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What Is Beautiful?


Armat

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Sheep? :huh: Whatever takes your fancy, I suppose. As Nairi said, "tastes differ". :P

 

I think he meant the church in the back, but I guess that too is photo trickery. Taken from a different angle, with black and white fading, that same church would look horribly ugly. :lol:

Edited by nairi
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There will be a specific message that that 3/4 face view is meant to convey, particularly through the angle of the camera, and the direction of the sitter's eyes.

For example, if the author wanted to be seen as being particularly visionary or futuristic in his thoughts and writings then perhaps his eyes might be looking upward slightly, and ahead. If he is a political leader then the camera might be looking up at him, emphasising physical stature to reflect his greater intellectual stature than mere mortals. Having no eye contact sugests remoteness and superiority and inscrutability.

In that photo Saroyan is looking straight ahead but at something out of sight, and the camera is level with him but set at a lower height than would be usual for a face level portrait. So I suppose that is meant to suggest that the author examines and writes about contemporary things and lives, from the standpoint of the ordinary person, but that Saroyan is still of greater stature than those ordinary lives he writes about.

Since I've never read any of his books, I don't know if that does reflect his work. :)

 

Some people are naturally good-looking. Others need A LOT of photo trickery to look even in the slighest bit attractive. Obviously the best shot is the one that is published. We all look horrible with our eyes half-closed, etc. So what? The point is that with some people you turn around when they walk past you down the street, and others you don't even notice. And then there are those you try to avoid, because while they might have the "right" proportions, there is something in their personality that is so unnattractive that it makes their whole physical being unattractive. The most attractive are those with strong personalities. Those people do not need to have the "perfect" physical proportions. And that is where photo trickery can no longer help. You either have it or you don't.

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Some people are naturally good-looking. Others need A LOT of photo trickery to look even in the slighest bit attractive. Obviously the best shot is the one that is published. We all look horrible with our eyes half-closed, etc. So what? The point is that with some people you turn around when they walk past you down the street, and others you don't even notice. And then there are those you try to avoid, because while they might have the "right" proportions, there is something in their personality that is so unnattractive that it makes their whole physical being unattractive. The most attractive are those with strong personalities. Those people do not need to have the "perfect" physical proportions. And that is where photo trickery can no longer help. You either have it or you don't.

But that photo - it's a bookflap dustcover photo, not a pin-up shot from a model agency. The photo was taken for a purpose - to perpetuate whatever image the author or his publishers wanted the book-buying public to think Saroyan was. So it is worth exploring what that image was.

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Dardanella

Words by Fred Fisher. Music by Felix Bernard & Johnny S. Black. From 1919.

 

"Down beside the Dardanella Bay

where oriental breezes play

 

There lives a lonesome maid Armenian

By the Dardanelles with glowing eyes

She looks across the seas and sighs

And weaves her lovespell so sirenian

 

Soon I shall return to Turkestan

I will ask her for her heart and hand

 

They don't write them like that anymore - which is a good thing! :D

Edited by neko
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But that photo - it's a bookflap dustcover photo, not a pin-up shot from a model agency. The photo was taken for a purpose - to perpetuate whatever image the author or his publishers wanted the book-buying public to think Saroyan was. So it is worth exploring what that image was.

 

Look, the man was eye-candy. That's all that's worth knowing. There's no photoshopping here. Not everyone needs photoshopping. And others couldn't be attractive even with the most professional photoshopper. Saroyan was a natural. The above is not the only photo that was ever taken of him. He looks as good, if not better, on many others, from different angles, paparazzi shots, as well as posed shots. He's still hot.

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Hey, no one struts in baby fat like she did. ;)

 

 

Whenever I see her in magazines, I can't help but look at the shape of her mouth. It's very unusual.

 

How come nobody has said how attractive Nelly Furtado is? I think she's not only beautiful, but very striking...very interesting bone structure and eyes.

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Alive? :huh: :) He WAS a looker.

 

I think when we speak of striking male proportionality, the late great Viguen Derderian should come to mind. I would also throw in Sean Connery & Tom Jones.

 

About Catherine, the only real (slight) flaw I can detect is her profile. It's a bit flat.

 

I also agree with Nelly, and woul like to add (*sigh*) Selma Hayek.

 

(WOW, I don't feel like I'm on HF... :huh: )

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

this thread should stop since beauty is in the eye of the beholder and nobody can define what is more or less beautiful.

I mean Brad Pitt is very hot to me but I would never consider settling down with his type, so what purpose does beauty serve should be a more interesting thread.

 

 

I totally agree with you!

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