My entry for the Steemit Portrait Photography Contest, Week 54 : "MUSIC"

Those of you that follow my blog from the beginning of my steemit adventure, have probably seen this picture before, but when I saw that the theme for week 54 of the "Steemit Portrait Photography Contest" is "MUSIC", I couldn't think of a more appropriate entry!

You know, I am really fond of this shot. Maybe it is because I haven’t done a lot of portraits or because it was a very stressful shooting itself but I will never forget that day.

At the time I had a studio, doing mainly advertising photography but in a small market like the Greek, specialization was a luxury I didn’t had, so I was practicing almost every kind of photography. Actually I liked it, since I had some interesting variety in my job. Nikos is a well-known Greek violinist working on traditional music. The day he come in, for his portrait, I was assigned by a magazine to illustrate the interview that he gave to them. The magazine was a new customer so I wanted to give the best possible result.

I had my lights all set up so after the introductions Nikos stepped in front of the background and looked at me. I cannot describe how awkward the following minutes were. He couldn’t pose not even remotely natural and I was feeling so bad for not been able to guide him properly. The shooting was evolving into a disaster.
After dozens of useless shots I asked him to play something with his violin. I attached a telephoto lens to my camera and I stepped away, into the shadow. And boom! All the tension and the awkwardness burst out leading to this picture!
I don’t know what you think of it but for me it was a great success. It turned out to be the magazine's cover and Nikos come back for more shootings :)

Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Lens: Canon 80-200mm f/2.8 L
Focal Length: 85 mm
Aperture: ƒ8
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/180 s

I cannot decide which version I like more so I am submitting both :)
What do you say color or b&w?