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Canon Image Challenge | all galleries >> Challenges From The Past >> 2015 Challenges >> CIC142 : Places of Worship >> Eligible > Self Portrait (from Hell)
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9/2/15~9/11/15 Traveller

Self Portrait (from Hell)

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Guest 15-Sep-2015 03:38
Dear Jim, there is never one last thought between us, but this seems more solidly red at the bottom and top...fractionally, but still more thereness there. I did get to shoot the LA Cathedral and Met the very nice Director of Liturgy, (pretty woman), and did some nice work before my parking meter ran out...but alas, probably no time for posting any of it here.

Alas....grin

Be Good, Traveller
Canon Image Challenge14-Sep-2015 12:34
One last thought. What if you took your red layer, and applied a gentle graduated filter to it, so it was darker on the bottom than on the top. Perhaps not true to "The Fauves' simplified forms and saturated colors ", but it might prove interesting.

Jim
Canon Image Challenge14-Sep-2015 04:50
The base for this was shot at LA County Museum of Art....I was studying, or being attracted to the Fauvist painters, wandered into contemporary art, went out and joined the Jazz Concert....talked to an artist about doing bad work...and so went to back to see what I could do...I think this is it for this image...Fauvist with a contemporary sheen.

It was sheer good luck that the idea would be in close physical proximity to the physical representation that allowed me to move forward.

"One of Fauvism's major contributions to modern art was its radical goal of separating color from its descriptive, representational purpose and allowing it to exist on the canvas as an independent element. Color could project a mood and establish a structure within the work of art without having to be true to the natural world.

Another of Fauvism's central artistic concerns was the overall balance of the composition. The Fauves' simplified forms and saturated colors drew attention to the inherent flatness of the canvas or paper; within that pictorial space, each element played a specific role. The immediate visual impression of the work is to be strong and unified.

Above all, Fauvism valued individual expression. The artist's direct experience of his subjects, his emotional response to nature, and his intuition were all more important than academic theory or elevated subject matter. All elements of painting were employed in service of this goal."

Best Wishes, Traveller...and besides, you have your great piece this Challenge...lol
Canon Image Challenge14-Sep-2015 01:52
A number of articles that I have read recently on "artistic" photography talk about how the artist is always coming back and tweaking some aspect of his photo.
I think this one does deserve your continued thought.

Jim
Canon Image Challenge13-Sep-2015 13:28
This feels like Hell to me....the people on the right background shuffling to nowhere....like me after I turn away. The upside down cross was essential as an alienation device....doesn't an upside down cross represent Satan somehow....and this was prominent in Rosemary's Baby....lol

And always remember...something can be an attempt at serious work and sill fail miserably...I don't think this does....but the ambiguity and indistinctness of most everything allows people to step in....as themselves.

I think....(grin)

Traveller
Canon Image Challenge13-Sep-2015 12:24
Re fire and horns - as this is a self portrait, I'd add the fire before I'd add the horns. Certainly the older, and possibly some contemporary, picture of hell is "fire and damnation". However, the horns are generally reserved for the devil.

re fire - I was thinking of very low flames around the feet. But flames might not show well through the red, though you should be able to put them on a top layer; and most of them that I have contain a lot of yellows.

I like the clear cross. But I still (in my mind) question whether it should be upside down or not. I can argue both sides.

Jim
Canon Image Challenge13-Sep-2015 08:42
Jim, actually this is a serious piece of work...I fully know that I post lots of poo-poo, some of it....not bad really...but not worthy either.

I did put a fire with great flames aside for this image....but I sense that, like horns, this would put the image over the top....not making it bad, but one would realize that it was not serious either.

This is a little off putting, maybe even somewhat disturbing in its very simplicity....flames, no matter how well done...would take that away.

Or, that's my story and I'm sticking to it....lol....it is interesting however that we both did think of flames.

Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon Image Challenge12-Sep-2015 22:43
Horns on the head, and flames at the feet.

Jim
Canon Image Challenge12-Sep-2015 20:58
Horns! That's what I need....however, like Virgil's Dante, I hope to indicate that I am just on a tour....not a permanent guest (grin). On the other hand, I do like the faded central figure in that that maybe is what Hell is....a faded wisp of the self wandering lost in a hot soupy miasma forever...this was my intent with the image, I think.

But the inverted Cross does make the character worthy of horns....I will think on it....lol

Thanks for commenting (join us with a picture of your own....almost anything will be acceptable)

Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon Image Challenge12-Sep-2015 19:31
That shadowy character in the BG needs some horns........ Anthony.
Canon Image Challenge12-Sep-2015 18:42
I think that's fair enough...mixed feelings is to be expected I would imagine. But it is not bad work and creative in having several working elements with, for me, different meanings, contexts and emotional responses, (which I designed in).

However, this still does seem a little over-sized. I may work this a little more.

Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon Image Challenge12-Sep-2015 18:17
Interesting idea - and well executed. I'm just not sure what I think about it.

Jim