Self portrait attempt series, one of four

[mellotron_breakfast]

The cagey boxing stance and having weaved to my right (or the left side of the image, deliberately not centered) represents social anxiety and the potential for evasiveness or defensiveness. The mostly-obstruction of my mouth represents in some way my efforts to hide a lifelong speech problem, where I have gone to phony measures to make it appear as if some phantom problem like a cough or burp momentarily got in the way so that strangers don't spin their mental wheels wondering if I'm drunk or high or just stupid; I am also known to cover my mouth with a hand when I am having a particularly embarrassing degree of difficulty, which is more directly represented.

My shoulders are up in a fighter's tense hunch. Like a fighter, I seem to steel myself for confrontation in all sorts of social settings, even when nothing bad ever presents itself. All too like a boxer, I can steel myself all I want, but (as a kung fu affiliate would concur) no part of my body is ever truly "ready" to be hit hard; some parts can be made ready to sacrifice their comfort to protect others, but no amount of preparation stops the pain of being struck.

I'm only posting one of four. You're welcome to click through, navigate the stream and see if you like any of the other three better.

Comments

[kitsune]

Great concept.

It's a toss-up between 001 & 004 for me...

[mellotron_breakfast]

4 will probably win, because it further drives the point home with its complete obstruction of the mouth, which in turn puts your focus on my gaze.

I initially preferred 1 because the logos on the gloves aren't so prominent, but at this point I don't think it's a deal-breaker.

[kitsune]

They're both good - I like the composition overall, and the power of the image. I think #4 managed to make the shadows on your face that bit more dramatic, which adds to the impact - as does the slight additional curl of the shoulder.

I can't say I found the logos a significant detractor. Could you perhaps edit them out if they bothered you?

(Forgive me if this is incoherent. Nasty migraine.)

[mellotron_breakfast]

It's coherent. I'm not going to try for that edit because editing is a skill that I'm trying to get into school to gain, and I'm wary of ruining an image with the intention of improving it. The most that I do is tweak colours to tone them down or make them more vibrant, sometimes play a bit with brightness, or hit "autocorrect" if I have no clue what to do and want to see how Windows guesses for me.

[mystress.livejournal.com]

That's really lovely and a very interesting statement. I like it!

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

I am probably going with shot 4, because the complete obstruction of the mouth further brings the point home and draws your attention to my gaze. I suppose what I don't like about it is the more prominent logos on the gloves, but those are the gloves, they are mine, have my initials on them and they just happen to have logos on them.