One the other hand, I suppose it's the effect you were looking for...

I am kind of with Phillippe about the lighting but the more I look at it the more I feel that the absence of detail, except for the eye, is interesting.

To respond to these and anticipated comments, this was a failed experiment, done at the same time as the other shot I posted here - it is a longish exposure, during which I triggered a flash held below and to the right.

I say "failed" in the sense of regular portraiture (as Philippe and Tracy commented on above); but upon reflection, it struck me as an interesting metaphor for the extent to which so little of our true character and personality, so little of the complexity and texture of our selves, is revealed in the glare of public scrutiny; a metaphor for the need to get to the "dark side of the moon" of a person's character to discern the tonal range of their soul...ok, so its trite and cliche, but it was for that metaphoric and eerie quality that I posted it.