One of the great things about image competition is that you can utilize it to challenge yourself in a variety of ways. When I teach  my print competition classes, I talk about the variety of ways I’ve challenged myself – but one of the challenges that I respect wildly, but have yet to approach myself is that of creating a self-portrait competition entry.

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve learned of a number of artists that challenge themselves in this way and I’ll be bringing you their stories  – let’s call it a series, shall we?

The first featured self-portrait guest competitor is Master Photographer, Photographic Craftsman and Certified Professional Photographer Christie Kline from Illinois featuring her 2014 image competition entry “Soul Salvation”. (WEBSITE)

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Why did you create it?

I have made it a competition goal to do a self portrait every year. This portrait is meant to show me and where I am in my life at that moment. We all experience different things through life. Some people are a closed book and some are wide open. I experienced something at a young age that destroyed me and my walls built up and I was a closed book for many years. Two years ago there was the start of a transformation a “salvation”. We all have insecurities, these insecurities could have formed from things we have gone through? Being told you aren’t good enough, your body isn’t what it should look like, being bullied in grade school. All these “things” we go through make us who we are and then you have a life changing experience that is just the icing on the cake. The book that was written starting at a young age closed up and had a dead bolt on it. We have the freedom of waking up and making choices. I woke up and made the choice to face this all head on. Facing those demons that you kept in for so long and opening that book. The image “Soul Salvation” is so many things for me. It was me putting my self out there like an open book. Realizing these experiences I had gone through have made me who I am. Embracing who I truly am and loving myself. In the midst of all this coming to know who I really was, I met and fell in love with a man that supported me, loved me, pushed me,trusted me and this was the most freeing amazing feeling I have ever felt. He was a huge part of “Soul Salvation”.

How did you execute the shot?

I had the idea of what I wanted. First time attempting I was on a dark background, with the white cheesecloth and my studio strobes. 142 exposures and I wasn’t happy. It simply wasn’t what I had in my head. Frustrated at the time I just let it be and walked away from it for a few months. Second time attempting I stained the cheesecloth, chose a lighter background and used window light. 190 exposures in I thought I had to have had something in there I was happy with. That lucky 178th image was it! When I do my self portraits I setup the camera on a tripod and place a full length mirror in front of the tripod. For this image I had a background stand setup above where I would be standing, that is where the material used hung from. I use a tiny remote when doing these. You have to focus your camera on something where you will be then go to that spot. If you do not use the remote in a certain amount of time you have to start over.

Where do you hide the remote ?

For this specific image the remote was in the cup of my right hand. It is not easy to hide I have learned over the past couple years.

Post processing & presentation. Print or digital?

After I did my normal retouching to the image the manipulation began. I switched my hands from a different image to get it exactly how I wanted. I had to straighten the material above me. To get the long and skinny composition I had to stretch the image a bit. Made the image black and white pumping the contrast making the highlights and shadows more pronounced. Added a tiny bit of grain. Then I made a new file the same size as my cropped image making the background white. Bringing my original file on top of the new file and lowering the opacity down to 50% for a faded black and white. I printed on a watercolor paper and did a simple double white mat on top of that.

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The journey of this image through comp. Different levels you put it through, scores, challenges, advice for changes & any changes made, competitor angst while waiting, etc….?

I usually take advantage of all the levels of competition to get a good feel on how my images will do. This time I skipped the state comp and went into district. I am a print competition junkie and I love going and watching front and center at the actual competition. Receiving a text message saying your image “Soul Salvation” is now in que to be judged. My heart started pounding from deep within, palms starting to clam up. Sitting there and every time they read a title anxiously awaiting for your title to be read… about 10 minutes later the turn table starts to rotate with the little sliding noise we all know all too well and the Jury Chair reads “Soul Salvation”. There it is… in front of the panel of judges that is going to place it into a category by putting a score on it. I now feel like my heart is going to jump out of my throat, nails are digging into the leg of the person sitting next to me and drops of sweat are beading up while I watch every single judge get up and inspect the image sniffing every inch of it. They all sit down and seconds later the Jury Chair said 88. Whew, I gasped and was so excited! This was the highest score I have ever got out of the box!!! And then I heard CHALLENGE! Oh my here we go, back to my chest pounding and anxiously awaiting what each judge had to say about it. Listening to all the things they loved or disliked about the image. It is really all a blur everything that was said.

The challenged score was announced as a 98. Whew, I can breathe again. After that the judges all took a 10 minute break. We all resumed back into the room for more judging. The first thing the Jury Chair says is we have a challenged print… “Soul Salvation”…. I’m thinking, wait… what???? Oh my gosh AGAIN??? So here we go again after I had gotten my heart rate back to normal. It was one of the quickest challenges ever all the judges said why isn’t this at 100? I literally about wet myself… a 100?!?! One of my images? I couldn’t believe it. Still to this day I am in shock. This was one of the coolest most rewarding experiences I have ever had! Receiving the CPP award, lexjet award and highest scoring case for the North Central District I was on cloud 9 and in disbelief. A few months later it also went loan at the International Photographic Competition.

How do you feel about this image now, did you successfully execute your plan and convey your message?

I am very proud of this piece now. What I learned in the process is to keep trying if you do something and it is a fail… try again and try harder. I have the post it note the print committee used during the competition stuck on my computer to remind me that I can meet my goals and to never give up.

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Thank you Christie for sharing your image and process with Wootness 🙂

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