Rises and Reflections

I've been dwelling on art and composition for a while now. To be honest, I'm not sure how accurate anything I think is - I create but what I create barely makes a ripple, and in the absence of feedback it's easy to be inaccurate in any sort of self-analysis. One thing I've noticed is that I'm thinking about the principles I've explored as I take new pictures - how is this balanced, where is the center, what tension am I trying to capture - and that thoughtfulness makes taking pictures more interesting. It's made me think about how often we operate in a vacuum, though. Culturally, a lot of people value independence but I've grown to crave response, to seek out the reflections found in the eyes of the people around me.

Psychologically, we create ourselves in the reflections of the people around us. We act, they react, we learn about what we did. There is the internal experience of doing, the external experience of being responded to, and together those two things make up us as people. I am having, in the most cliche of ways, a reaction to hitting another level of life and not having it be exactly what I had in mind - I have those who love me, but I am largely alone and increasingly obscure in how I share things about myself. It's a sort of irony, to want to connect and yet seemingly hamstring oneself at the doorstep out. Of perhaps, as I've been reflecting to myself recently, this is a common experience people have when they hit a major life crisis and are looking around to assess everything that has come so far.

What are we without reflections? Without reflections, who might we have become?

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Drew
Eyes: .:Soul:., Oculos Eyes
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Ears: .:Soul:., High Elf
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Necklace: Zenith,Magic Stone Necklace
Body: SLink, Body, Hands & High Feet
Nails: La Boheme, Taema Silver
Outfit: Figment, Crystaline Dress
Shoes: Glamistry, Galla Heels

Poses: Grafica
Location: Furillen
Windlight Settings: Phototools, Dream Book Light 02
Water Settings: Mirror Water

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping