To love myself again...by
EmerauldeComment by zeuszen: A mercilessly harsh (self-?) portrait likely to elicit more aversion than appreciation from most viewers. The lighting/contrast is extreme enough to blow out more than just highlights, taking away any opportunity for a too easily available aesthetic perception, never mind a sensual one. Yet,
the brutal honesty of made choices here (subject, perspective and manner) appears as powerfully credible and disarming as it is relentless. Given the psychology implied, it is astounding to find that the image appears to be quite well and -consciously- composed. The diagonal lines not only order and balance the available light and shadows but also -charge- what would otherwise be a high key grayscale image. The short intersecting wave (top left diagonal line) adds an almost musical or poetic element, as the only (delightful) softness outside of the nearly faint inclusion of a face.
A slightly tighter crop here (at the top, eliminating the small of the shoulder), although perhaps advantageous to a perfect composition, would also remove the only true anchor (face and eye) of this remarkably intimate photograph.
Considering the artless paradigms of the challenge topic, its attributes have not only been met but excel anything I would have thought possible. I cannot help but award both the stark truth of this capture and the evident candor of the photographer with points, which may be harder to elicit from viewers with predefined expectations.
