Advanced Writing with English in Use

Describingpeople • ModuleSA

2.0 Describing someone in a picture

You canmake a descriptionmoreinte restingby going beyondthe surface ofthe

picture.Youmightspeculateabout some of theseideas.

• Wher ewas the phototake n (o r picturepainted)?" 'he n?\Vlty?Bywholll?


• \Vho is this person? (Charact e r,job,socialsituation,[a milv,past,future)


• Whataretheydoin g?\Vhat hav e they justbeendoi ng? \Vhatarc they ju st abou t
  to do? \Vhatarctheythinkingabo ut?


• \ Vhat is yo urpe rso nal reacti on to this pictu re/ to this person? Do)'0 11findthem
  att ractive.interesting ,depre ssing? \Vh)'?Ilowdoy OIlfor-labo utwhatthey are
  doing inthepicture?\'h)'?
  Here is adescription of oneof the pictureson this page.
  a Underlinethe phrases where the writerisspeculatingabout the picture:
  the phrases where the writer is looking for the story behind the two-
  dimensional image.
  b Findthe paragraphs that describe the writer'spersonal reactionto thepicture.
  Why do thes e paragraphs come at this stage ofthe description?
  c Nowwrite your own des criptionof one of the othertwo photographs.

It' s a black a nd white photograph of a man
holdin g a trumpet. He'sholding it asif he'sjust
waiting for themoment toraise it tohis lips. Both
the man and thetrumpet look like they 're old,
worn a nd used : the man'sfaceis very lineda nd
wrink led, while the enamel is flakin g off the
tru mpet.It' s very hard to guess the man's exact
age, hut iwouldsay he wasin his la te fifties,early
s ixt ies.
Judgin g by his cloth es, he's probably ajazz
musicia n:he' s wearinga n ope nshirta nda 'sma rt
but casua l' sports j acket.The open shirt reveals a
st rong neck which appea rsweat he r-beate n,as if
the manhad spentall his life in thesun. We can't
see the lowerhalf of his body: apa rtfrom his head
and shoulde rs,we ca n only see his hand s. The

fing ers a re surprisingly thick a nd st ro ng, in

contrast to the bony,ratherhagga rdface.

The photo seems to have been taken during a

conce rt: to judgeby his tight lips a nd open mouth

he is eitherj ust about to play or he could be

singi ng,though we can'tsee a microphone. The

sweat-soakedst ra nds o f hairacross his forehead

a nd left ea r imply that he is onstag e andhasn't

posed for thisphoto.

There is alot of a tmosphe re, t ha nksto the way

th e light has caught the lines on the musician's

face. This face and this expression - is he

suffe ring, or is he en raptu red? - is, for me, the

faceofa n oldma n retellingthe finest a nd most

tragic moments ofhis life.

I wishwe could hea r themusic.

Types of writin g• 8 1