Once an artist, always an artist… I’ve spent the last 60 years discovering I had some sort of artistic ability.
I began my working life as a commercial artist in advertising with photography and graphic design being part and parcel of the same thing in my advertising work.
Today retired and living in Hamilton, I keep my hand in both art and photography, sometimes a combined digital connection of both. Photography as a creative medium draws me to interpretations and ideas that don’t interest me as a graphic artist.
I’m not sure I have a particular photographic style, I look for the difference, the obscure, rather than the obvious. When I visually pick up something that I think will make an interesting photo, I capture it. Spontaneity makes a good shot. I strive to produce images beyond the usual when it comes to subject matter, dependent largely on the ‘kiss’ theory. I don‘t go hunting pretty images or landscapes and portraits, my desire to produce something out of line tends to be my quest but doesn’t always make it any better.
I guess in the age of digital cameras and all its fancy protocol, photography is a whole lot different from the old 35mm and reliance on laboratory colour correction days. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult for an old ‘shutter shark‘ like me to get my teeth around this digital age and I hate to think what it will be like in another 20 years, however, it has its benefits with instant adjustments, improved image quality, and the ability to use apps inbuilt and downloaded to make creative and subtle changes. You can even make good shots out of bad ones and it’s a bonus that you don’t have to pay for film and processing.
My creativity on this hen image makes her the Mona Lisa of the Chook world!
The original hen photo was nice, I’d managed to capture a proud hen with a very pensive look on her face but I wanted to enhance the image with a graphic gown to enrich the image, to give her the look she deserved.
To achieve the finished image I implemented an app that allows me to abort the old image by swelling and twisting the image in any direction, expanding and reducing a different image then applying it to the hen, shaping it to the stance and shape of the hen (putting her cloak on). I then deleted the background up to the final contour of the hen and applied the dark colour. There was no real reason to use a hen, for whatever reason it simply appealed and knew I had to do something with her.
The basic apps I use for most of my digital art/ photography are Paper Pixelmaker Pro and Lightroom along with an Apple Pencil. There are variations within the apps that can be utilised to effect for different results, however I don’t wish to go deep with explanations of use as I tend to bounce around with applications a bit!
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