On one of the places I hang out online a photograph was presented with the question "Does it work?" The photograph was a grainy B&W street shot, apparently taken in NYC with a subway entrance on one side and a figure on the other, a slender woman, smartly dressed with a dog on a leash. The dog looks at the camera, but flare completely obscures the face of the woman and there are hexagons of flare in a couple of other places.

Looking at the photo it's obvious that the sun flared on the lens and that this was a quick catch of something the photographer liked. As a memory it probably works fine. The fashion photographers all approved of the picture, citing the clothing, the slender figure, the dog and the setting. I didn't think it worked, at least for me. I needed a face.

There is a lot of wonderful photography out there that doesn't feature faces. And there is quite a bit of people photography where faces aren't the central or focal point as well. But my interest is in the people, the women mostly, that are in the pictures. I want to see the humanity, and humanity is defined by the face. For me, at least.
Same woman again, photographed last month.