January - Self-Portrait

It's January and the start of the new year. It's a time for reflections and resolutions. I'm really excited for what 2012 may bring me either with my photography, my writing, or on the personal front. I'm not giving up and I'm going to meet the challenges of each new day head-on with excitement, confidence, and hope. I'm ready to try new things and stretch my neck out a little. Like for instance I cut 17 inches of my hair off and dyed it just a few days after the new year. And to prove to myself that 2012 is going to be a good year, I donated it to Beautiful Lengths. A little good karma never hurts. Another new thing I wanted to try was Self-portraits and not my usual headshots that do absolutely nothing but sit on my facebook wall for a day or two but something with personality and umph, something I'd be proud to show off as a representation of me. That's what the picture is about. That's me, or at least the person I want to be this year. Excited, hopeful, confident. To make it happen I'm entering a self portrait contest over at Rock the Shot, www.rocktheshotforum.com

Now for a little of the Technical stuff for the other photog's out there.
I shot this with my Rebel T3 with the 18-55mm lens and a hotshoe flash on portrait setting
I used a remote trigger
In post-processing, I used a warm brown low opacity layered over black and white. And then I burned the edges just a little to draw the focus in.
Smoothed the skin just a little and brought out the highlights in my eyes with dodge. That's it. 
Enjoy! and I hope you can make your new year into the one you want it to be too. :)