I have really been looking forward to producing a shot in the style of Jerry Uelsmann. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Artist's Challenge or this photographer in particular, the idea here is to recreate exactly or to replicate in your own way the style or essence of the chosen artist. American born Jerry Uelsmann was born in 1934 and until the Museum of Modern Art in NYC gave him a show, he was virtually unknown. His images have been labeled as the "forerunner to the modern photo montage". With their interesting contrasts of organic and artificial elements, multiple focal points, the use of gray tones to compliment the black and white format, and the overlaying of picture upon picture, Uelsmann's pictures are picturesque representations of big ideas. They are vague and subjective and are not meant to depict a familiar place. Rather they allow the viewer to transcend the frame and go on a journey "through the unfathomable." Even though digital photography has streamlined this style and technique, Uelsmann still uses traditional dark room equipment. He explains, "I feel my creative process is intrinsically linked to the alchemy of the darkroom."
As for my rendition, I relied solely on digital technology with sincere apologies to the master! But I did try to incorporate his multiple focal point technique, the juxtaposition of organic and artificial subject matter, and the use of gray tones to bring out a surreal or fanciful world which allows the viewer to be transported into another realm.
@httpgeffed Thank you Colleen! @salza Thank you Sally! The half-chair was a happy accident, sort of. I was merging the chair shot to the beach shot and running through the different applications before making my final click and one of them showed up this way. At first I was going to put it back the way it "should" be- i.e. complete chair, but then I realized it made much more sense to leave it without- more surreal as Uelsmann would like. @kerristephens Thank you Kerri! @bkbinthecity Thank you Brian! @vankrey Thank you Michael! @fullcircle Thank you Cindy! @digitalrn Thank you Rick! @nicolecampbell Thank you Nicole! @cocolil Thank you Tracy! @sangwann Thank you Dione! @janetoner Thank you Jane! And thank you so much for the fav!!! @dakotaburns Thank you Donald! @jocasta Thank you Jocasta! And thank you so much for the fav!! @henrir Thank you Henri!
Thank you all so much. I have to confess, I'm particularly pleased with this one- so your feedback means a great deal to me!
And thank you to whoever gave me that third fav! I'll have to go to my email notifications to find out who you are!
@vposey thank you Vikki! Although it looks complicated, this shot is just a combination of layering photos on top of one another. The base shot is the beach scene with the pathway going to the horizon. The next layer was the chair, which when combined to the first shot was done in an overlay fashion so that the bottom shot showed through. It also blocked out a portion of the chair for some reason- one I was happy to leave as is. The third shot was a texture added to the picture which you can best see in the lower right hand corner. And lastly the ball was added in. This step was probably the "trickiest" because it was applied as a "merge". Everything in the picture containing the ball was eliminated except the ball and then that was shrunk so that it fit on the horizon. I did all these steps in iPiccy and I figured out how to do it by just fooling around with their free on-line program. When adding the frame, I used a vignette and then a border. The best thing you can do is to experiment on the different sites. I think Ribbet can also do photo merging now.
@moreyoulessme Thank you Jerri and thank you so much for the fav!!
@salza Thank you Sally! The half-chair was a happy accident, sort of. I was merging the chair shot to the beach shot and running through the different applications before making my final click and one of them showed up this way. At first I was going to put it back the way it "should" be- i.e. complete chair, but then I realized it made much more sense to leave it without- more surreal as Uelsmann would like.
@kerristephens Thank you Kerri!
@bkbinthecity Thank you Brian!
@vankrey Thank you Michael!
@fullcircle Thank you Cindy!
@digitalrn Thank you Rick!
@nicolecampbell Thank you Nicole!
@cocolil Thank you Tracy!
@sangwann Thank you Dione!
@janetoner Thank you Jane! And thank you so much for the fav!!!
@dakotaburns Thank you Donald!
@jocasta Thank you Jocasta! And thank you so much for the fav!!
@henrir Thank you Henri!
Thank you all so much. I have to confess, I'm particularly pleased with this one- so your feedback means a great deal to me!
And thank you to whoever gave me that third fav! I'll have to go to my email notifications to find out who you are!
Thank you Ladies! I felt this one was right up my processing alley! Bev, it you really want to know I will try and tell you how I did it!
@moreyoulessme Thank you Jerri and thank you so much for the fav!!