But even he was mortal and his passing still resonates greatly with me. Is it any coincidence that I learned that Monday morning just over a week ago, here on this site? Probably not.
Anyway...I am trusting that peeps will recognize the trademark Aladdin Sane lightning bolt, which I took the trouble to paint on my own face.
I also had a short red wig which I tried to style into some semblance of the Red Hot Red rooster crest, but had no luck, so left it off. Besides, I already had the bolt done.
I am also trusting that some will recognize that Ashes to Ashes is a Bowie song.
I trust that some will know that Bowie died of cancer, and was undergoing chemo, hence the radioactive tear. Another reason to leave off the wig, or any wig, as he sometimes showed up for Lazarus rehearsals sans hair and/or eyebrows.
I trust that some will know that he insisted on being cremated without ceremony - no shades of that embarrassing spectacle of a funeral broadcast live on TV a few years ago.
I trust that their hearts are probably still as broken as mine.
setup: shot through a white brolly. Nadia, my model, took the hairspray and ashes from the woodstove sprinkled generously all over her in good stride. Then it was a simple matter of warping my face with lightning bolt, shot at approximately the same 3/4 angle, onto hers to replicate that shot. I also used Nadia as the recipient for the luminescent paint, though it was listed as skin-safe. For up to 3 hours anyway!
pp: shot NEF, convert to DNG, mostly global adjustments, some cloning, some NIK.
_____________________________________________
Oh yes...a belated shout-out to Christophe, whose suggestion to make a tear-track through the ashes, as opposed to on top (which is my usual lazy way of doing pp ;-) helped make a difference!
Statistics
Place: 6 out of 58 Avg (all users): 6.2933 Avg (commenters): 5.0000 Avg (participants): 6.2059 Avg (non-participants): 6.3659 Views since voting: 761 Views during voting: 147 Votes: 75 Comments: 6 Favorites: 2 (view)
Wow Susan! Everything about this is just so good, right from the original concept of the idea through to the finished result, there is a lot of thought and hard work that has been put into this. I cannot fault it but I suppose I can see why you got the comment about the teardrop but your explanation, which was obviously not available to your commenter, clarifies it.
You were up against some tough opposition regardless of the invincible gyaban but thoroughly deserving of your high score and placing, well done and thanks for your original creativity in this sad challenge.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
