Complexity within Simplicity

Could this be a captured moment? Or is it more like a straight-forward statement? I
personally believe that it is both. You might go through many pictures, seeking beauty
or a swift smile, but it does not happen often that you'd see a clear, frank picture and
still remain intrigued and confused. This is a self portrait of the photographer; a
young lady that speaks her mind, yet remains vaguely enigmatic and unresolved. And
through this picture, she was able to express her true self that hardly anybody gets to
see.

Why would this be a moment captured? Well, to start with, from my point of view, or
my own understanding of this picture of many words; that when you face someone,
you take a quick glance of how they look like, thinking this would be enough to
resemble this person in your memory. However though, it is only quarter or less from
this person that you've seen, whilst the picture here shows half, which is addressed to
friends and family, therefore it means that even if you think you know someone very
well; you're only acquainted with a part of what they truly are. Hence from the image
captured from your mind, a statement was made to prove you wrong.

If you come to look closer, the smile twitched looks forged, almost like it was forced
upon her. That she is not truly happy, that she is burdened with misery and still
aspiring happiness, trying to apply it on her life and not ever giving up on the chance
to smile from her heart one day. It is a smile that she shows people to spare them the
truth that lingers underneath that face, a smile to let go and make the best out of life.

I have another theory, might sound a little far fetched, but once I thought about it, it
made much sense. The other half of the picture that does not include her face, that
dark blank space, what could it possibly be? And once I have set my imagination free,
it came back with a Frisbee of depth. I thought; if this picture symbolized her life,
and her face represented herself, then this blank dark space spoke about her unknown
world. Think about it.

Lastly, I'd like to add that photography-wise, it is unbalanced, and I believe that she
intended that. The space left was there for a reason, as previously explained, and
perhaps also to express that she herself or her life is not balanced, that maybe she's on
the edge of a cliff, or that she is reluctant to survival. I know that this interpretation is
sort of too dark, but it could also be my own reflection of the picture, that she did not
mean all those things and I only said such as a reflection to how I feel.

A testimonial picture which enlightens you with human perception of other 

humans, expressing the fact that you hardly know people as a whole, like loving the

sea, just by staring at its surface, without actually diving in its depth, discovering its

many aspects and true beauty.

© By Lama El Dessouky