billyboy

I got a BM from Mugsy this morning! I was already buzzing before I read it as I associate Mugsy with the group A Class of its Own , for which I was honored to have one of my pictures selected a while back…

He wrote me that he was interested in doing a project within the group whereas each month a selected member would be asked to pick his or her favorite image from their own portfolio and do a piece on it, describing why it was chosen and what was involved in its conception and realization. In addition, this member would select an image from another artist in the group that made a particular impact, and give it the same treatment. I told Mugsy I would be happy to do the first one, so here’s my effort… it’s a fun idea and I hope this pilot inspires lots of awesome entries to follow!

My personal choice is a bit on the wicked side, but then I myself am a bit on the wicked side which is probably why it’s my favorite. It’s called Rat Cat

There are several reasons why this works for me, but it’s the way the idea evolved over several days to arrive at the final result which for me represents the biggest reward possible for doing something stupid that in a normal world just shouldn’t work.

It started with this picture I took of our kitten OJ a while back…

I was looking at the print one evening when our other cat dragged a rat into the house through the cat flap. Lots of excitement followed, but at least the rat was already dead so all I had to do was dispose of the body, which I waited to do till everyone (including the cats) was in bed. But looking again at the picture, and of OJ’s face, the thought occurred to me that a rat dangling from his mouth, fresh from the hunt, would make the image lots more interesting. So… with everyone now asleep, I set up the same studio flash as I used for the original shot of OJ, and tied a string to the rat’s tail and hung him from a tripod…

I actually felt it was a fitting send off for the poor guy… immortalizing him on film (yes, this was before I went digital SLR), and I took several poses as I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going with the final image. If anyone found that rat next morning in the bushes across the street with a string tied to his tail…

Anyway, I started putting the shot together in Photoshop, and with the use of various tools to apply shadows and get the tail positioned correctly in OJ’s mouth, etc., it was looking pretty realistic. But at the same time, it was lacking in composition. So after some serious thought, I spotted a pot of flowers in a shop on the way to my car after work… this would add color and compositional balance… so I again duplicated the flash setup, and to add realism, I decided to use my flash meter to crush the flowers in the same way OJ would have if he were sitting on them in the pot…

As with the rat, the tracing of the flowers had to be meticulously done, and at this I spent hours. I used many layers and adjustment layers to get the shadowing just right, making sure the light on all the elements was originating from the same source and direction. Working with a graphic tablet was indispensable to get the rat’s fur cut from the original background without looking odd.

In the end, I was surprised at how the final image turned out. It worked compositionally with the kitten’s left eye falling nicely on the diagonal across the frame to give the viewer a starting point to travel down the tail and settle on the rat, who incidentally posed so perfectly for me I considered keeping him in formaldehyde. The colors all work nicely together with the neutral background as well. But for me, the biggest bonus was the nonchalant look on OJ’s face having captured and made prey of a rodent almost as big as himself. Also, the overall vibe reminds me of a classic still life oil painting… you know, the ones where the goose is hanging over the pantry table with the buckshot fresh in its neck from the hunt…

Now for my chosen work from the group…

This is Endless Journey, by Houk

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Jeeze, it’s hard to know where to start. Houk’s work came to my attention a while ago, and although everything he does amazes me, his photomontage pieces especially blow me away. Not only because they bring me to places I’ve never even dreamed of, but also because even though I do some of my best work in photomontage, I can’t figure out for the life of me how he gets his elements looking the way he does. Check this image out. Everything from the castle to those mad zeppelins, to that insane bendy tower… right down to the sheep and even the landscape itself… is totally surreal. And just to tease you, he even includes in some of his work a separate detail shot just so you KNOW he’s not messing you around, and that his art actually does come straight from a world which we know absolutely nothing about.

But taking all that aside, just look at how the tonal balance blends so well and smooths the transition between the elements. My gaze starts on that amazing flying machine (I believe that was the subject of one of his detail images), and follows its direction towards the tower, which for me is the highlight of the image. What goes on in there? The way those amazing sun rays fall on the ornate masonry and light up the interior makes this structure a stunning feature on which I am happy to settle and stare at for a surprisingly long time without getting bored and moving on.

Endless Journey is a masterpiece and makes me think of classic, timeless art from one of my favorite painters Hieronymus Bosch.

Houk, you are a genius and your work is inspirational beyond belief.

Wow, looks like I’ve written a book. Mugsy, if this is too long, or if you don’t think the format is what you’re looking for, I’m sorry for that. But I can’t thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to get all that off my chest!!

Cheers, Billyboy