This is another one from the self portrait shoot i did the other night.

Let me be candid. If you hate this, you should feel free to use this as your opportunity to vent. If you somehow think that you are generally too nice in this forum and you need to let loose, have at it. I am serious. I will simply assume you do not like it given the general sense I get about reactions to the hyper-real. That is ok.

There is much I do not like about it. I do not pretend that it is a particularly good photo. But it has the seeds of what I am after. I want strange beauty. This is a bit too ugly to qualify, but I think that if I think and shoot the right thing, I can use this to do what I want.

The texture in my skin is not at all realistic. I don't actually look like this (I could only wish). The texture has fairly intense local contrast enhancements that bring out the essential texture of my skin in a very garish way.

As I said, I will assume you dont like it, but I do care about translating my diseased aesthetic into something others might find interesting too, so I do care about any aspects of this that might appeal. If there is nothing, then perhaps I need to look for more deranged critics. Haha.