Yes, it was a difficult to get this photograph, finding a youth engrossed in their phone. Like finding Bigfoot. But if you look around you will find them. Eventually.

The pose reminded me of Greek statues, of youths lolling around thinking ancient thoughts and so the pedestal helped. Of course such a device in sculptures was originally there to give physical support to the weakest structural parts of the form. True story. It puts a bit of pictorial muscle into the action here, breaking up what would otherwise be a seriously vertical image.

There is a 'truth to materials' and 'truth to form' thing going on. The stone wall and the tiled ground are flattish and facing the eye square on for the most part. The iphone is actually a gift for portrait photography. A portrait has difficulty escaping 'the pose'. Do they gaze at the viewer heroically or off to the horizon even more heroically? Are they engaged in playing an instrument or musing on a hard mathematical problem? It is such a self conscious event. And yet, what do you do to have the subject of a portrait comfortably engaged in an activity so it remains a portrait and doesn't devolve into a genre representation of 'man breaking stones' or 'woman modelling hat'? The phone shot shows a person neither working nor totally removed from the knowledge they are being photographed. They are appropriately indifferent because they know the momentary activity they are involved in is far more important than the photographer and his or her piddling photographs..

A bit of fiddling was required in several sections though, for the most part, the single images were laid without meddling. The phone and hands are an important focus as is the face so they were twiddled with. The width of the body and positioning of the upper legs looked too thin and awkward so were unceremoniously stretched about. The parts don't fit but I prefer this clumsy solution to the better fitting but awkward looking one the overlaid photographs insisted on giving.

A very big photograph that I have had to seriously downsize to get a three foot high print.