smoke and mirrors - ghosts in the machine

When JD came in to Photobooth for his portrait  - I quickly grabbed a plate to make the first image, not realizing it had been sitting out for weeks accumulating debris on the surface. The roughed up surface appears like smoke and mirrors (#1), and masked the fact that the background light was not firing, (which I didn't figure out until #2....)The final image reveals JD to be the seafaring captain he is in real life (#3)....All 3 feel like their own distinct photo universes, ones from which I am continually learning on this spectrum of failure and discovery.....