234☼ One Photo, Eight Years Later
His name was Enrique
Dear friends,
A few days ago I got a DM on Instagram from a man named Antonio.
He told me he’d found a photo I took of his late father-in-law. A bookstore owner in Buenos Aires. I photographed him in 2018. Antonio’s father-in-law passed away in 2021, and Antonio wanted to share the photo with his wife and daughter.
Before I even clicked the link he sent, I knew exactly who he was talking about.
That doesn’t always happen. I photograph a lot of people, and I remember many (so far!), but some people stick out a bit more than others. This particular man was one of those people.
We didn’t really share a language, but we had an understanding. He was warm, open, quietly proud of his shop. I had walked by, and saw him sitting outside on the steps in front of his shop, and somehow asked if I could take his portrait. He said yes with his whole face. I took one picture, said thank you and kept walking. His name was Enrique Nicolas Tempone, which I noted down in my roll notes, along with the name of his book shop, El Rufian Melancolico, right on Bolivar.
That single frame came back to me eight years later as something meaningful to a family. Which, in turn, makes it more meaningful to me than I can explain. Here it is:
I’ve been lucky enough to spend real time walking cities with a camera and no agenda. Tokyo, Mexico City, Paris, New York, Barcelona, Buenos Aires. Street portraiture is my favorite way to actually feel a place. Not the monuments or the food or the light, though all of that matters too. The people who are all a little bit of the city, who’ve been shaped by it and shaped it back.
Buenos Aires has a lot of bookstores, and I love that about a city. There are these small independent shops tucked into neighborhoods that somehow survive, internet be damned. The owners tend to be a certain type, pulled straight from a charming 1970’s film. Knowledgeable, proud, relaxed. Enrique was exactly that type.
Here are a few more images from my Buenos Aires walks around that same time.
Athon
This is what photography can be and do. It creates a record that outlives the moment and occasionally finds its way back to you in unexpected ways.
I don’t photograph strangers to document them for their families. I do it because I find people genuinely interesting and I want to practice seeing, and because a great portrait is a small act of acknowledgment. It’s an “I see you, you’re worth looking at.”
It's not the first time a photo has come back to me this way. Every now and then I get a message that makes the picture matter more, usually because someone had passed away. One of those moments, probably the most shocking one, was when I heard a young man I had photographed for my series One of Many in Savannah, GA, had passed away. His name was Ahton. I was asked if the picture could be used as part of a memorial, which was a big honor for me.
Antonio’s message reminded me why I still stop people on the street after all these years. Why I still ask. Why I still carry a camera when I have no assignment and no plan.
One photo. Eight years. A bookstore in Buenos Aires.
That’s enough.
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Your Turn — $150 Moment Gift Certificate Giveaway
Has a photo ever meant more to you after the fact than it did when you took it? Tell me about it in the comments.
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Next Week: Camera as a social shield, Robert Rausch, and new tools
Talk soon,
Wesley
PS Look at this awesome illustration Tim van Damme made for a Process Roll Notes app I am working on. More on this next week!
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This Week’s Camera + Tools
Camera: Pentax 67ii + 105mm 2.4 + Canon 5D Mark IV.
My current digital setup: Canon EOS R5 and the Canon RF 24-70 mm f/2.8 L IS USM
Film Stock: Kodak Portra 400
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I was born, lived, and photographed Buenos Aires for 36 years of my life, and I never once came across a lacrosse team. Quite a discovery. I also remember, since I was a kid, the curiosity I felt about Antonio’s stand and his colleagues. It’s wonderful to come across this story.
I love how you find that special somthing in the eyes of each of your portraits!