Musings in Search of a Muse

Mom gets around (click pic for larger image)

A couple years ago my mom took me to DisneyWorld and to visit my brother in Florida. I got her to put on some Minnie Mouse ears in a gift shop. The background was terrible so I cut her out of the shot and put it in another shot with the park's castle in the background. It fooled everyone so I thought Let's have some fun with this and take Ma around the world!

After gathering some shots (like the Great Wall, above) I took the same cutout and put it into a bunch of pictures, captioned them, and got some prints made. Then I sent them to my Aunt Ginny because I figured that no one would see them again if I sent them directly to my mother. They were a hit! Over the years I have frequently used them as my background wallpaper and thought of getting more prints to keep around the house. This composite fools some people for a while but when they see her with the exact same pose (and clothes) in places thousands of miles apart then they get the joke.

Doing this little project gave me the practice and encouragement to do the bunny pic I posted earlier this month. I like doing this stuff and with a little inspiration I'd like to do more. It reminds me of the stuff I used to do in the darkroom back in the pre-history of photography. Maybe I can do something with pics of my best friends?

Here's one of my works in progress using just part of the cutout:

Okay, here's another fun one.

Eventually it will be completely black and white but the trials I've done so far lead me to believe that I have to get the tones and colors perfect before removing the hues. And I have to darken the shadow, too. Might try doing a pattern wash. Dunno. Been working on it for a while now and then, off and on.