Inspired in part by a discussion in the forums about throwing pieces of colored paper into PS, warping and transforming them, and calling it a "photograph". All the flying creatures were created with colored paper.
[May. 22nd, 2014 11:24:42 AM]
Thank you, Rich, for calling this creation ethereal. That was precisely the feeling I was trying to achieve.
My first thought for this challenge was to create an angel with a broken wing. But I was having no luck finding a model (which was a first!!). I decided the Universe was telling me to do something else, so I thought about what sort of winged thing I wanted to create, and the idea of fireflies came to mind right away. I am fascinated by them, and heartbroken that we don't have them in SoCal. The few times I've ever had them swirl around me, I felt I'd been transported to heaven.
The place in this image does not, of course, exist. It is a composite of two trees on my street, paper lilies growing in my front yard, and me in an $8 special from Goodwill. All the fireflies were created from one I made out of paper, stuck on a stick, and photographed in various positions.
The double tree is, well, a "special", magical tree. I wanted to use the purple jacaranda, but although it was full of blooms, the tree itself was a bit Charlie Brown-ish, and by itself looked sad. Doubling it up just made the image about the tree. The other tree by itself was big enough, but not interesting enough to me. Together they sort of became a "unicorn" of a tree.
Finally, the why of the mason jar... I'm really not sure if I intended to show the woman releasing the fireflies, or hoping to capture some. Perhaps she is the Goddess of the fireflies and this is the place from whence all fireflies are brought into world. Or perhaps she represents the child within all of us, hoping to capture some of their magic in a jar.
[POST-CHALLENGE]
I'm so happy that I was able to create an image that conveyed how these flying critters make me feel. Thank you all for your magical votes and comments.
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 52 Avg (all users): 6.8043 Avg (commenters): 7.8182 Avg (participants): 6.9714 Avg (non-participants): 6.7018 Views since voting: 2633 Views during voting: 251 Votes: 92 Comments: 27 Favorites: 2 (view)
Beautiful image! Fire flies are one of my favorite things. As a California native, I consider them compensation for my current exile. As my granddaughter said the first time she saw them... Oh, Opa! They look like stars!
What I particularly like in your entry is the clever use of different levels of brightness: the main subject does really pop to the eyes like rarely. It is difficult to achieve such result while maintaining an overall harmony throughout the image. Congratulations on your ribbon!
Congratulations, Johanna. Beautiful creation - and good for you that you took that 'coloured paper thrown in the air' (as I remember that remark was a little disparaging) and ran with it. The result is gorgeous and blends your creative skills with your photography skills beautifully.
SQUEEL... You fooled me, had no idea this was yours! Well it ended up one spot lower than I thought... WAY TO GO ... I was going to comment enchanting, but my stoooopid brain cell could not come up with that word. sigh So lovely, ethereal, and enchanting
Great magical feel to this ethereal image. I love how the fireflies seem to be the animate spirits of the white flowers. The mythical ethos is furthered by the woman/goddess releasing the fireflies from a jar. Why were they in a jar in the first place? Just curious. Also, personally, I don't understand the forward purple on the tree. These are minor quibbles. This is far and away my favorite in the challenge.
a sacred place
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
