After going through all of the portraits listed in the blog syllabus I decided that this was the most interesting to me. I enjoyed the entire In The American West portfolio’s aesthetic and compositions. Avedon effectively captures the subject, Billy Mudd, by shooting with a low aperture. He also shot with these images with the idea of having the background completely whited out. This causes the all of the attention to be given towards the subject. This trucker here decided to take his shirt off for the picture. This allows the viewer to see his tattoos, scars, dirt, hair, and other textures. This rawness allows the viewer to build a story in their head of what his life must be like. Hands toughened up from physical labor every day, pants look like they haven’t been changed in a while, and his facial expression is hardened. He looks slightly relaxed or maybe fatigued. I could go on and on. What this picture does extremely well is it fills your head with a thousand different thoughts, questions, and words.