Something waits, beneath

Something waits, beneath... love the feeling of adventure and discover. Your vision is fully realized in both title and imagery. In regards to the excerpt in your description, it feels like the model is clearing away ashes in search of something new or to get to the essence of something.

Quite an original image. I have not seen that many portrayals of this motif to cause me to somewhat tire of seeing it.

I love the brightness in the photo. Some would say it is too overexposed, but I think it works well with the concept and overall mood. The bokeh is a plus. I do think you could add a little more contrast by darkening some of your deep shadows a bit. Also in the top right corner, you can see some of the background peeking in. It is slightly distracting, so a minor crop from the right could remedy it. Lastly, the lens flare effect straddles the fence for me in terms of distracting and adding to the mood. So, it depends on who is viewing it and their current state of mind while viewing it that determines what side of the fence it would fall on.

In the end, this is a wonderful photo that is both eye-catching and inspiring. Well done!