Mirror.

I am always telling students to try as hard as they can to stretch their creativity with their cameras.  Photography can be so much more than smiling faces.

I tell them to take one photograph.  Then find three, four, or even five more ways to photograph the same subject.  Break rules and do something unusual because this is digital photography; experimentation is free.

And so, I try to follow my own advice and dabble in a few little experiments every week.  If nothing else, it gives me more examples for class.

This morning I noticed I was wearing some bold, defined shapes and thought this could make a great base for an un-focused profile- almost an impressionistic "wash" of sorts.

Here is the result. My bathroom mirror was dirty, lending to a hazy layer of texture, and the walls of my shower offer some vertical variety for the background.  The morning light is filtered nicely through the blinds, giving a soft, evenly lit tone.  I overexposed slightly to enhance this.  In the end this is identical to the SOOC shot, save for bumping up the temperature two degrees.  It is so important to stretch your camera's abilities first, coupled with environmental details, rather than relying on post-processing for these things (though good processing has its place!) 

I don't know how I feel about it yet, but the more I look at it, I think I might end up digging it.

Either way, if no one hates it, then no one loves it!

Happy experimentation.