death personified

[Daniel_Buck]

A little project of mine that I've been wanting to do for quite some time now! These are the first 4 shots (8x10, with various lenses, including my most recent acquisition, a 210 Xenar), I've got another 4 shots yet to develop (which have more motion blur, including two hand-held 8x10 shots, haha!) as well as some 4x5 yet to come. I will add them to this thread later this week when I have time to develop and scan.

I was a little disappointed when I first saw the cloak on my friend once we got into the woods, it left me with a little bit of a "disgruntled monk" look instead of a 'death' look, but I am please with the images so far.

Some rear swing on the 3rd image, but the rest of the images are all free of movements, but left wide open (ranging from f4.5 to f11)

[C. D. Keth]

The blurred one is wonderful. I prefer to think of death as something you can only get a fleeting glimpse of, never anything clear.

[Heroique]

The overwhelming burnt, ashen tones are quite Hadean.

"I will show you fear in a handful of dust..." a poet once said.

[Jim Galli]

Very nice, especially the last. I agree, death never stands still very long. Won't worry about him though if he's hanging out in the woods.

[wfwhitaker]

Yeah, but Jim, that looks like your truck.

[eddie]

the last one is the best IMO. the sharpened blade is perfect....sharpen both sides.....it adds to the photo.

[Toyon]

It looks staged. You either have to go flamboyantly, like Mapplethorpes Death's Head cane shot, or Bergman's films, or do it very subtly, like Robert Adams or Atget. Yours is smack in the middle: not subtle, not flamboyant. Your strength is in your use of scenery.

[Michael Graves]

Very nice, especially the last. I agree, death never stands still very long. Won't worry about him though if he's hanging out in the woods.

It's hunting season. Prime time for collecting idiots.

[redrockcoulee]

To me this is a concept that I find easier to come up with suggestions for your shots than it would have been for me to come up with the concept itself. I do agree that it looks too staged especially the third one and the last one with movement is the best. Perhaps even a double exposure with Death in only for a portion or for him to be moving quickly either left to right or toward the camera. There is lots of potential so keep pushing and keep posting as I am sure we all are interested in seeing where this may go, I know I am.

[Daniel_Buck]

Thanks for the replies :-) They echo some of my current feelings. THe next batch has some more motion blur, should have those developed in a few days :-)

Feeling a bit to staged, that was the one challenge that I was worried I would not overcome (the cheesy look!) I'm hoping to pick out 3 photos that DON'T feel staged out of the bunch :-D Once there all uploaded, maybe I can get some help picking out the best 3 :-) Thanks again for the replies everyone, I'll update the thread in a day or so when I have the rest developed and scanned.