Dаz
77/365 # Maskerade
I don't know about you guys, but my behaviour is defined by the company I'm in. Lydia says she can tell which one of my mates I'm talking to by how I act and what I say when I'm on the phone. And she's invariably correct in her assumption.
I've always been this way, I know that and I can recognise when I'm doing it. It made me wonder: how much of my time do I spend really being me?
Work is obviously an area where (a) I spend a lot of my time and (b) I'm acting totally out of character all of the time - as I've said before I'm not good at being in charge or being decisive and especially not confident. So for at least eight and a half hours every day (excluding Friday, early finish day) I'm working hard pretending I'm all of the above and more. Then there's the work personality dependant on which people I'm currently in the company of while I'm at work. I'd behave totally differently if I was, say, visiting the people in my old office than I would if I was in my current office.
Then I have a different personality dependant on which friend or set of friends I'm with - this is further complicated when two seperate sets of friends are placed into one area . . . that usually leaves me reeling.
So for 90% of the time I'm essentially pretending to be someone I'm not. Hence the mask concept of this shot. Whether this will be a good thing, and eventually my shortcomings will be replaced and I'll turn into a capable, confident and desicive person remain to be seen. I'm worried I'm going to go fucking nuts to be honest trying to please everyone and fit into their definition of what's normal.
I feel like I'm always wearing a mask to disguise how I'm really feeling at the moment. It's kinda tiring. But anyway . . .
The shot . . . the shot, the shot, the shot. Hmmm . . . it looks OK. Now. It's one of my favourite ideas but I think it slightly overstretched my Photoshop skills. Luckily the textures have saved it by masking the ragged edges.
It's obviously two shots layered over one another, with the top layer erased until only the face is left. I had to move it around a bit to get it in place in my hand but I tried to get my head as close to the right area as possible to keep the lighting looking right - this is just natural lighting through the kitchen window.
There's seven layers layered over me and the mask, and I erased various bits of each one so you could still see me. You should be able to see where I've left a layer covering the entire image though, just to retain a bit interest and prevent it looking flat.
I don't know what happened to my hand, it's become all whited-out, which is a shame. I tried to fix it in Lightroom and Photoshop but didn't have any luck.
And even the Bloc Party t-shirt has significance - today they released their third album Intimacy as a digital download, with the physical release following in about a month's time.
I downloaded it earlier and I'm on my fifth listen now. So, as if you couldn't already guess, today's music is:
Intimacy by Bloc Party. And it's very good. Punchier than their second album, more complex and layered than their first, it's a definite progression. It's been copied to my mp3 player for repeat listens tomorrow, I'll spend all day with it on a loop to soak it up.
And today's standout track: Ares, the first track from Intimacy. Imagine The Prodigy meets Blur, Firestarter meets Parklife, and you'll have an idea of where it's at. Fucking mental.
I don't know about you but that mask scares the shit out of me . . .
77/365 # Maskerade
I don't know about you guys, but my behaviour is defined by the company I'm in. Lydia says she can tell which one of my mates I'm talking to by how I act and what I say when I'm on the phone. And she's invariably correct in her assumption.
I've always been this way, I know that and I can recognise when I'm doing it. It made me wonder: how much of my time do I spend really being me?
Work is obviously an area where (a) I spend a lot of my time and (b) I'm acting totally out of character all of the time - as I've said before I'm not good at being in charge or being decisive and especially not confident. So for at least eight and a half hours every day (excluding Friday, early finish day) I'm working hard pretending I'm all of the above and more. Then there's the work personality dependant on which people I'm currently in the company of while I'm at work. I'd behave totally differently if I was, say, visiting the people in my old office than I would if I was in my current office.
Then I have a different personality dependant on which friend or set of friends I'm with - this is further complicated when two seperate sets of friends are placed into one area . . . that usually leaves me reeling.
So for 90% of the time I'm essentially pretending to be someone I'm not. Hence the mask concept of this shot. Whether this will be a good thing, and eventually my shortcomings will be replaced and I'll turn into a capable, confident and desicive person remain to be seen. I'm worried I'm going to go fucking nuts to be honest trying to please everyone and fit into their definition of what's normal.
I feel like I'm always wearing a mask to disguise how I'm really feeling at the moment. It's kinda tiring. But anyway . . .
The shot . . . the shot, the shot, the shot. Hmmm . . . it looks OK. Now. It's one of my favourite ideas but I think it slightly overstretched my Photoshop skills. Luckily the textures have saved it by masking the ragged edges.
It's obviously two shots layered over one another, with the top layer erased until only the face is left. I had to move it around a bit to get it in place in my hand but I tried to get my head as close to the right area as possible to keep the lighting looking right - this is just natural lighting through the kitchen window.
There's seven layers layered over me and the mask, and I erased various bits of each one so you could still see me. You should be able to see where I've left a layer covering the entire image though, just to retain a bit interest and prevent it looking flat.
I don't know what happened to my hand, it's become all whited-out, which is a shame. I tried to fix it in Lightroom and Photoshop but didn't have any luck.
And even the Bloc Party t-shirt has significance - today they released their third album Intimacy as a digital download, with the physical release following in about a month's time.
I downloaded it earlier and I'm on my fifth listen now. So, as if you couldn't already guess, today's music is:
Intimacy by Bloc Party. And it's very good. Punchier than their second album, more complex and layered than their first, it's a definite progression. It's been copied to my mp3 player for repeat listens tomorrow, I'll spend all day with it on a loop to soak it up.
And today's standout track: Ares, the first track from Intimacy. Imagine The Prodigy meets Blur, Firestarter meets Parklife, and you'll have an idea of where it's at. Fucking mental.
I don't know about you but that mask scares the shit out of me . . .