Don't worry Vernon, not doing myself in.

To clarify - I never saw this as a suicide shot - but someone who REALLY feels "under the gun"

Everyone, thanks for the 'concern' that this is how I feel about myself. It is NOT how I feel, but I wanted an image that was dramatic. It is not a suicide image, or I would not have placed duct tape over my mouth and cropped the image so you couldn't see my own hand. It more represents for me our continued war in Iraq. For those that were offended, I'm truly sorry about your feelings, but it was not my intent.

I guess I agree this shot has impact (I didn't vote because it disturbed me too much) and I also wanted to see the explaination. It is truely NOT an image that can stand alone as a self-portrait. Had I made a comment previously, it would have said that this shot needs a caption.

Excellent photowork. Very different to the other shots.

This is an amazingly violent shot. The image is perfect in this regard. The jiggly blur gives me the sense of impending action (that is, the shot). The realism of the snot dripping off the nose, the sweat off the brow. I can almost smell/taste the sweat. The out of focus gun which looks like it's moving adds to the sense of impending doom, perhaps milliseconds away. The violence and cruelty of the tape. Whew! It is RAW.

I think the image is very effctive because of the huge visceral reaction it gives me. Also the composition keeps me looking. Makes me question all kinds of aspects of violence lke this.

It is a bit unusual as a self portrait and perhaps might have fit in another catagory better, BUT I am so glad you posted this shot to give me something really rough to chew on. Really quite something.

If you were looking for dramatic, you got it. It has the dramatic effect (the sweating seems a little too much -- but I imagine if a gun was at my head, I'd be sweating a ton).

That being said, the image is a little disturbing and I think can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, which in turn I think gets people a bit emotional when looking at it.

In my view, images SHOULD evoke emotion. If you're disturbed, happy, sad, angry, melancholy well then the image has made an impact on you and that's good.