A Hook And Some Raw Bleeding Bait.

CodyWeber

I've been wanting to shoot some self-portraits that accurately matched the type of photography I enjoy shooting.
As I sit here typing this, my face is littered with red food coloring, fake blood, and various dirt and gravel pieces.
There is no conception to these photos. Just wanted something to accurately match up.
Let me know what you think!

All make-up & fake blood was done by me.
Oh yeah, and I bleached my hair.







Let me know what you guys think of them!
Thanks for all the encouragement from this forum. It's really appreciated.

DoctorIt

I like your eye best in #1.

we need to get you a remote release cord... I'm getting too used to seeing you at this exact focal distance.

CodyWeber

Heh, that's what I shot all these with. :P

DavidTO

Can we go back to encouraging babies and cute little puppies? :uhoh




:hide

gmonkeh

DavidTO wrote:

Can we go back to encouraging babies and cute little puppies? :uhoh




:hide

I agree, this shock jock stuff just isn't working for me.

DavidTO

gmonkeh wrote:

I agree, this shock jock stuff just isn't working for me.

Glad you said something. I was joking, mostly. I'm glad to see something here other than cute babies and puppies (oh, and lots and lots of birds!). My comment was meant to read more like: "That disturbs me. Give me something safe." With a big wink.

gmonkeh

I like puppies.

mmroden

I really like shot #2! It's he kind of face you definitely don't want to wake up to.

CodyWeber

Hey now!
What's wrong with my face?!

Heh.

Thanks for the replies, people.

Ted Szukalski

Cody, to me a session like this would have to represents something more than self smearing in fake blood.

In the first shot the blood is belivable as it seems to have a source and direction. This attribute lacks from the following images, even if they represented blood thirsty flesh eather your nose would be smeared by blood too. Those are small issues and I think through conceptual visualising you can perfect these with some more experimentation.

Secondly, and this is probably a bigger issue with the set, it has clinicaly clean background, which strongly mismatches your "shock" make up.

Perhaps recreating this set with a background of bricks or some feature wall and allowing a more natural (shaded and varied) light would create a better result.

Mike Lane

Are you mostly going for the shock value of the images or are they supposed to have a meaning greater than that? The one thing that I've noticed with your photography that it is technically excellent; however it is quite shallow. Nothing beneath the surface if you know what I mean. Your images avoid common cliches (though you have a personal set of cliches) but your themes are loaded with cliches. "Organized religion sucks." Yeah okay, you've heard of Nietzsche. "I'm loaded with teen angst." Fair enough, anyone who is fortunate enough to be 20+ has gone through that. But teen angst isn't interesting, it's boring and annoying. To be fair, some of your shots convey an intense meaning, like the shots of your girlfriend (or fiance or whatever). And then sometimes your shots convey strong emotions but you burst their bubble by talking about them.

I'm not trying to dog you, I promise. What I'm trying to do (as self-reiteous and egotistical as it is) is to help you improve your photography. You put out some cool stuff, but IMHO you can do better. You've got the technical aspect down, now learn how to tell us a story or enlighten us.

Do you like to read? If so find something inspiring and if not find something classic. Read something that has a theme that is completely different than what you've given us with your pictures. Or read something that fits in with your worldview but that may bring it to a more interesting place. So for example maybe read The Catcher in the Rye and really pay attention to the themes and imagery and message. Or go a completely different direction and read Walt Whitman or Shakespeare.

I'm just saying, you can be a good photographer or you can be a great photographer. Everyone I show your pages to agrees that you're a fantastic photographer and they love spending literally hours on your blog looking at all your photography. But the reaction to your writing and the stories you tell with your images is pretty much consistent: it needs a lot of work.

FWIW

Prezwoodz

I think you did really well on the blood! I never seem to smear it right when I try using fake blood. Theres a colorization in #2 that dosent mesh for me but I really like the other two! I like #2 as well but the part that looks like a lighted blur tool is to much for me.

gavin

I am sorry but i simply don't like any of this. doesn;t apeal to me at all. Nothign i can really critique. If you like it and love doing it stick with it.

Just not my forte

Dee

Well, granny says...
You are certainly more creative and more daring than I ever was at your age! Of course it's difficult trying to remember back to when I was 18, and 2006 sure is different from when I was 18. No internet, no "my space," no digital cameras. I was working full time, finishing up high school at night, and waiting a week for my prints to come back from the drug store...

Hey, go have fun, experiment, learn and grow... if you're engaged to be married, you'll be settling down before you know it. Fully relish this time in your life!

It's refreshing to see your enthusiasm about photography.

wxwax

Dee wrote:

Hey, go have fun, experiment, learn and grow... if you're engaged to be married, you'll be settling down before you know it. Fully relish this time in your life!

It's refreshing to see your enthusiasm about photography.