Just Talkin'

First edition of Just Talkin' by Lee Jeffries. First Impression. Medium format hardback in near fine condition. A faint graze to the front cover and small indentation to the back cover. Pages clean and spine intact. Please see photos for reference.

About

In 2008 Lee Jeffries, an amateur photographer and accountant by profession, began photographing homeless people. His portraits may be uncompromising, but they are also beautiful. A woman with exquisite cheekbones; an elderly man who resembles a medieval sage. Tightly composed, with a short depth of field, they are intensely intimate. No detail is spared: runny noses, skin blotches and scraggy beards are the focus as the background melts away. The images are highly stylised, and artistically enhanced afterwards. Jeffries lightens faces and deepens the shadows created by folds of skin. It seems as if they were shot in a studio, when in reality Jeffries had just a few moments to capture them in natural light, out on the street, before they got bored or changed their minds. A small reflector, held beneath their chins, is the only accessory he uses.