Dualities: Blue 82

Blue 82 is one of a great number of manipulated images I made while learning Photoshop in the middle Nineties. All digital images are susceptible to a Dualities theme.  Unexpectedly beautiful symmetries result from using Photoshop's basic graphics toolbox. Blue 82 derives from a single, original image.

PumaSkyLily

It's Monday and I'm teetering on the verge of organized photo files. This is also my Monday morning lie. I must tell myself these things to avoid the deep depression that comes with self burial. 

When I began learning Photoshop in 1994 I needed a suitable subject to work on, something to see me through the trials of patience and exasperation.  We had just arrived in a new home and were about to experience life in a 3 br 1957 rambler w/ pool. 

The resultant photoshop collage was PumaSkyLily, a salute to my working wife. I took images from what was happening at the time. (1) landscape pix and (2) pool snapshots were combined while learning the tools and filters of photoshop 2.5. 

Doing what the computer does best, her figure was duplicated and suspended above a filter distorted sky. Lilies twirl above their pads and fill the active four corners. The bird landscape framed the mandala.

Black Vultures

Vultures and bullies abound in the Florida of God's Waiting Room.

The Fisherman

What can any photograph tell you about attactions? By that I mean, how do the visual elements relate to one another? Do they tell a cohesive story?  

Mirrors or windows, our photographs always attach themselves to our Point of View. We know how that works.

Here, it's easy to identify with the lone fisherman. Blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean fill the gap between the individual and the immense cruise line ships in the background. The fisherman and the cruise liners appear to be a world apart and yet, the blue gulf between them contains both the attraction and detachment.

Good morning!

In between videocams a while ago, I decided to test an old Kodak 5 mp digital camera at its video settings. This video is a one shot hand held take under normal kitchen lighting. 

The Myaaka Tower Stairwell

On a recent visit to Myaaka State Park in Florida, I added a few photos to my thematic collection of STAIRS. Here they have a tower constructed of timbers to the height of about 80 feet above the surrounding native canopy.

On the tower I noticed that my gut feeling was the same coming down the stairs as it was going up the stairs. So I paused awhile and watched Pam and Ellen descend the stairs

Look at them descending the stairs. This collage pretty much sums up how I felt watching them leave.

Life is Short

I made this self portrait about ten years ago with one of those little fiber optics cameras that was supposed to connect us all live via our computers. The little camera was a wonderful toy, but it was married to my old, clunky Macintosh. I couldn't take it anywhere. And I couldn't find anyone to field my calls.

So I got bored looking at myself and I gave the camera away.

But I realize now that I had a real affection for that image making cable. The depth of field was awesome. The optics could focus sharply within inches of an object and maintain that sharpness all the way to infinity. The simplicity of it made me  happy.