In a way, this image was a turning point. The assignment was to photograph my front door. I photographed that door about twenty different ways prior to this shot and each time my instructor told me that I wasn't being 'creative enough'.
In retrospect, I think his response was because I chose to go to an art school rather than a photography school with the difference coming in the approach. To my mind, photography school emphasizes the craft while art school emphasizes the idea with the expectation that we'd develop the craft along the way.
At some point I realized that photographing the door as it hung on the front of the house was the thing holding me back on this assignment. I don't recall any of my classmates taking the door off the frame for their images but I think that is what my professor was pushing me to do. Once I could see the door outside of the expected scenario, then I could completely change my approach. It was a good lesson. That said, while this self portrait represents something significant, visually, I don't think it is anything special.
