the image of people

its difficult to get a good one. after years of taking pictures, i still trash most of the portraits. it makes me wonder how the pros do it. you want to get involved with the subject, to understand their background and inner works in order to convey them in an image. but on the other hand those that you know (too) well never turn out the way you want. and for me posing is out of the question (a mistake?).
taking the picture means understanding the subject, grasping, comprehending... and this is what is my goal: at one point in my life i will understand people enough to put on an exhibition of pictures of people, ones that will speak what i feel and what they are.
this is a picture of my grandfather, probably making his first mobile telephone conversation ever. that day he was diagnosed with "spots" on his lungs, as he called his condition up to the end, four months later. the only axiety in his eyes is that stemming from the question why i was taking his picture. i only remember he was talking to his housekeeper, but not what it was about. and the fact that he continued the conversation with me where we had left off - something that i still haven't mastered.
this is one of the last pictures that i took of him. with his spiraling health, he had no choice but to go with the flow. pictures were last thing that were on his mind, or mine for that. but i still got this one. that was a fun day at the hospital, my father was there too. on the way back i even got my grandfather to snap a few shots.
its histories like these that make photographs. i just have to get to know people.