Solitary

Thanks for taking the time to have a look

Beautiful

Very Good!

The expression, and the subtle lighting, hinting he's behind bars... great work Darren.

Not what I was expecting Darren... it's beautiful.. truly is. My thoughts exactly... you look like you're behind bars.. This one was well worth the wait.

You have outdone yourself! This is definately Solitary (Confinement)! Love it, but I think I would have maybe left out the reflection. Wonderful!

I like the shadow play on the chest as mentioned by the others, but I'm really curious about the light at your eyes...it makes them look almost milky/opaque as if glazed over. I can't decide if this is intentional or not and how I feel about it, but it's what I notice first when opening this image. The stare seems so intense. It gives me the impression you're having an "out-of-body" experience or something. I'm not sure I'm really saying what I'm thinking...I like this...it's definitely unexpected. Somebody help me on this one! :)

Absolutely wonderful Darren.There is drama and tension in this shot. well done

The first thing I noticed was the intensity in the eyes. I like the lighting, but I can't figure out how you got it so even like it is AND have the shadows and light on your face and chest. This is an excellent picture--jason

Thank you all for your nice comments and ratings.

 

Lyndsay - I did one without the reflection, but I looked like I was just hanging in mid air, so I put in the reflection to try to "ground" the photo.

 

Leslie - I have very Blue eyes, and I had the light about 2 feet away from them, which made my pupils very small and gave the bright highlight right in the middle... I was working in the blue colour channel which would make them even lighter, I thought about darkening them up a bit, but decided against it as I felt this look was a little more "out of body" as you put it.

 

The shadows are Photo Shopped... The photo was good, but was missing something, I needed him to look imprisoned, not nessessarily in jail, but imprisoned in mind, body, soul... What ever you wish (again, goes with the glazed angry look).

This is Amazing I love it!

 

The love the mood (face expression, the eyes), the bars was defnitly a excellent choice.

 

The reflection does work to give the outer body experience.

 

Great Job Darren

 

 

LOL!

 

Thanks Nicki!

To me, it has the quality of a marble statue. That's why I think the eyes and the fake shadows work so well. It's all about context. Use those same chest highlights in a more realistic type situation and they wouldn't make sense. Here they are part of the overall fabrication of yourself, which is a great irony actually. What works so well is that the face expresses what the photograph is doing. You have a stonelike stare and a tight-lipped mouth. You're rigid. This, in my opinion, is the photographer seeing his subject as an object which in this case just happens to be the photographer. So it's a little bit of boomerang conception. Comes right back at you. How do you NOT makes yourself an object when doing a self portrait, at least to a certain extent. So why not explore that and emphasize it. (Not saying you intended any or all of this, but that's the joy of looking at a photograph--it's there if you want to see it that way!) This is like staring at the image of your alter ego.

Thanks Fred

 

I love that your idea's about this image. Glad you like it.

You really stepped out of the box too!!! Wonderful Darren!!! Absolutely wonderful! Your eyes!!! So cool! How did you do the shadows of the bars? This is so well done! Congrats!!

Darren, I couldn't wait to log on at work this morning to see what you posted. This is fantastic!! So very creative and skillful!!! Hee heee, I can see your booby! :-)

Thanks Jan! Thanks Steve!

 

I'll tell you about the bars another time...

 

Steve... LOL!

did he say "booby"? and you wonder why I call you a moron STevic-ass. hahahahahahaa - he actually said said "booby" hehehehehe.

but Steve threw me off with his "booby" comment. I wanted to add something about the reflection in the floor. I'm thinking it doesn't belong. If indeed he/you were in solitary, the floor would likely be cement and rough and not a reflective surface. If you are solitary in your mind and spirit, then I'm thinking there should just be "blackness" underfoot - nothing that denotes substance below you. I guess I'm figuring this image would work better in my mind if there was no reflection below you. Nitpicking.

Thanks Jan

 

I do agree, but as I had mentioned above, it looked like I was floating a little too much.

Not enough reflection in my opinion. As I look at your position in this, along with the expression on your face, I see a man that has been caged like an animal and has regressed to a "Primate Like" status. At a point were he is fed up and discusted with his captures. Do they not see his intelligence? Can they not see his value? He has forceably been striped down to just the inner animal that is within us all. Although you can see intelligence in his face, it is the reflection that shows the human inside of the animal. A reversal of what usually is. I would like to see that reflection just slightly more. Or at least I think I would. You did an outstanding job on this Darren!

 

~Anthony

Thanks Anthony!

 

Almost "Greek God Like" Eh?!? LOL!!!

It was the word "intelligence" that was throwing me off - "primate" made more sense.

LOL!

Very primitive!!! LOL!

Specially all those "analytical observations". It seems that all comments on P.N must include those now. Looking inside the photographers head is vital. I love the image for what it is. Great pose, lighting (model too). The only flaw IMHO is the "highlighted thumb?" under the the left knee. Regards.....Helga