Friday, December 9, 2016

What's It Made Of?





The other day I was rummaging through my photographs and ended up creating this.

Frankly, I don't know what I'll ever do with this picture (other than use it as a teaching tool), but it was fun to make, and here's what I used:

There are two versions of the picture -- the original vertical format and then the squarified version. Why? Because each version gives you a different feel.

In the top image, there's both vertical and horizontal movement. There's a horizontal line up top, which echoes the horizontal line of the "4665" at the bottom.

Then there's the hand, which sort of links, in a vertical fashion, those two horizontal elements.

The square version does not emphasize movement. Your eye goes plonk, right to the hand/number combo. It looks around a little bit, but always sees the numbers and the hand. Not nearly as much movement as the first picture, but rather immediate impact.

There are basically just three pictures I used to make this. And I found them all in a boatyard.

First, there's the background, which is a photo I took of the side of a boat that was being refurbished, so you're seeing scraped and sanded paint, dirt, grunge, grime, and a number of dusty, faded colors.

I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHING THIS SORT OF THING!

Then there's the hand. I think it's really a painted glove that someone slapped on a wall.

And then there are the numbers, which caught my eye because they're pulling away from whatever they're stuck on, which gives them a certain depth and texture. Didn't need all the numbers; four worked fine.

And that's about it. I've shown you the sorts of things I take photos of, and then how I've combined them into one semi-weird photo that darned if I know what I'll do with.

Except show it to you here.

©Carol Leigh
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