This is Vicente. He has worked at the State Fair for a LOOOOONG time. It’s been a while since I talked to him last, but he is always a welcome smile at the State Fair of Texas crafts building. I took this quick portrait back in 2006, when I was covering the fair for a national publication called American Profile.
I just had a Canon 20D and my 540 flash on me at the time, so it was a pretty simple shoot… nothing fancy or complicated. And it was shot with my 20mm f2.8, camera settings were 1/40 sec and f4.9 according to the data saved with the image file.
I took a lot of pictures that year, including my first portrait of Bill Bragg, the voice of Big Tex. After sending off the images to my editor, I didn’t do a thing with the pics. They just sat on a disc, filed away for the last three years.
I’ve thought about this photo of Vicente for a long time. I don’t know why, maybe because he’s such a colorful character. I never did anything with it, because I never cared for the glare on his glasses. I’ve even thought about retaking it every year since then, but never have. I think I will do a proper portrait next State Fair season. Vicente deserves it! For now, you can enjoy him as is. Next year, he’ll look even better, sans glare.
I love personal pieces like this. The back story supports the photo. Thank you for sharing.
Great picture, my only issue with it is the flash reflection off of his glasses. My eyes keep going there first and then to the rest of the picture.
Donna, that isn't a flash reflection. That is glare/reflection from the archway to the sunny outside. It was very bright outside and softly-lit inside. A flash would make a different reflection. In any case, that's why I mentioned I never did anything with this image before, because I wasn't happy with the glare on the glasses, either.
Fabulous photo! Even with the glasses glare (bummer!), it's well executed and makes ya smile.
His personality and character really shows through in the photo. I want to meet Vicente now!