Notes From The Chicken Shed ( self portrait )

Hola Gordon. Nice and strong textures, composition, details and that intriguing eye watching from behind the net and the hand. Congrats. Best regards.

Thanks for any comments or critique.

Realy original, good and interesting composition. I like it, I like it very much. Regards.

Really like the composition. But what intriques me is that i can't really understand what i'm looking. I know that it's probably very obvious but my eyes does me tricks so i can't trust them anymore. Fine image.

Tero, I dont think it's your eyes doing the tricks here, but Gordon is. :)

good work gordon. I especially like the structure of the wood and how you played with the position of that framed net... the eye gives it a creepy effect. Once I spotted that I cant keep my eyes from it.

 

Oh boy, did I just tell you you have creepy eyes???? LOL!

Super. Man, that one eye of yours peering out is quite something. Also the claw-like hand works, too, adding to the creepiness. You're an original, baby.

Why does this one frightens me? I cannot leave it out and I have an eerie feeling looking at it. You have done it, really.

Jose;

 

Hola and thanks for sharing your impressions, I always enjoy reading your reactions.

 

Oskar;

 

Thanks, glad you like this and find it original.

 

Tero;

 

I will try to unravel this one for you :-)

 

This is the door to the chicken shed in my barn. The door has a hole cut into it, with metal screening nailed over the hole. I used a timer and tripod. The image of me is shot from the front side with me behind the back side of the screen.

 

As always, nice to hear from you.

 

Geertje;

 

Thanks for the comment. I did a few of these and the eye in what made this the best of the lot.

 

" Oh boy, did I just tell you you have creepy eyes???? LOL! "

 

Believe me, that is not the first time in my life I've heard that comment :-)

 

Jeff;

 

Ok... now that makes two comments in a row calling me creepy, I am going to get a complex..... not! I do find it curious how much that one eye manages to stand out through the dirty screen and hair.

 

Jayanti :

 

Thanks for the comment. I do try to make my self portraits obscure.... and yes a bit eerie at times also.

Gord, it's bizarre, fascinating, creative, sort of scary looking, and fun to view. What a great idea! I wish I had a chicken shed, too.

Before I realized it was your arm and hand over your face, I thought maybe it was a gas mask, which it still kind of feels like to me, and still seems to go along with your sensibility . . . that's a compliment :)

 

Generally speaking, I don't like self portraits where the photographer is holding the camera up to his eye. Too cliche. You, on the other hand, have taken the cliche and made it your own and I always appreciate that from an artist. It's one of the hardest things to do and you've done it creatively, so I think this is really great.

 

It has that air of the mundane and many would have (and, indeed, have) presented it simply as an interesting textural study, without the added level of the self portrait, which makes it personal and imaginative.

 

There may be as much a sense of your hiding here as there is your seeing.

Liz;

 

Thanks, I had fun shooting this. I bet you would change your mind about having a chicken shed when it came time to clean it out :-)

 

 

Fred;

 

I had a good laugh at your gas mask comment -- now that would have been cliche!

 

Actually I do have a print around here someplace, of a self portrait which I did with a gas mask, back in the 70s. I'll try to dig it up and scan it.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 7? Yep, definitely creepy. That's what you get when you pose like that in the chicken shed.

Joseph;

 

Nice to hear from you. I hope higher education is treating you well and you are having fun and learning lots.

 

I do set myself up for those creepy guy comments, just fooling around for the fun of it.

I never made it through Texas Chainsaw Massacre # 1. I can only imagine that they became more gruesome with each new installment.

I'm loving school and look forward to every class( especially art classes). Thanks!

I couldn't handle the screaming in TCM1 so I never made it through either!

This is a serious portrait and extremely creative and well done. It looks like a sign on a door that reads "Enter at own risk, but you are welcome".

It does make me smile too thinking of you putting on this face and getting the reaction of a solicitor or unwanted visitor at your door - kind of doing this to freak them out.

 

Kirk

Joseph;

 

Wonderful news, I am glad to hear that you are enjoying yourself.

