“keep your brush wet and your heart open, the rest has a way of falling into place”
Wise, supportive words of advice that came my way recently, and one of the thoughts circling my mind while working on this one.
How it Started
This image started with the background. Enjoying some vacation time this week and taking some photos on the beach with a prism. We had just returned from a fun, somewhat crowded, beach in the center of activity – much to do and see – and discovered a quiet, secluded beach. Immediately, my introverted heart felt at peace.
When I captured this image, I loved how the sky looked like water. And I loved the unexpectedness that naturally arises when using a prism.
Failed Attempts
I searched for a portrait to use here. I wanted to preserve that ‘a little unexpected’ feeling.
I started with this image. I loved her smile, her joy. I love the story behind this session and the joy it brings in that specific context. I tried running this through an iPad app that transforms the image in a similar stye to famous paintings. Sometimes that sparks a direction for me. It did not this time.
I tried the same process with an image of my girls skipping rocks on a different beach we visited. That wasn’t working either.
I went back to the session with the yellow dress and pulled another image. This one, with the movement in her hair, might work if I place her floating in the water.
On the Right Track
This was starting to feel right. As I was blending the images how I wanted, I noticed one minor but significant change I wanted to make. Her direction was off.
“The experience of searching a given image rather helplessly and then finding the key to what looked like a mere accumulation of shapes is common in good art appreciation work. Such an experience is the purest and strongest example of that active exploration of shape and visual order which goes on when anybody looks at anything.”
– Visual Thinking by Rudolf Arnheim
The key, what caught my attention, was the gradient of blue. Her head was positioned in the darker area. The visual metaphor being, she was headed to the deep end or into the darkness/shadows. I considered my connection to this metaphor, and in another chapter of my life, that might have felt exactly right. But right now, she needed to be going in the other direction.
Finishing Touches
I layered in a painting after rotating the portrait and starting over with blending the images. To match the movement in the picture, I rotated the painting 90 degrees to the right and stretched it to match the frame. From there, I adjusted how I wanted the texture to fit.
Reflections
“It’s powerful. Your images say so much with no words.”
“Effective and unique, personal use of metaphors adds potency and dimension to your photographs – and provides levels of meaning that make an image a world unto itself and not merely a representation of the visible one.”
– The Potency of Metaphor in Photography
It is often difficult to articulate the specifics of what makes an image feel significant. It takes time to sit with it and allow insights to arise. It requires attention, an open mind, and an open heart. Right now, I sit in that ambiguity. Keeping my brush wet and my heart open as the rest falls into place.
