playing

i've been so intrigued by {and smitten with} some of the work of an artist i recently discovered... santiago vasquez. so much so, it had me searching through my recent photos to see if i could use any to create something along the lines of what he's been doing with his photos.

if you've visited here before, you may have seen some of my "double exposure" posts, and you'll know my playing with that isn't anything new for me. but the part i have not really played around with {at least not that i can remember} is the repetition. i've seen a lot of photographers who seek out repetition in their subjects and photograph it as it is. but i love the way artists like vasquez take a photo {one that bears no repetition within the image} and repeats the photo itself. i wanted to incorporate both the overlapping and the repetition in these.

in the case of vasquez's work, his repetition produces some interesting imagery... i think so, anyway. i've been quite fascinated with triptychs in photography and film lately {something else i've been playing with and will post soon}, so his work really caught my eye. especially this piece and this piece.

anyway, my images today are the product of his inspiration!

as i played around with these, i noticed that several of my end results were turning out to look like insects or butterfly-esque things with wings... thus the "wings & things" title i put on my image {which you can see the original of here}.
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{i love the way the image above looks on a black background. it's like a giant science fiction insect getting ready to prey on the forest!
same for the image two above that one... you can see it larger on a black background as well, here.}

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i don't know... i just thought that with the interesting lines in the trees and foliage, these repetitive, mirrored and/or overlapping panels made these photos doubly interesting... or at least more so than when they were just single photos.

here is one where i turned it on its side, then played around with overlapping layers as well as different photoshop layer modes...
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i did like the original photo for this one. but i was kind of crazy abot the colors, textures and shapes happening in the center after i started overlapping this photo onto itself. it's a lot different than most of the others, but i wanted to include it, as it's one of my favorites. it reminds me of stained glass.

below are some more results of my playing. but instead of playing in post-production, i the playing as i took the pictures... from that same photowalk shoot at morton arboretum from a few weeks ago.
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had it not been for this santiago vasquez piece, i'd have forgotten about these tree shots that i had every intention of posting at some point. on these, i moved my camera up and down as i took pictures of the woods to get this effect of movement. they actually look like paintings more than photos. but i still loved how they came out.

whether during or after, it's fun to play around with photos sometimes. i don't really consider myself an artist... not in the vasquez sense, anyway. but i do like to play and let my creativity run free sometimes.

wanting isaac to explore his creative and artistic side, i have to remind myself to do the same. everyone has to color outside the lines at least a little from time to time, don't you think?

anyway, with that, here's one last image...
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i simply took my favorite photo from that day and sliced it up. then i flipped some of the slices and repeated them.

this being the last full day of winter, i figured i'd pay homage and respect to the season with these snowy pics before it's over... in hopes that it won't be cruel and linger too much longer. overlapping photos are okay. overlapping seasons... not so much. =)