So I was in my photography studio (garage) the other night. I had a number of different lighting concepts I'd thought of that I wanted to try. Of course, during these impromptu shoots, I tend to be the easiest model to work with; I know what I want the model to do, and I don't have to talk to myself to keep me entertained (though I always enjoying spending time with me). Anyway, as I went through the different ideas I wanted to work with, I'd needed a mirror in order to see how the light was hitting my face. During one of my change-ups on the lighting, I'd set this little vanity mirror down on the ladder to keep it out of the way. Looking from where my camera was, I loved the starkness of the simple image of the mirror sitting on that ledge; that's when I decided to play around with the concept of putting myself in the image through the reflection of the mirror.
I must say that sometimes shots that look simple and easy to carry off end up being the ones that are a real pain in the neck. Between struggling with the placement of several different light sources along with making sure to get just the right amount of face in there that I was looking for, along with not wanting to blow out any portion of the lit areas with too much light -- well, I tweaked it enough to where I got this shot that I was finally pleased with.
Someone who saw the image said it was a very telling self-portrait. I knew he got it as it does tend to represent the way that I have difficulties dealing with the world directly, and how sometimes I have to look at the world through indirect means.
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