But Mooch, it's me...King! I guess you didn't recognize me.

Yeah, alot of people will say this but it has to be in the image. If it were to reveal your name I'm sure you'd be voted highly relevant

Mooch,
I agree (about revealing my name), but I thought that enough folks might recognize my face, even through the fog.

Plus, I'm sure that we will see many self-portraits posted--Vernon is there already--and I expect Blizzard and quite a few others.

What's wrong with the image other than what you think it lacks in Relevance?

mooch, do you mean "highly relevant"? I'd rate King "highly irreverent"!

@jhatfield...to paraphrase what Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, "They say I am."

How's that for a Pain in the Ass statement?

Ooops, I left out my "W.S.R.P. Approved" stamp.

Well, were it a commission it wouldn't hit the remit would it. So, although well executed it doesn't really touch upon the theme, therefore it doesn't work. i.e. a good photograph of a car when they asked for a motorbike is still.. a car. Not that I blame you, the theme is a little, tricky.

@mooch,
As I said, "...other...than Relevance." And the theme is tricky. Everyone deserves a 4 on Relevance, sight unseen.

I'm going to assume that my very low relevance ratings mean that I'm *not* a pain in the ass. Now I'm starting to feel better about myself.
Thanks, all, for the low Relevance ratings (I gave *you* a 4, by the way).

You do know that I mean that in the most affectionate way. :)

Of course King is the first one Up

I can hear him now:

I'd like to thank Anna and Psychodudu - some amongst many for this honour today

very cool, king! not a pain at all! :-)

LOL @arne

@ArneG...Ana and psychodudu and two of my closest friends on W.S.--may be hard to believe, the way we fuss at each other. But your remark is funny, nevertheless.

Thanks everyone! First posted, first featured, which is a first for me.

King how you could you be relevant for pain in the ass! Weeklyshots would not be the same without you. Congrats on the feature- pain or not!

Thanks again folks and, by the way, this was shot specifically for this theme, about a week ago.

Oh, what a photo! I love it.

Too bad we couldn't have just had a shot of your mind. That's where the real pain in the ass is born. Congratulations Kong, you're the King of ass pain!

As per usual I fail to understand quite how a moody image of Kind is then converted to meeting the "Pain in the a s s" theme.

@mooch...here's how. Relevance ratings are low, too low to get this featured, but the other categories filled in the gap, just barely enough to get featured. With 17 ratings:

Relevance: 3.18
Impact: 3.71
Composition: 3.76
Technique: 3.82
Quality: 3.71
Overall: 3.636

@mooch

hmmm...maybe he has such a pain in the ass, because of all the folks trying to get in there ;)

King,
what kind of postprocessing has this one got? I'm especially interested in the head part. It's perfect.

@zula...was it necessary to be quite so rude? I don'g go that way.

@bio:
I burned in the left side of my face just a bit. It has all the usual dodging and burning steps you'd do in the darkroom under an enlarger.

This is a self-portrait taken with my wife's little Kodak point-and-shoot on a table tripod, taken in the parking garage at work. The steam is coming from the HVAC system.

Thx for the info.

I really love that devil's head - if you don't mind. that's exactly how I picture ther Devil.

Unfortunately, tha head of The Almighty and Santa looks the same in my mind's eye :)))

bio,
Did you hear about the Dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa?

I know how you got there, but it is also the fact that alot of people did recognise you (which I said was key) and subsequently crawled up there, as zulu said.

mooch,
You don't know who recognized me. Most people didn't, and most who left comments before this was featured indicated that they couldn't see the Relevance. What's wrong with getting featured for quality rather than Relevance, anyway?

I think you are wrong on this one, mate.

It's a moot point but, next time the theme is say "cars" I'll post a reeally good shot off the theme and see where I get. I should expand my clique...

He got there because he is a damn fine photographer and a "Self Described" pain in the ass - able to paugh at himself. Respected by many - such as myself

@mooch, but it isn't a moot point if you are going to claim that this image is featured because I'm a member of a clique.

By your reasoning, Image #4 should certainly be featured because the person featured in that self-portrait is far better known than I am and has been featured many times, including times when he featured himself in the photograph.

Besides, most of my clique won't be home and able to check WeeklyShot until about an hour from now, so couldn't rate this image anyway. Let's see what *they* have to say. LOL.

@ArneG...thanks!

I'm speechless....

Hot damn, King, you can't even take a picture of yourself without starting a fight!

As for mooch and zulu, at the risk of just cranking the cycle of invective another turn, allow me to venture that you are out of line. We all get exasperated from time to time over seeing some shots featured for reasons we may not understand, but that is all part of the process, and is most certainly no basis for lashing out at the photographer who took it. Particularly one who contributes so much to the community. It is uncalled for and undermines the sense of civility that generally characterizes the space here.

As for there being some "clique" out there who wants to ingratiate themselves to King, c'mon, get serious. King has posted a number of tongue in cheek shots of himself in the last few themes that were much more recongizably him than this shot, and none of them got featured.

I was trying to see the relevance, then thought to myself it must be a self portrait. I see I am correct.

Nice one.

I didn't see this until it was featured, by the way...
I'm laughing my ass off at the conversation that has ensued here. Do we have more than one clique here...?
@ King - there's been a few "personalised" shots here recently, I'm a already little weary of seeing us on film, as it were, it's such an easy vote generator....lol.
I think some people are not appreciating you querky sense of humour shall we show them our first *real* conversation...?
Congrats on the feature (he says, with the hairs rising on his neck).