 

Kirk;

 

With two Great Pyrenees and a " beware of dogs" , sign on the gate, unwelcome visitors,most of whom are religion peddlers and salespeople, turn their cars around and leave without having gotten out of their vehicles. I have to resort to using my scary face to frighten chickens.

As a subject I don't like to do selfportraits that much as I suspect most photographers don't. That said I sure like to look at those of others especially if they are somewhat more than the usual stuff. This I like for most of the reasons mentioned but also because of the straight linearity that seems contrary to your personality. Besides, I always suspected you're a rather shy guy ;-)

 

Know the work of Francesca Woodman btw? Otherwise definetely worth checking.

Aside from all the previous comments to which I heartily ascribe, I will only add you could definitely use a haircut.

Ton;

 

Me? Shy?... I prefer to think of myself as reserved, although my friends tend to use the term reclusive and recently one of them even when so far as to describe me as misanthropic. I told him it is not humanity at large which I have a problem with, rather it tends to be specific individuals that I reserve my venom for, such as my idiot neighbor who likes to run a backhoe and pointlessly push the same pile of gravel back and forth in his laneway all freaking weekend.

 

I had heard of Woodward and seen a few of her images. Your comment made me dig a little deeper and revisit her work, definitely the kind of photography that speaks to me and which I can easily relate to. Thanks for that. I'll continue digging.

 

Jack;

 

Haircut... hmm.. I've heard of that before. I seem to recall it involving scissors or clippers or some such..... maybe I'll give it a try :-)

Wonderful image. It seems to me that your greatest fault is that your sense of humor precludes you from being a good misanthrope. Become more dour and hateful. Think "Dick Cheney!"

 

There is something that makes me rivet my attention to the lower left corner of the screened window. The notch cut out of the board is just strange. I don't know why though. Sorry, I guess you thought you were the star of the show.

Yeah, you are right, people and life in general are just too darn amusing to get all hateful about. Besides I've always preferred a good laugh to a moan.

 

I am happy not to be the star of this photo. I started out wanting to capture the textures of the door and that bizarre cut out from the diagonal plank. The window seemed a bit vacant so I decided to fill it with my mug.

 

I am glad you noticed that odd cut. My house, barn and outbuildings where constructed back in the 1940s by the original landowner. He was a resourceful guy setting up a saw mill on site to mill his own lumber from trees on his land. Although he was not short on motivation he was a bit deficient in his carpentry skills. I worked as a carpenter for decades and raised a number of houses from scratch so all of the little oddities he left around this place catch my eye. In this case I am guessing he built the door first and then realized he need ventilation for the chickens. When he marked the square to cut out for a window he did it from the wrong side of the door and never noticed that he would be cutting a notch through that support. I've been living here for 17 years now and I still get a grin out of some of his handy man specials. BTW the door handle is a piece cut from a leather belt with a nail in either end, like I said he was resourceful.

I don't know how I have missed this one, WOW I enjoyed reading the comments, your explanations, and conversation, smiling all the time.... In the first moment it looked like a nude back figure of a woman.... LOL ( the net illusion...) it took me good observation and your title to understand that I don't interpret it well, and your eye ( the coin entered my brain,..)

Your explanation about being called a misanthrope ,really made me smile again.. not with your sense of humor. I think that it is a very different self portrait with the " frame" of old wood. Simply unique use of the opportunity, and what is around you in a creative way.No wonder......

I should have know it would be you looking around in my older uploads. I think everyone else has given up and gone away :-)

 

I always like doing these self portraits,which is odd in a way because I hate having my photo taken and usually disappear anytime someone else gets out a camera. Part of the reason I shoot myself is that I am always available and I don't cost much money to hire. I did a bunch of new ones with the G 10 over the last few weeks.

 

I noticed that several people saw something other than a face in the window. I understand your notion of a nude figure. The way the light catches my wrist and runs up to my thumb could look like a torso. As always it is wonderful to find you rummaging around in my portfolio.

Nude figure, huh! Wow, that's an awfully big . . . er . . . arm you have there :)

Fred;

 

LOL ..... yes only an arm I'm afraid, or maybe more accurately I would be afraid if it wasn't an arm.