"...Hope!"

[JoL]

Having been amazed by the facial expression of this little creature I honored it today with a photo hoping to be able to express what I see in it.
Any critique is very welcome!

I am not quite satisfied with the composition, I originally planned on having more empty white space to the upper right, but due to environmental restrictions this is the closest I could get.

 

[amolitor]

Yup. You want the shadow in frame, but you also want the little dude looking across the frame, not out of it, don't you?

Place the light up higher, to shorten the shadow!

This is cute, and an interesting subject as well. What is this little guy? Looks like an owl, but is it an owl seen through some cultural tradition or another?

 

[JoL]

I could try it again with a different framing, I agree. I like the shadow though since it's representing the dark long past the little guy went through. Now he can look into a bright future. That said, I actually like that the unknown future is really lies in the unknown, outside the picture. Perhaps I would even keep it this way.
The owl is from an old German household. The head is a sphere that can be rotated in the concave body. Depending on the orientation the little fellow looks sad, superior, interested, suspicious. That's what fascinates me about it.