Like i said, if I have a *great* shot, not on theme, I expect to get featured via the other 4 criteria rather than relevance. King's "oh but it is a good shot" does not cut it with me. If I am considered slightly off theme I get flamed, no matter how good the shot is. Therefore, when this image conveys nothing of pain in the as s other than recognising King, I get suitably miffed.

mooch, part of the joke, whether you "get it" or not, or find it funny or not, is that King is himself irreverant and provocative on this site, and so in some sense a bit of a "pain in the ass". For those that got that joke, it made the shot somewhat relevant. As you will see from my first comment, I didn't even recognize the person as King, and so thought the shot not at all relevant.

IMHO people should spend more time learning the craft than bitching at the people who have mastered it.

this theme will be a record. the theme with the lowest number of submissions ever :-)

Vernon...you are a record-setting kind of guy!

Not that anyone would be interested, but just for the record, here is the entire history of King's comments on Mooch's photos posted on W.S.:

Pain in the Ass: Our new member (I think...excuse me if I'm wrong), is another of those who finds himself to be an agreeable and available subject. :>) Good work!

Urban Decay: Did you hurt yourself when you fell down? Just kidding. This shot is interesting and appealing in a number of ways.

Ugly-Beautiful: Beautiful, Mooch!

Lines: Humble earth captured in unearthly beauty. Great work, Tobias. I like the way this simple and elegant image is cropped--the expanse of untextured blue (with the tiny white cloud) provides balance and contrast with colors, lines and super texture of the foreground. I'd buy a print.

King, turns out YOU'RE Deep Throat!

Nice image.

The most interesting part is how the picture was made.
As for relevance, I think it speaks for itself...
And if there's a competition for the most "PITA" character, I'm not in.
:O)

To a not so sensitive and not so serious theme one must count with a not so sensitive and not so serious comment.I think it`s quite amusing, how fast people are in rage because of one little comment in an internet forum, while in the real world no one would give a sh* but just would smile.. Do people have so few "real" friends in our days, that they have to get themselves a brown tongue in this virtual World?

@philippe
After this comment, I think I made it into one of the most "PITA" characters, he?
Probably I should post in a self portrait now too...

zulu...in the real world, in my culture, if you said that to my face I would not smile and you might find yourself in a position to apologize or defend yourself.

To offer a profound insult, then laugh and say it was a joke, does not lessen the insult.

It is more important, probably, in online communities to be careful and civil in what we write, not less.

Wow, I hope I can take my self so serious too one time....

I expect to get a high rating in relevance for my self portrait ;)

@zulu,

I haven't seen your self-portrait yet, but rest assured that I will not impugn your sexuality, your religion, your heritage, your gender or your race when I do so.

To think that you can make rude and insensitive remarks and expect the other person not to take the insult seriously is puerile.

And, obviously, you have not been paying attention. I take myself less seriously than most

I think you maybe have missunderstud my first comment. I did`nt relate to your sexuality. What I meant is that people tried to make themselve liked by you as soon as they realized that it was your picture (just as mooch said). In german such people are called "ass crawlers". In case that your really missunderstud me, I appologize.

@zulu...Ah, I see! In that case, I, too, am sorry that I misunderstood. I am aware of language and cultural differences that cause us to be confused. In this case, I couldn't figure it out without your help.

Thank you!

so, the relevence is in the personality of the subject . . . this only begs the question: how do shots get "featured?"

well, for this one, King IS a PITA. And if you know it's him...then yep! If not, then it's not!

:)

How to get featured? A whole slew of different combinations can get you up there.

This is the Overall lowest-rated image I've ever had Featured, tied with another that was not Featured.

It was not featured because of its Relevance and most raters didn't identify this as being me. I didn't think it stood a chance to be Featured until more people who know me by sight and my reputation had rated the image.

Personally, I like this shot a lot and think it is very well done--especially as an unassisted self-portrait. In my opinion, that's the only reason it got as high an Overall rating as it did.

As for releavance other than the subject, I think it does present a mysterious, forboding appearance that Vernon, Tanja and Flatline pointed out.

One more thing...it has always seemed to me that W.S. Relevance ratings are based on rather concrete (i.e., not conceptual or metaphorical) interpretations of the theme. To me, "Pain in the Ass" is a metaphor indicating that some thing or some person is aversive, noxious or irritating and that the pain is psychological rather than some literal pain in the buttocks. The large number of literal interpretations supports this theory, while there certainly a few metaphorical illustrations, as well.

@rosedaddy...my personality is actually quite charming (so I'm told). It's my sometimes argumentative, preachy, whiney, ostentatious, opinionated, obnoxious *behavior* that wins me the PITA tag.

You forgot obstreperous. :)

Tracy...how overbearing!

Tracy and I are just kidding, folks. Tracy?...Tracy?

Been following the commentary around this shot for a while and if nothing else this shot hss definitely provided me more than enough entertainment :-D...
i think its fair enough to say that if enough people do know you and consider you a PITA (even as a joke) there's no reason this shot shuldn't be featured and i havent even talked about what a perfect selfie it is...
be honest, youve had fun with all the "controversy" surrpunding the shot ;-)...anyway, congrats on adding to your ever-growing 'featured' portfolio...

@sbuzz...thanks for adding your comment--as BioLarzen said elsewhere, comments rare thing in this theme.

Thanks, also, for the kind words.

great pic ;o) - and...an evening-filling story - thanks ;o)

Why, thank you, Saxi! I'm glad you could squeeze some entertainment out of it.

Sorry I dropped the ball there King but WS is so slow this week that not even you can save it. ;-)

Hey, Tracy. Slow? I'm not easily bored. I'd be having a good time if I made everything up in my head. In fact, every time I close my eyes, W.S. disappears!

Farewell, everyone. All the best!

You too, Big Bear!

Peace out brother.

Yes!!!!! You're Santa!!
Thanks for all my dear friend! I'm very happy for my featured! :)
See you!
Smiles and kisses for you, from Granada (España)