Mixing it Up

This post is comprised of some images created by combining one image with the scanned images of paint and watercolor brush strokes. I first scanned in the paint stroke sections of larger drawings, and set them in a separate file. I then chose different subjects that I wanted to combine with these paint strokes. Using the paint stroke image as a mask, I then literally painted in the bottom photo using the eraser tool to bring it up to the surface to create the painting like effect.  What I am attempting to present is the mixing of mediums digitally to create painting effects to a photographic image.  Some of the images I have simply used graphic shapes and lines to frame an object, but in others the subject is buried within the paintbrush storks.

Walt Disney once said “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” The art process is like doors - they must be opened and what lies beyond explored in the art mediums of your preference. My medium is photography and I am still exploring it -it is a door that I opened and I am unable to shut.

Fragments in Time

The temperature for several months at Exit 270 forces me to confine my photographic pursuits to my surroundings.  What is that phrase, “these walls not a prison make” seems to be just the opposite.  Sometimes the familiar things in my space become invisible as I move within these walls.  It is like looking into the mirror and really seeing what is looking back at you. Therefore I began to question, do I really see the space I live in?

So for this post, I walk around this space making picture frames of the things that occupy my space and time.  I am basically making a photographic journal of this enclosed environment.  It becomes my perception of what is contained within these walls and my creative response to that space.  It is a challenge every photographer should explore, as a means of defining that daily blur we seem to find ourselves in.

WHY?

Imogen Cunningham when asked which was her favorite photograph, she replied, “the one I am going to take tomorrow.” I think all artists will agree with this statement. So for this post I am going to choose a couple of images and try to explain what was in my head when I made the image. Some of my favorite images were really photographed within my mind.  All four of these images were planned with the exception of the street shot.

The first image is a Styrofoam cup with a white rose. You might say this is a juxtaposition of nature and the non-biodegradable cup it is sitting in. I thought of this image after coming home from a fast food place and having not discarded the cup, I began to compose this image in my head with maybe a flower sitting in it. The ironic part of this image is that the flower is a silk flower picked up from a craft store, no more biodegradable than the cup it is sitting in. However, I think the symbolism still works in a strange way. I also like this shot because of the whiteness of the objects surrounded by black. The shot was made using simple window light with the objects sitting on a black background so that the cup and flower fill the frame.

While making a shot of a painted face of a women at Dia de Muertos, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a couple embracing behind my subject. I quickly changed my focus and increased my f-stop to increase my depth of field trying to keep both subjects in focus within the frame. It was all done within seconds almost a reflex action to capture the couple kissing before the women with the painted face moved away. I like this image because it is represents the celebration of “Day of the Dead” and life within the single image.  A lot of my street photography attempts to juxtaposition my subject with an opposing symbol.  Sometimes I plan the shot and other times it just presents itself before me.

The shadow images are part of a series of images I shot during one week inside trying to escape the summer heat outside. During this time of the year the kitchen window throws a canvas of light on the kitchen floor. I became aware of the shadows that I cast as I passed by this small corridor of light. I decided to try to create a set of tabloid stories with my shadows. The 4-frame tabloid of the mask and me is one of my favorites. Why? -Because like the shadow that follows us wherever we go...so too does the mask we sometimes hide behind.

The final image is the blue plate and the fork...there is no symbolism here just a simple plate and a fork sitting on it. I liked the shape and the design it offers, nothing more.  It is the simplicity of design, a fork intersecting a circular shape.  Sometime the simplicity of an image can be art in itself.  A final note, this image cannot be recreated because I broke this blue plate early this morning.