To enter or not. I didn't want to enter this challenge at first because I wasn't really motivated to do anything for this challenge. Then a package arrived in the mail.
I've never tried to process anything like this before. My photos are never this dark but when I received my gas mask this weekend, an idea popped in my head. I had no available model so I had to do the whole thing by myself.
In my garage, I propped an old coffee table glass top against my dolly (the line you see on the right hand side is the reflection of the edge of the glass). With just the garage light overhead (partly covered with a trash bag) I started shooting. I wear glasses so putting the gas mask on was a lot of work. And these things stink! Once I placed the mask over my head (with the canister in place), I took one deep breathe and realized no air was entering the filter! Damn! That was pretty scary to say the least. I realized that for the filter cannister to work, you had to remove the little rubber gasket at the bottom of the can.
The "drops" were created using 409 spray. The spray didn't last too long as they would just drip down the glass so I had to spray every second and third shoot. I shot about 50 images and have great outtakes.
Anyway, I'm not sure if people would see the transparency here but I had a lot of fun creating this image and it's very dark (for me at least).
I just hope to break 5.5 in this challenge for this image since I'm not sure how voters would see and relate to this image.
Statistics
Place: 114 out of 155 Avg (all users): 5.0246 Avg (commenters): 6.3571 Avg (participants): 4.6988 Avg (non-participants): 5.2500 Views since voting: 1288 Views during voting: 361 Votes: 203 Comments: 19 Favorites: 0
this image is compositionally and thematically quite strong, but its visual busy-ness combined with the overall soft focus make it rather difficult to really understand. If you do a re-edit, I'd be quite interested in seeing it. I think there's a lot of potential in this picture that just needs to be brought out in Photoshop.
Missed this in the voting, but I mighta wondered about the transparency - but I think it is a great pic and as mentioned, has that film noyer ;-) thing going for it. Be happy with the shot!
WOW... Really dark for you Rikki! Nice to see you expanding your horizons too. This really does have a film noire feel to it. Good job. (And you still finished higher than I did!) ;-)
awesome photo, not sure about the transparency. i really am in love with this photo though, its more film-ish than most of the recent DPC blah that has been so played out. keep this kind of interesting work going, it may get voted low now, but it will last much longer than most uninspired work
Wait, gas mask...nico? I think the creativity is there in spades for this shot, but ultimately I don't really like the water drops. They are not attractive in their highlighted form. 6
wow! a gas mask and avant-guarde picture in a dpc challenge! i love it!!
i really dig the mottled effect from your transparent medium for this photo. i also like the color treatment and message the model's relaying...especially since the far left side is clear and the toxins (or whatever you want to call them...i think of them as toxins) are only around the model.
with the aesthetic tastes of this web site, i'm betting that you may not score as high as i think you should (just like mine isn't going to score as high as i'd like in this one because it flies in the face of the traditional dpc aesthetic)...but this picture really nails the theme for me--where the transparancy adds to the primary focus and theme of your picture. very nicely done!!!!!!! good luck!
It took me a while to figure out where the transparency lies in this image but now that I see it I have to say what a powerful interpretation of this challenge. The dark and almost "armageddon-like" message your image portrays is amazing. I think this will not be favored by most people on this site which is unfortunate. I like seeing images like this. It stirs the imagination and makes people think. Great job. If I could vote, I would have given this a 10! Great job!
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