In between chasing the new puppy and keeping up with puddles, I keep working away at figuring out the art of building photographic images with layers on my MS Digital Image program. Alas, I am too po' to afford Adobe at its rather large price of about $400. It amazes and intrigues me to see what I can accomplish by manipulating an image even with my poor imitation Adobe product. If I can make something completely new from disparate pieces, it transcends tourista snapshots and becomes art --if I do my job right.
My brush is a mouse and my palette is point and click. Scissors are "moused" with a line and bits and pieces are electronically moved around. Filters can take the whole thing to the next level along with tinting. It amazes me how much time this building process can take. This piece, Angel Baby, after the old song, took over three hours. This is my son Tor in one of his graduation photos. I love these pictures and how they capture a moment in time so completely.
I have a whole collection of angel photos from cemeteries and statues around the US and in Europe for my personal reference and a raft of pictures I took from Pere La Chaise, the ultimate cemetery, in Paris , France. In this piece, the background is the old French cemetery and the wings are from a bird. I threw in a diffuse glow with a brush on the background and in layers on the foreground after tinting it sepia and adjusting the lights and shadows. Putting the layers in was crazymaking and getting it all to sit on the background I chose was an excerise in patience.
Angel Baby, very James Dean vibe in this pose
These pieces are intended to tell a story in one swoop, sort of photographic poetry for me. I am really attracted to the romantic side of art/life, at least for visits. Living there would be tough, but I love the flavor of other times and places in my work.
Everyone I know had better hide from me and my camera because one of my winter projects is to catch me some angels...
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