Thank you very much both for the technical explanation and for the intention behind the image. I can see very well the concept you followed and the brilliant technique fro turning such an abstract idea to something visible.
To me it does say now all about the "stepping outside of the own self" but still also something more, which is that the protagonist "allows" us to take a view of just one of these steps, and that he is the only one that reigns over this process of allowing us to see that. Perhaps he makes many more such steps, but if he doesn't want us to see that, we will not know.
Perhaps this is an "amplified" version of the same thing, since it is his steps, and he is the only one to say when he steps outside and where too - and thus also who's allowed to see what. A strong content about the own self and the exclusive right to rule over it.
Which also includes some kind of closing the circle, a self-reference - ruling over the own self, deciding to break rules by ruling himself.
I have been waiting for your comments, as they are always interesting to read, and you certainly have not let me down.
In this image, I wanted to capture the breaking of "rules" that we all want to do, the social rules that keep us where we are, expressing whatever is acceptable to express and nothing more. Sometimes, I just want to be let out, but that can also lead to dark areas and danger.
So I knew I wanted the lighting to approach the image from one side, and for the motion to go towards the opposite side, i.e. into the darker area of the image. Also, I did have a softer light source on the left as well, so that the image does not go into shadow entirely. Then, it was simple enough to have a 2 second exposure with a front curtain fill flash bounced off a while wall on the right. Once the flash fired, I moved slow enough to fill the remaining 2 seconds with the motion, this way the movement was a lot more defined, instead of just being a slight haze in the shadows.
What I was trying to lead to, and the reason the movement does not extend all the way through the image, or out of it, is that the protagonist is not going anywhere, nor intends to go anywhere, but merely intends to step outside of himself.
A simple concept taken to a not so simple look! The combination of crispy clear sharp details (just look at that wall!!!) and exactly the right amout of motion blur for creating the feeling of a rapid, very rapid motion, is intriguing. The protagonist didn't obey the rules - he was there and just a tiny split of a second he is somewhere else! What is that somewhere else? It seems as if only the protagonist knew. The posing in front of the camera is only a tiny part of a continuous development, that remains just at the borders of visibility! And this is what hits the eye so strongly here together with the overall shadowy atmosphere that makes the protagonist "glow" even stronger on the moment he *allowed* to be captured! The image gets stronger than its maker!
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{K:127263} 10/23/2007
