This particular deviation only gets stronger when you read the blurb about it... For those of you that are too lazy to do so, the mask in her hand is a relic of her uncle Danny. I find it interesting how the artist chose to un-mask herself, but then decided that her face was an unimportant element. Perhaps she wants to tell people that hiding from people behind a 'mask' is no way to avoid attention, since that mask in fact will be the drawing factor.


If the viewer cant immediately see what makes this image stunning then I think I'm doing the wrong thing by trying to appeal to them with this feature. Most people are reluctant to let noise be part of an image, but in this case we can easily see that noise is a useful tool (here its used to add some umph to the negative space and bring some degree of attention grabbing to the solid colors.


Gas masks are way overdone here on DA, but when the element is used cleverly (here with the addition of a grunge feel due to the background) then the image losses all of its 'tackiness' that our community has attached to it.


Holga's are always fun, and when critiquing one its hard to not judge it on its exposure density, but you have to remember, theres little control over that with a holga... Instead, look at the image, and consider the relationship between the sad clown and the building (school?). A comment on the poor state of education? A remark about current violence at schools? or does the work clown and building rhyme in some language I dont speak?


Lovely studio work first of all (if you've been in a class with people who learn studio then you must certainly agree), not professionally flawless, but a sincere and genuine attempt at quality in both execution and concept. Does a model get to be themselves in a shoot, or are they pretending to be one of the photographers concepts?

"I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking 'wow, you're ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career'."


Now here is the professionally gorgeous photograph I was talking about... Window light first of all brings out this models features gorgeously, and second of all, all the elements in the frame work together wonderfully. The black behind the model makes her pop, and the white to her left makes the background not boring. Her jewelry (being silver) fills in the color gap left by the gold in the mask, and the fabulously ornate mask is in perfect contrast to the t-shirt.


Whoever says you need a fancy/expensive camera to take great photos ought to look here, the kill themselves before more people start to think similarly.