to clone out this bit of barwork.