Gory Selfie

Scrolling through my recent photos, nothing sparked an idea for a new project. The idea of a self-portrait had popped from time to time in my mind, and I even planned to enlist my talented photographer friend Richard to take some close-ups. But the last gasps of "El Niño" are hitting this part of the world hard, dissuading any thoughts of going out unless absolutely necessary. Rain becoming a recurring character in this blog.

Frustrated with my photo options, I took a somewhat dramatic selfie to satisfy the urge to do something. The first texture I tried on my face blew me away. It resembled dried blood, then a burn, something so impactful I stopped searching. Turns out, it was a discarded, slightly blurry tree texture. The stone texture was another surprise, "slicing up" my already "gory" face into something almost splatter-worthy.

Having finished this work, out of pure curiosity, I added one more texture, not expecting much. But as they say, "third time's the charm," and another cool effect emerged, giving way to a second version of this intervention.

Maybe I'll hold off on calling these self-portraits until I shoot with Richard. For now, I'm happy I outsmarted "El Niño" with this impromptu, gory selfie.