Walking in Beauty: Faces

Posted By Glenn B. Jenks on Mar 27, 2015

By Glenn B. Jenks

As a photographer one of the subjects that always fascinates me is people’s FACES. As I get around I have the opportunity to photograph many people. Sometimes I ask people to pose for me, and sometimes I take people’s portraits and sometimes I take candid photographs. Every person is beautiful in his/her own way. And there are people whose faces have a quality that somehow suggests that they have a life story that would be fascinating. Here are a few examples of what I mean.

“Chris Ampadu” – During my first mission trip to Africa I met Chris in Benin, in West Africa. He is a very intense man on a mission to raise the quality of life of some of the poorest people in the world. I took this photo of Chris as we sat together on the stage of a church service. Chris was listening intently to the sermon. I was less attentive however, since the sermon was in French.

“Regal Singer” – During the same worship service (it lasted three hours) the music was provided by a group that included this lady. She had such a beautiful, even regal face I had to wonder what her life was like in this very poor, third-world country.

“Ecudorean Gramma” – In a small town in Ecuador I happened to see this lady with a group of younger women. Her face seemed made me think of her as a kind lady of great wisdom born of much experience. I wish I had known her.

"Mother/Daughter Love" by Glenn B. Jenks

“Mother/Daughter Love” – This is a mother-daughter photo that I captured after we had done some family portraits at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. After the formal portraits were over I was able to catch a candid shot of this tender moment between the mother and daughter that reflects the deep bond between them

The faces of children inspire us to wonder, not about their past, but about their future. This first image is of a young girl in a rural church in Tanzania. The innocence of her expression makes her photo one of my favorites.

The other photo is of a three month old baby girl who stayed with my wife and me for a while. One day I saw her in this perfect natural light and took this photo. I think often of both of these children and wonder what the future holds for each of them.