Paula claims she was raped by a demon, an incubus.

overexposed intentional??

this is the most familiar face of being a mom, right?

Wow, great framing and use of over-exposure.

nice composition.

hehehe i love the title.

I love the look

I can associate so much with this female.

The over-exposure works totally for me in this context and there is nothing about this photograph that i can complain about. It portrays the message clearly

A very poinant composition, shows the despair of the mother with the resulting distrust of the older boy. Thanks!

Surely you've caught the moment !

Paula claims she was raped by a demon, an Incubus. I was working a

project about the supernatural. It involved making portraits and

interviewing people who claimed they had experienced something

miraculous or supernatural in their lives. As I asked Paula

questions, her demeanor changed and by the end of the interview I had

my photograph.

Great picture! Did you tell her about Sleep Paralysis? Most people who claim to have been raped, choked, attacked by an incubus, or demon, etc, have only experienced "Sleep Paralysis". Look it up on the web.

Theres a lot information about it and it seems to happen when one is between dreaming-sleeping (Rapid Eye movement stage) and starting to wake up. The body is still drugged by the brain (to prevent the acting-out of dreams)so you can't move but you start to get signal from your senses.

 

When dream sygnals (images) from your brain mix with "real life" eye / sound perception (as you are still in REM state but begin to wake up, you literally hallucinate (which explains the incubus).

 

It also happens when one is about to fall asleep watching tv, or reading or whatever.

The story you tell is incredible. However, I must agree with some of the others when they say the photo is overexposed. Still, it seems you were certainly able to capture the 'decisive moment,' what with the older boy looking your way and the expression on the woman's face...

Not an Incubus... something worse; a drunk, abusive husband! An Incubus would at least be interesting to gossip about at the laundomat, but an abusive husband is all too understandable. You captured the look of hopeless desperation. The older son is going to grow into a carbon copy of his abusive father!

Great photograph.

But I can't help but wonder how people can tell it's over exposed, rather than printed a little light for the highlights, and contrasty, which doesn't bother me a bit. In fact I kinda like it. The higher contrast makes it high strung and nervous looking. What's to complain about?... you can't see the texture in her shirt sleeve? So What? This is not a picture of her damn shirt sleeve! This ain't an Ansel Adams / John Sexton gotta-have-pure-white-and-total-black-super-smooth-H&D-curve-greyscale-in-every-damn-print-or-it-sucks type photography...(Photo.net critique is so damn empirical and mostly sucks.)

This is a damn fine photo, please forgive the tirade... t

I like the picture better than the title.

AMEN!!

I TOTALLY agree with Tom Meyer. It is as if critics here think that photography should work a certain way and ONLY that certain way. Boy, it would sure be boring if it were that way! If we all had to expose our pictures the SAME way, I wouldn't want to keep shooting.

I like the way this shot turned out. You've really captured her well. And, I especially like the look in the background...kind of a "aw man, is mom telling the incubus story again?" ;)

Impressive composition and great DOF!! The so-called over-exposure is probably due to being too close with a flash or perhaps direct sunlight? In any case, it does not really detract from this excellent photo journalistic shot.

Overexposed? That's almost nutty. This is a dead-on picture that evokes the story; SUPER composition; effective use of grain and contrast.

What you have done here is oustanding. What makes it work for me is the young man looking back, and the way you have printed the negetive.Thank You.gbs

Awesome capture - great title