Just clowning around

This week's competition on Digital Photography School is 'costumes'. Being one who loves to dress up I thought I'd give it a go. I have a bag full of weird and wonderful outfits but a few weeks ago someone was telling me about the Clowns International and how their annual church service in Dalston, London (in full dress) is a great photographic opportunity. Made me think doing something clown-like could be interesting.

I surfed the web for info on clowns and there are many things to be said about them, but there is one thing that must come first. The clown face is not a mask it exaggerates features rather than hides them. The other thing I found out was that the clown's job is to cheer people, no matter how they are feeling. I also found lots of discussions of broken clowns, their clown lives takes them away from their gloom. I'm not sure if this is true but I thought it would be an interesting concept to work with. The idea is that the costume is brass and bold but the person wearing the costume can in fact be quiet and vulnerable, makeup fades into nakedness. Two become one, and this is actually how many of us cope with the difficulties that life can throw our way.

This was a scary thing for me to do but I'm probably fretting about putting it up too much, afterall, people I know plaster photos of themselves on holiday in their swimsuits all over facebook and blogger, and I'm not nervous about what the people I don't know think about me. Saying that though, I grudgingly haven't put up the 'best' one as I'm a bit too nervous about it and the one I have entered for the weekly competition is on my flickr page - it has more costume! It was nearly the one below though!