Bank Girl, copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer

Tom Meyer brings up faceless people at an interesting time. I'm looking at three rolls filled with mostly faceless people. So it's an interesting thing - portraits without a full face, without enough features that we would recognize them on the street, but that tell us about them anyway.

This girl was in the coffeshop I spend too much of my mornings in. She works at the bank next door to the coffee shop.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), June 27, 2000

Yikes, unclosed italic tag.

She may have been looking at me, or beyond me. I had just photographed a tattoo on her back and she was probably going back to work.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), June 27, 2000.

What I love is the name-tag. Did you know you were catching it that way? No face, no name.

Dean

-- Dean Lastoria (dvlastor@sfu.ca), June 27, 2000.

I didn't know I did it when I shot it. I don't ever know what I'm doing when I photograph. I can't explain it, it just happens. It's some sort of surrealist thing, I internalized Breton's concept for automatic writing. I go into a trance.

I shot three rolls with the heads chopped off. Obviously it was intentional, since I don't normally do that and it went on for three rolls. But I didn't know I was doing it at that time, and I didn't think about. It just happened.

So to answer your question - I'm sure it was intentional, but I didn't know it when I shot it.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), June 27, 2000.

That's a really good point about artistic vision. Intuition is a real attribute that, when used in conjunction with a deliberate plan or concept, liberates the artist from too much introspective self analysis that might slow you down in the field. You can intellectually narrow the editing process during creation (no heads today!), go with the flow and edit later for graphics, continuity and content that will make for a visually and conceptually cohesive body of work. I still haven't seen this picture, though. For some reason it's taking a long time to load... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), June 27, 2000.

I like this shot because it leaves me wanting more. Part of that is because of the apparant beauty of your subject, and of course the crop. When looking at this photo you can't help but to wonder what the rest of her face looks like.

-- Ron Stecher (ronald.stecher@vandenberg.af.mil), June 28, 2000.

and that's kind of like any brief (or abbreviated) positive experience with an attractive person (visual, intellectual or spiritual attractiveness)... it makes you want to know them better.

At the risk of controversy (who, me?) that's what makes good celebrity photography (make that person sooo appealing, without actually revealing anything), and is so disappointing about pornographic photos (more than I really wanted to know)... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), June 28, 2000.