India · 2018
The Red Wind
He opened his arms and the red cloth opened with them, all the way out, until he was wider than the boat.
This story imagines, it does not document. It is what the photograph made me feel.
I had been watching him for a while, going through whatever the morning asked of him, paying me no attention. Some men hold something up for the camera. He held it up for the wind. The cloth caught the air off the water and went flat, and for one second he was less a man than a shape — red wings, white beard, the river gone hard and blue behind him.
One second. Then the wind let go, the cloth fell, and he was an old man on a boat again, folding it back up.
I have thought about that second a lot. You cannot ask for it. You cannot arrange it. You can only be facing the right way when the arms go up, and most of the time you are not.
— Sefa Yamak, Istanbul-based portrait photographer. Varanasi, winter 2018. 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.