REPRESENTATIVE
I qualify a photo as “representative” if it depicts its subject as faithfully as possible. As such, a representative photo of myself would show me in my natural habitat, doing what I love the most, in an unaltered scene.
However this shot is clearly not in its raw format. Some post-production was applied, yes, but does that affect its truthfulness? My opinion is that any adjustment that is added afterwards needs to contribute to the mood or message that I’m trying to convey.
In this image, the color and vignetting try to show how concentrated I am when working. I tend to be so focused that I easily forget all my surroundings for hours on end.
INTERPRETIVE
At first, I couldn’t draw a line between the two expressions. I viewed "interpretive" photography as a way of expressing an emotion or a message but trying to describe “representative” photography, I ended up with about the same definition. We do say "This photo represents [insert any cliché meaning here]." after all.
I decided to differentiate the two by attributing them a relative level of abstraction. Representative photos are clear(-er) in their meaning than their interpretive counterpart. Both have common goals, but one requires a little more insight to understand.
The picture I chose carries no deep meaning however, but symbolizes the current period of my life where I have to live with crazy orthodontics (it’s a mould of my lower teeth).