Thank you, everybody; some wonderful insights here and lots for me to think about.
I should have prefaced all of this by saying a few things:
There is a lot of space in many of the photos because I wanted to convey some sense of isolation, and in this sense, Kirk was right on in his assessment.
These are the last embers of a culture, and stoic does not begin to describe these men, so the poses (I wanted them this way) are ambiguous, aloof, uncertain, but, I hope, honest.
They are really the last of their kind in that part of the world; where once there were hundreds of thousands, there are now thirteen or fourteen (a few were too shy to have their photos taken).
I know that I failed to convey all I wanted in these photos, and I don't like to use a lot of words to describe what I'm doing, so a lot of pieces would seem to be missing.
Maybe a slightly more detailed background is necessary.
It is a project that, right now, is about a specific group in a specific location with a specific history, but should I be allowed to delve further into this, I'd hope that this would strike a more universal chord eventually.
But it is the first step of something larger, I hope.
Thanks again, and I hope to hear more.
ps - for those who care, everything was shot on a Wista RF, Grandagon 115, and Kodak Ektar film (one was shot on Fuji Acros).
Sharpening is courtesy of Weebly, and I have emailed them to ask if their settings have changed, or whether I can tone down the sharpening myself.
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