THE IMAGE: I had so much fun with this image. I got the idea and thought of having myself as pieces on a chess borad, and I would be moving myself as one of the pieces. But, I didn't have a chess board and couldn't really see myself pulling it off. I settled for this and liked the result.
HOW I ACHIEVED THIS: Legally of course! Had to make sure I would get it validated as well, as I am sure people would have worried about how this could be done.
I photographed myself in poses that represented different aspects of my life: My Christianity and work as a pastor, my photography, my handiwork, my painting, my different moods, my constant ear to the phone, and at the back, my family who seems to get less of me than they deserve. At the back is the real me, not a cut out. I like the fact that I am slightly hidden. I am not sure what it means symbolically, but it's nice that I am a little out of focus and hidden like the guy in Home Improvements.
THE EDIT: Dodge and burn, grayscale, duotone, levels, smart sharpen, some blurring of edges of my head/s...that's it really.
THE PREDICTION: I have high expectations, but I am not sure if some people will mark me down because they think it will be illegal, so it is a chance I have to take. I am sure there will be some clever images and a stack of them, so I am just hoping to be in the top 10 really.
POST: Thanks everyone. I thought I might ribbon, but look at Henny, I mean, she's gorgeous.
I guess you see how I did this now. Lot's of 'mini me's cut out and lined up. Didn't know where to focus, but think I got it about right.
I sweated on the result as I had asked for validation when I entered, as I knew I would get many people who would think it might not be legal and vote that way. Right up until rollover I had that dreaded 'is in the hands of the administrators' message. Arrrrgghhh! Anyhow, I was releived at the end. But who knows, maybe the few extra votes might have made the difference.
This was the layout...
Statistics
Place: 4 out of 241 Avg (all users): 7.3223 Avg (commenters): 8.3077 Avg (participants): 7.0635 Avg (non-participants): 7.4806 Views since voting: 10061 Views during voting: 719 Votes: 332 Comments: 106 Favorites: 22 (view)
Enzo, this is such a fun, creative shot. Congrats on going B&W and doing something other than a typical fashion shot! Also congrats on breaking into your personal top 5. That takes some doing! ;)
Excellent, Preacher! To get your compliment, I will have to pull from a couple of American sitcoms of the past four decades. That being said, Congratulations, for you appear to have really "Flipped Your Wilson!" :}
Probably helps to be bald when you're cutting out photos of yourself so many times! Very nice photo, extremely expressive and open. This is more of a self-portrait than the other's I've seen - it's a picture of your soul, almost. Nice work.
Very nice work... it's funny I didn't even realize how this would be possible... guess i just wasn't thinking clearly, you did a great job with the cutouts though making them look realistic, your lighting helps that as well. I think when an image like this is validated it should say "validated"... I gave you a 9 but the 4 scores under a three are ridiculous.
You know how I feel about this one mate as you just have to read my comment below.....
Well done, and yes, I do believe this so deserved a ribbon..... So so close.....
I really do love it and love the wat you set it all up.....
I can't imagine this was done just with advanced editing. It is a really cool shot and I am sure a lot of work...
*well I came back to this and it is still in the challenge... now I am gonna vote* Awesome shot btw
So creative! What's fun about this is that you HAVE to stop and look for a bit to see what everyone is doing. It also makes me wonder why you chose the objects that you used. A very cool photo...
nice b&w work. Here is what would stand better... if you had yourself in the background as clear and bright as other heads, and other heads would be the same as your background head, dimmed and not too bright. now, it's hiding behind your heads, I want o pay attention to you in the back but I can't. Maybe you wanted to do this way, I don't know. Good job overall :)
Very Whitmanesque. A bit of an obvious cut-out, but I think it works. I'm not sure I would have gone with such an intense look for the background main portrait, but again YMMV...
John Malkovich would be proud. I guess... well, who cares? You should be proud, nice realization. I like the smilig you (the one on the left, next to the sleeping you), the most.
Wow very nice work, I am sure this took a while but it looks like it was very worth the effort. I think including the big one in back really brings the image full circle.
Enzo, this is a great work from the technical point of view. Let me guess how you did it under advanced editing rules: All little Enzo's are in one printed photograph that was previously worked out with multiple exposures in black bg combined in PS; its upper border was cutout. Then you placed it in front of you...played a bit with DOF and bang!!
Anyway I can`t wait to read the insides of the making of it. As far as the composition I would have liked it better if your eyes were not crossed by the border of your glasses, but i assume you had to tilt down the glasses to avoid the reflection of your lighting. A little more variety of expresions would also add :-). lol
I hope you do very well with this image..you get a 9 from me
I really like the idea and the use of putting yourself all over the place doing different things... the only thing that is throwing me off is the gaint head that is only showing eyes at the top. I know it should have a higher meaning, like its the real you that is hidden behind all these mask of things you should be in society or life. But its just distracting.
If I was to do anything to this photo, I would crop in on it with the one of you and then book being the main focus.
Man... you just blew me away with this one. Great idea and amazingly done. Problem is we'll probably see a million imitators after the fact. 10 all the way.
cool! how did you create all those different images of yourself in camera? Did you take pictures of yourself, rint them and then photograph those images? I like the concetp and all the different expressions.
well this has to be floating around a a PB for you I hope. Also I already thought you were in my favorites along time ago and I just realized you weren't there. all better now. :)
Many people have tried this this week. Including me actually but you are the only one to trully pull it off. Congratulations i give this a very unusual 8. The reason its not a 9 or 10 is just because of the composition which to me could be a little more striking but still great shot and I wish you well in the challenge.
How in the WORLD did you do that! I'm sure you explained. You're good about that. If not. ..I'm going to have to find you after the challenge and pin you down :) Really REALLY great job. 10 (and I am handing them out very sparingly in this challenge)
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