boring 2 (burma) "Self portrait - with cigar"

I like the colours and the surprise self portrait - which I didn´t notice at first! But where is the cigar?

I agree with Therese, nice colors and interesting self-portrait... As you are also holding that cigarrete, I guess it was intentional... I think it´s very well balaced, at least, I´m not disturbed by so many elements, the woman, the mirror, door, the table, the stuff on the table...

The only flaw, is that it´s blurred. Probably because you used a slow speed in this dark room.

In Myanmar, when you sit down in a cafe, the waiter immediately brings cake, savouries, and a small plastic container containing cheroots (handrolled, Burmese cigars which cost one American cent each). The first half dozen times, you try to tell the waiter that he has made a mistake, that you haven't ordered any cake or any dimsum, and that you certainly wouldn't have ordered any cigars because, well... YOU GAVE UP SMOKING FOUR YEARS AGO, OKAY? This proclammation, however, falls on deaf ears: the waiter KNOWS you haven't ordered anything, but is working on the basis that you might change your mind once the delightful aroma of the dimsum has worked its magic on you for a few minutes, and once the combination of sheer proximity coupled with repetition of the mantra 'Surely it won't hurt to have just one' has destroyed four years' resolution. This photo, however, was taken two weeks into my trip to Myanmar, by which time the One That Surely Wouldn't Hurt had turned into two or three an hour. So, no, the cigar wasn't deliberately added to make me look more interesting: it was a permanent fixture, like the cakes and the savouries and the cheroots in Burmese cafes, and the smiles on the proprietor's faces when you went to pay for their craftilly-sold wares.

As for underexposure and blurrage, I beg to disagree. The colouration is rich, the focus is good in the mirror and on the main subject, and the man is turned to the only available light, without which he would be too dark. There is motion in his wrist, but seeing as he is flicking a cup of something down his neck, I thought it added to it more than the other way round. Oh, but I have said too much, becase this ISN'T one of my favorites either (I just like the Alfred Hitchcockiness of sneaking into the photo, without havig to REALLY show my face which I don't like doing). Blah blah.

Ben, thanks for this lovely, although rather sad for you, tale about the cigars... Hope you´ve managed to stop smoking again after this trip :^)

Back to the photo... I don´t thik it is underexposed, I think it´s perfect as it is. But when I look at the large image, it does appear to be rather blurred, because you probably due to using a slow speed, not that it´s out of focus. Not just the hand (which I think is a great touch), but everything. I can see it in the wicker basket, in the mirror frame, and almost everywhere else. But I think it is a great photo, nevertheless.

Oh yes, and I do like your Hitchcockiness :^)