52Frames Line From a Song Photo Challenge

The subject for the 52Frames photo challenge this week was “line from a song.” I’ve done Rocket Man, Magic Carpet Ride, and I’m Looking Through You. So I checked my song tracks and listened to a few and thought Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors” had some meaning. “It’s like you’re my mirror - my mirror’s staring back at me… I couldn’t get any bigger with anyone else beside me…and now it’s clear as the promise that we’re making two reflections into one.” A mirror would be a necessity so I took a photo of the round mirror in the bedroom and found another photo of the large rectangular mirror in the dining room. I had a nice photo of my husband from an event we had attended and then I took a selfie. A composite was made using all of the elements with the idea of showing three images - my husband, myself and us together with the exaggerated brown eye right in the center. That was accomplished by making the photos more transparent but also high key. The brown eye matched the frame as well. So one of the images was the round mirror and two others were using the rectangular image, black and white/sepia, one was high key - which I liked more; and the other was grungy and extremely detailed - which is the one my husband liked most. I ended up submitting the round mirror because it looked cleaner overall. I’m not sure how it will go over but it ended up being a nice portrait of us after being together 47 years. And I spent a lot of time getting it just right. 

52Frames Line From a Song Photo Challenge

The subject for the 52Frames photo challenge this week was “line from a song.” A few of my favorites came to mind immediately. The first was “I’m looking through you” by the Beatles. Another was “Here comes the sun” by the Beatles. And the last was “Time Carousel” by Arthur, Hurley and Gottlieb. Who were they? It was a group I heard while a student in college in the pub by the student union. There was just something about it that stuck with me. That one would be an image of the carousel on the National Mall. I’ve taken so many photos of that carousel and have never used one of them for the photo challenge. While we were in town we walked over to the US Botanic garden to see the orchid show. Next to the building is a park with a winding path with a stream and small pond nearby. I asked my husband to walk on the path. I took a photo of him walking away from me and then another image of the same scene without him. Later on I would merge the two images in to one and make him become transparent. Turning the photo in to black and white evened out the tones and it looked interesting. I tried that process with a couple of different backdrops. The last photos were taken in the neighborhood park as the sun was shining overhead. But rather then take a straight shot the panorama option was used to create a different landscape. In the end the transparent husband was selected. He liked the way it turned out and so did I. So the carousel will have to wait again. 

52frames_linefromasong

The 52Frames photo challenge this week was more interesting, but not necessarily in a good way. We needed to combine a song lyric with an image. So I wrote down several options starting with John Denver “looking for space.” My idea was to go to the newly reopened air and space museum and find Neil Armstrong’s space suit. Well, that was thwarted when the lines to get it were more than we could stand. This is probably one of the more popular Smithsonians and there was always a line to get in when we lived on Capitol Hill. I was ticked off as we walked down towards the US Botanic gardens. There was a song by Mariah Carey about butterflies and there was an interesting bench. On our way to the car we stopped in the Smithsonian Castle. There was a huge thumb that reminded me of The Rolling Stones “Under My Thumb.” Then we walked over to the carousel because of a song by Arthur, Hurley and Gottlieb called Time Carousel. I heard it in the Rathskeller on the FSU campus when I was a freshman and it stuck with me. Then I thought of Coldplay’s “Yellow” and searched for all things yellow. There was also another Coldplay song “Let’s Talk” - you can take a picture of something you see….. that would cover just about anything, including flowers. In the end it took 66 tries to get the magic carpet ride by Steppenwolf a reality. My husband helped as he held the tiny mobile made out of burlap, acorns, felt and pipe cleaners in the sunset on our balcony. The mobile is 44 years old. I got it for my husband when we first met because it reminded me of the place he is from - Iran. There, they have a lot of Persian carpets underfoot, and maybe even a few that fly. I was happy with the result if nothing more than for sentimental reasons. I’ve been wanting to use the mobile for a photo challenge and this was a great excuse.