A Personal Touch

I’m not usually very good with words. Not that I’m below average IQ or that I’m some kind of recluse I hasten to add. But sometimes I find words an effort. I think that’s why I like pictures so much.

I produced the image below for a friends birthday and had it printed on Canvas. It takes elements of her amazing lively character and shows them in a way that didn’t need me to use any verbal skills (or lack of them).

Taking various images I used the layer system within Photoshop to gradually build the picture. I enhanced and manipulated the layers using filter adjustments and colour samples to create an artistic element along with the eraser tool to blend the layers together. This gave the piece a vibrant dynamic appearance.

……Never too far from a Thesaurus - what a great invention!

Photographic Memories:

Where would we be without our friends? Struggling for the first line of my blog this week I asked a friend for a helping hand to get me on my way. “Perhaps you could start with the merits (or otherwise) of eating Kiwi fruit ?”  The support is touching…..

I spent a couple of hours the other night looking through some of my favourite photographs from the last 10 years. I felt quite nostalgic and a little emotional. On saying this, the glass of wine and epic tunes from Adele’s new album could have played their part.

I came across a photo taken just as I was about to step onto a terrifying via ferrata traverse out in the Dolomites. It still brings back a mild form of panic based on the fear I felt at the time. It’s funny how photos can affect you like this. True emotional stimulants.

Photographs are a way of cataloguing the events in our lives. The interesting journey, for me, occurs when transforming those events into pieces for display through modern tools such as Photoshop. Just a simple adjustment can turn a simple photograph into a powerful statement or a mix of memories; as shown below (This was designed as a 60^th birthday card).