@jfka...
Merci beaucoup. Je ne suis pas très heureux avec les tonalités sur mon visage, mais c'est la vie.

@Tracy...Thanks. This, of course, is a very traditional self-portrait, which makes me think that it may not be rated as highly as the more gimmicky and unconventional one I posted first.

Did you ever notice that you can't read comments on your images in the "My conversations" pane unless you actually contribute a remark to your own posting?

pursang...I'm glad you caught the (unsubtle) relationship between the chain and my weight...they go together nicely, don't you think?

I agree about the way the eye moves around the image, although I wish the chain were less parallel with the bottom of the frame.

The camera is on a small table-tripod on the ground on the opposite side of the road that runs along this area. While I lying on the street to set up the framing, several nice people offered to help me, thinking some old man had fallen to the ground. One person even screamed. No kidding. I should have shouted, "I've fallen, and I can't get up!"

King you know that the waves splash up pretty high there don't you? It would have been classic if the moment the shutter fell, a wave came crashing down on you. Jarrett will be all over the descending line on the bottom, but I don't think it detracts from the image at all.

@pursang,

The line at the bottom may be descending, but the damned bridge is vertical! That's all Jarrett will care about. Besides, the featured group self-portrait is apparently all we will see of Jarrett on this theme, so he owes me.

Hey there King, congratulations!
Really like the BW treatment.
Now, I'll give my best in putting in a smart comment here =)
Since you are opening yourself up towards the left half of this image I think more space on the left would have made this already classic portrait even more ordinary, it would also be a bit lighter, I just feel this tiny little tension... but that's just me, put the humble in there too somewhere.

ChriZ...Thanks. I agree. Here are my constraints (besides setting this shot up from across the street). There is something just out of crop on the left of the bridge, so that's the left crop, and I wanted to include the descending bridge cable on the far right. I fouind that I couldn't sit too close to the chain stanchion because the blacks tended to clump up there, so I'm sitting a safe distance away. There's no room to sit to the other side of the stanchion. I could have faced the other direction, but didn't try doing so. Somehow, the scene pulled me to sit facing the way you see it.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

ChriZ...and if I were directing this shot, I would have moved myself just a bit closer to the stanchion, so my right hand and knee would not be tangent with the bridge.

Those bridge towers are totally vertical!!! Nice work. Also the line descending at left is due to increasing distance of the edge from the camera, rather than a horizon not being level, so IMHO it is just fine ;) I like it. Although I can;t remember it ever getting to be that clear the entire time we were out there. Maybe right at the very end........

I mean at RIGHT of course.

This a really nice shot King. The haziness of the bridge is wonderful, and I like the sort of symbolism of the massive bridge and solid chain. But I wish I could see a bit larger version, as in this smaller format there seems to be a strange shadow on the right side of your face...

Hey, Craig...thanks. In my first comment, to jfka above, I told him (in French) that I am not satisfied with the tonalities in the face. Your comment just reinforces that. I'll work on it before posting this to my web site. Sigh...there's always more work to do.

@Craig again...I'll fix the tones on the face and post a hi-res version of this on my web site...and I'll let you know when I do.

Also, to me, this doesn't seem as sharp in this reproduction as it is in the larger version.

To me, this is less of a "portrait" (and even less of a "self" portrait)
(even if you did snap the shutter) than it is a 'travel photograph.' It's a well done shot, and looks good, but the darker shades of the 'subject,' don't match the power of that bridge.

Ana...yeah, it's hard to compete with that bridge, although I don't agree with your view about whether it is a self-portrait. I don't have time to present my argument, so let's just say I disagree.

Thanks for your comment!

All the elements of this photo seem to work together in harmony ! Thanks for sharing it; it is very inspiring.

Thanks, Haiete--with he exception of the weaknesses pointed out above (by myself and others), I agree that this is a harmonius composition...I got lucky!

Wow, it's a rather novell experience to see a "traditional" composition out of your cam, Old Friend...

But if they're like this one, then let them just come!

Thanks, Gabor. I take that as a very high compliment because some folks think I am the intractable, set-in-stone traditionalist around here.

The dark tones on the face made the subject (you) look a bit mysterious. I thought that it was how you wanted to be perceived. Then, this is how I view it, which is always subjective. I love self portrait because as a photographer you have control over how you want to portrait yourself, which is not the case when someone else takes your picture. I always ask others how they would like to be perceived in the picture before I take it, and then I try to do my best to get as close as possible to their fantasy :-).

Haiete...you know, I think that is true, although I haven't thought about it that way before.

What a nice comment. Thanks very much.

A neatly trimmed Mr.Hemmingway.
You may,just barely, be slightly more geezerish than me,but I doubt it!!