strange pose

Not that it has anything to do with the photograph per se, but there is, I believe, a significant if not always apparent difference between transsexuals and transvestites. According to my limited understanding of this subject, the former is a person with the external genitalia and secondary sexual characteristics of one sex -- unless s/he has already undergone a sex change medical procedure -- but whose personal identification and psychosocial configuration is that of the opposite sex. The latter, on the other hand, is a person who dresses and acts in a style or manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex for purposes of emotional or sexual gratification, yet doesn't feel to be born "into the wrong body," so to speak.

Now, to me my model looked like a guy -- so I couldn't distinguish which of the two groups she or he belongs to -- but claimed to be she in terms of always having been feeling like and thinking of him/herself as a female. She told me that a couple of years ago she had begun "living full-time as a woman"

and had started a hormonal therapy; she's saving for a surgery.

Moreover, her/his face looks quite bizarre, which added to the weirdness of the whole experience. Have forgotten to mention: I didn't know this person; she asked me if I could take pictures of her (being upfront about both her circumstances and types of pictures she had in mind), so I figured who am I to judge, and decided to agree to her request. I like to think about myself as an open-minded person, but this surely tested my attitude and challenged me emotionally. It's interesting to note how we react when confronted face-to-face by certain situations, about which we were academically philosophical when they didn't concern us in any way. BTW, she (or 'she'? ...our language is ill-suited to handle out-of-ordinary situations of this sort) stroke me as a well-rounded and intelligent person.

the shadow in the background is kinda distracting. perhaps a dark background would project the subject even more.

This looks like a nun listening for the voice of God. The hair is distracting, it looks like a wig to me. The backdrop has too many wrinkles, and is too close to the model. It looks like a photoshopped guys head on a female body

Renz and Steve, thanks for your comments!

Re background, I entirely concur. Actually, I was well aware of these shortcomings even before I depressed the shutter, but, for reasons stated in my critique request above, wasn't entirely comfortable so decided not to worry about 'details'. On the top of that, this was a make-shift "studio" -- a couple of bed sheets hanged on the wall and lied on the floor (sheets were folded hence wrinkles, but I didn't want to ask the model to iron them) -- improvised in her tiny apartment, so that there was no room for her to move further away from the wall (I was pressed against the opposite wall).

Re her hair, it is exactly what it looks to you: a wig.

Re PhotoShopping, I don't even have this software. This is exactly as shot. No doubt her face looks masculine; physically, she is 'he'. What surprised me, however, is that you thought that her body looked feminine; it didn't to me (after all, she's a transsexual woman that relatively recently commenced a hormonal therapy).

Finally, this strange pose evoked the same connotation in me: a naïve painting of a follower in the paradise, listening attentively to the Lord ...just the rest didn't fit...