old security guard

This one was taken last year. I had shot many of this charming old man, with his clusters of wrinkles that resemble the dry mouth of some ancient river and marvellous long-running gorges, with a sprinkling of dark spots. I thought his face had so much character, and yet, though my pictures of him looked pretty, that's all they were, stuff to be framed and hung. However, I could see there was so much story in those eyes; a thick grey border around his pupils.

I knew he wasn't like me. Who am I kidding, I'm 21; I haven't really lived at all and I'm already willing to divulge my life story to most anyone, but not him; there's something about a man who's lived so much... There's something about the way those greyed brows droop over the eyes. All I know is he is Ex-Indian army, retired...a security guard now. Whenever we had our conversations some evenings, he automatically spoke in nothing less than impeccable English. This was taken one evening and I knew when I heard my camera's loud mechanical click, that I had managed to capture 'some' of what I had intended.