“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
–Friedrich Nietzsche
The stare, a self-portrait. This image started as a simple exercise to test my old Vivitar 283 flash. My goal was to create a moody, dramatic portrait with one half of my face lit and with plenty of skin detail. Once I started processing, I just couldn’t stop! I added probably 4 or 5 layers of textures, lots of plug-ins, and even some 3D rendered particle effects. The whole time, trying to see how dark and foreboding I could make it.
And just so you know, I’m not a dark or evil or depressed sort of person, but I do explore that side of me through my photographs. But I will make sure I don’t dally when staring into that void.
Day 147 of 365
