The eye of the beholder

I know I've said this before, that the title of artist is just something that will never feel fully comfortable to me to wear. When I think of all the work that I love and that moves me, it still feels so far above what I do. It probably always will. Too much of what I do still feels like more of a happy confluence of situation and luck and far less premeditation. I may go into something with an idea in mind but then get derailed in a different and unrelated direction and end up in a completely other place. This was the case that brought on this post. Kind of.

Generally before a shoot I try to get a feel for the personality that will be in front of me. Obviously I try to learn what they are interested in and what they like of my work, to get a sense of the direction we will be headed. Millie and I spoke quite a bit and I was very interested in her ink, no surprise there. Just before the shoot I took a look at it all and though a few pieces stood out quality wise, what caught my eye was an unintentional play on words that appeared when you combine two of her tattoos. So this image was born.

I fell in love with it. Almost. Something just wasn't right about it. I bet lots of others can relate, but no matter what I did to it this image just lacked... it. That undefinable thing that makes it. so I posted it just like this, fishing for other viewpoints. what I got was so much more valuable. This was a comment on it from my business page. I left the author's name off because while I did ask if I could use it, I neglected to ask if he'd rather his name not be attached.

"In my current inebriated state, the first thing to come to mind while looking at this is "ass". Not in a negative way, but in the crude way to describe a human body part. 

Looking at it further, the real artistic photography comes plowing to the forefront. There is a story behind this picture and a part of me wants to know more about it. If it is part of a series, it could be quite the story telling device (especially if it's composed properly.)

Just my intoxicated two cents'."

This made my day. No matter how much I was struggling with it, the message got through and that's what counted. Through many incarnations I'm still not happy with the image. Partly because of my love /hate relationship with my black and white conversions, but partly still the lack of punch. nevertheless the impact of that combination of words was not lost. I didn't think they would be. It's just such a relatable thing. She says that until this shoot she had never made the connection that she was walking around with this powerful wordplay adorning her. That to me is the punch of this image, even if I cannot make it as striking as I'd like. To me this is the point of art, exactly as the commentator wrote, that the double-take factor is there. At first you see that it's a body, then the message sets in. So what am I to do? 

Here's the variations I've played with. 

A bit wider crop I think loses some dimension.

While a horizontal crop loses the identity of the fact that it is a butt. 

It will come to me. Or I'll redo it. Or possibly shitcan it. Who knows at this point. Until then, pick the one that talks loudest to you and enjoy. And as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, drunken ramblings or not.