One I would rather not explain too much. I'll be interested to see what meanings, feelings, or concepts this evokes for people. But that's Henry posing for me in our front yard wearing an astronaut helmet that still fits him from a costume he has had since he was about 8 years old.
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Place: 5 out of 17 Avg (all users): 6.5294 Avg (participants): 6.5455 Avg (non-participants): 6.5217 Views since voting: 201 Views during voting: 64 Votes: 34 Comments: 10 Favorites: 2 (view)
Was the clothing and the pose of your young model your idea? ... I can sense a feeling of not belonging of that young person, struggling with growing up, being different than the classmates and the neighbour kids. Reminds me somehow of the book "wonder" by Raquel J. Palacio
Thank you for these very kind words, Barbara. To answer your question--yes, the clothing and pose were my (half-impromptu) idea. I'd been thinking for some time now--ever since the Album Cover challenge from earlier last year--about trying to get Henry to wear that space helmet in a public space somewhere with ideas that it might convey something evocative. One possible interpretive angle I was considering is very much the one that has connected with you in this image--of social isolation and feeling "from another world" or (as this image suggests to me, personally) of feeling like an alien visitor to one's own homeworld.
Honestly, I had forgotten about how a similar prop plays a significant role in Palacio's book, but now that you mention it, it would feel dishonest to suggest that it didn't play some subliminal role in my composition. As for the rest of the costuming, believe it or not that's literally what my son was wearing when I saw the golden hour light and decided to capitalize on it. The shirt originally had "Saturn" on it, but I removed that to make it appear more like a traveler's uniform of sorts. And the pants are part of his Halloween costume, when he went as a stick figure from one of his video games. Together, it all just worked serendipitously.
It was my highest vote and I absolutely adore how you created it. Was the clothing and the pose of your young model your idea? Together with the editing it results in a super powerful image. I don't think of notalgia or future when looking at it, I can sense a feeling of not belonging of that young person, struggling with growing up, being different than the classmates and the neighbour kids. Reminds me somehow of the book "wonder" by Raquel J. Palacio
I know there was an old video game named Homeworld and it was about aliens. (no, never played it myself). I love how the pants have stripes that seem to mimic the tree trunks, or are they aliens too. Good job.
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