Metaphor

Last week I was inspired to create a new photograph for my personal collection. I love inspiration; it feels like a lightning-bolt answer to a pressing question. I was wondering, "How do I express a particular feeling I have?", and from that question came this small set of images.



The working title is Self-Portrait with Gun as Metaphor. After creating the images, I realized I was just in time for the Atlanta Photography Group once-monthly critique. I rush ordered prints and headed into the city to find out what I might be able to communicate to a roomful of strangers. I was the last of about a dozen photographers presenting images to a mixed group of enthusiasts and other photographers. By the time my name was called, my palms were clammy. I placed my prints carefully on the white board at the front of the gallery where the bright lights made everyone seated in the neat, static rows seem shadowy. I explained in a voice I thought sounded confident that I intended the guns to serve as a metaphor. Wow, was I in for it! The leader of the critique said he thought the gun was an overused symbol in our society and flatly stated, "These photos don't work for me." My throat went dry. I decided to stare at him patiently while he explained what he didn't like about my attempts. A war photographer who described himself earlier as seeking out "man's inhumanity to man,"- as well as declaring that young photographers might starve and he would be there to photograph their bodies- chimed in that my images were beautiful photographically but I looked like I was guarding jewelry or freshly torn from the pages of Vogue. Other comments ensued about my non-threatening body language and perceived lack of control over the guns themselves. I listened, and blinked under the lights. Finally, one man quietly suggested that I didn't look like I wanted to be holding the guns at all, and that I appeared wistful. His comment pretty closely described my intention! I managed to at least partially communicate my idea to one person. When it comes to beginning to create a conceptual piece of art, that's not necessarily failure! In retrospect, I agree with some of my detractors that the look is too designed, too fashionable even though I didn't plan it to be. As soon as the drive home, I started considering what to do next...