India · 2017
The Host
He arranged himself before I could, reclining along the stone with one arm behind his head, the way a man lies down who has decided he is the one in charge here.
This story imagines, it does not document. It is what the photograph made me feel.
The dreadlocks were coiled up into a great pale tower. The white mark ran down his forehead in the Vaishnavite line. He looked at me along the length of his own body, completely at ease, and I understood very quickly which of us was the guest.
I did not pose him. He had posed himself decades ago and simply held it for the camera. All I had to do was not get in the way of a man who knew exactly how he wanted to be met.
He gave me a few frames from there without moving anything but his eyes. When I was done he stayed exactly as he was, as if the photograph had been a small thing that happened near him, and not to him.
— Sefa Yamak, Istanbul-based portrait photographer. Varanasi, winter 2017. From the INDIA series.
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm · Signed & numbered on verso · Certificate of Authenticity included
If this photograph interests you, write to me directly. I'll answer any questions about print sizes, paper, and process. Studio visits in Istanbul are also available.