I love these. My only quips are the two prominent twigs in #1 , the direction of light in #2 and the hot spots in #3.

I have always been a huge fan of your work and I really like this one.

I'll tell you what I see here. A woman moving forward but with regrets about what's left behind. I'd see that even without your explanation.

A Very beautiful young woman and well shot. I am not too fond of the last one, though...the lighting is a bit harsh.

Thank you all for your comments.

The other day, my youngest--14 now--asked if I noticed that the bolt that holds her selfie stick together is the same size as the bolt that holds a camera to my tripod. With a smile, she merged the two and started taking pictures.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never considered that. She opened the door to better composites with my smartphone.

It took about an hour to come up with this concept a couple more to edit it.

Self-destructing is a good description, but the last month has been better.

Thank you all for your comments and views.

It seems like everything is a work in progress for me--I rarely feel like it's done. I think this one is finished now.

Lately I have been experimenting with compositing images from my smartphone. I think I am getting better at it. Most of my past self portrait composites have shown the difference between my calm exterior and what is actually going on inside. This one is no exception.

Thanks for the laugh....

I see what you mean; she is a very attractive young woman.

A third vote for #2.

So today, for the first time in quite a while, I feel pretty good. I've felt this way for about a week.

About three weeks ago, I couldn't stand up at home and the wife drove me to the ER. They released me an hour later and on my way through the lobby, the wife told me the color was draining from my face. I blacked out and hit the floor. I ended up being admitted for another day and they repeated the same tests they as before.

I couldn't believe that I was getting worse day by day but the professionals couldn't find anything.

I went to see my PCP and asked if it could be one of the anxiety meds I take. We ended up dropping one of them. It took about a week but everyone notices the change. Still can't walk very far because of some painful cramping in my right leg, but I am working on it.

Great work as usual. My only concern is the umbrella. The color on the bottom edge looks like a drop shadow and, for me, makes it seem as if the umbrella is not part of the image.

Thank you all for you kind(and in some cases humorous) replies.

I'm now on day 3 of 30 with a holter monitor. I'm mostly fine if I just lie in bed. Sitting up sometimes causes issues, but walking is a killer.

I get light-headed, start to sweat and feel strange pain in the hands and feet that spreads if I don't sit back down. I am pushing myself to walk, but I am not allowed to walk alone. And I doubt that I'll make it back to the 7+ miles I was walking every day.

The last two weeks have been interesting.

I started to feel...off within two hours after punching in at work two Fridays ago. Spoke to my boss and returned to my desk to punch out and set my out of office message for outlook. Turned to say goodbye to a friend and then I was on the floor; everything was grey. I have a high desk with a tall chair and the chair must have hit me on the way down. Tried to get up and fell back, hitting my head on the desk and wall. Lay under the desk twitching for a few minutes.
I--stupidly--opted not to go to the ER and since I had the van, the wife took a cab to my office and drove me to see my PCP.

Over the weekend, I couldn't get out of bed with out everything going gray. Wife tried to keep me in bed, but I'm a stubborn guy. Had about 10 falls on Saturday.

She took me to the ER on Monday--I fell in the elevator.

I was admitted for observation which turned into a three day stay. They gave me a walker to use, but every time I was up for more than five minutes, I'd hear a ringing in my ears, feel what can only be described as explosions in my brain and the world would go gray.

I used to walk 7 or more miles a day. I can now go about half a mile, but I have to take a nap after I'm done.

On Wednesday I'm going to the cardiac clinic to pick up a 15 day monitor.

Just to keep my sanity, I've started trying more advanced projects with my cell phone--I'm attaching one of my images. Image quality is a far cry from the D7100 I gave up, but I did quite a bit of damage to my shooting arm and sometimes a glass of water is too heavy.

Beautiful work as usual. I do not find the apple to be a distraction. I do have issues with the dress, however. It's hard to tell with the small image you posted, but the bottom half of the dress does not look real to me. But as I said, beautiful work. You really have a talent conceptual photography and I look forward to seeing what you will do next.

A couple of friends told me about those. Missed a half off sale at REI a few weeks ago.

Friends at work are telling me to just get a plastic bubble...last weekend I had a mishap with a large pan of cooking oil and have had limited use of my right hand while waiting for the burns to heal and the swelling to subside....I am truly a klutz.