Sources of Inspiration, from landscape to digital art
Sources of Inspiration, from landscape to digital art
Being a photographer offers many varied avenues for creativity; alongside the work of transposing people’s visions for their business into stylish eye-catching images; when time allows I work on more personal pieces that speak something of my own self, and view of the world.
These days I have found myself straying into the world of compositing and digital art, which is a process that is surprisingly organic. The piece ‘Sources of Inspiration’ is such an example.
Norman Foster’s iconic Sainsbury Centre at the UEA in Norwich was designed as a place for visual communication, and it has always struck a cord with me. In some ways it is a brutalist statement that screams for attention, but with its’ elegant lines and shapes it fits subtly into the landscape. Over the years I have photographed the building many times, and on this particular occasion the light had an almost translucent quality as it bounced off the walls.
When I took the photograph I knew that I wanted to create a piece that expressed the interplay between light, landscape and building. The original image became “TiC Tac Foster”, which in itself is a work I was happy with.
The next stage was to layer the image to allow for the splitting of colours, which gives a sense of the building having a life of its own. The colour palette was chosen to represent fiery, earthy tone as I knew that I wanted to show the synergy between the man-made building and the natural surroundings.
Having completed work on the building I was looking for a tree that looked as if it too was reaching out and interacting with its surroundings. Serendipity played a part here, and the tree that I used was one that I walk past often, on one of my favoured walks around the village where I live. Winter shows off the sinuous shapes of the branches, which were captured by my youngest child when we were out for a stroll. Grateful for their contribution to the composite work, I edited the tree layer so that it had a characteristic suggestive of an ink spill making its way across the paper.
The final stage was the addition of the pyramid, to link the building and tree. The geometric shape complements those on Foster’s building, and is often associated with mystical lost wisdom. The creative process involved in ‘Sources of Inspiration’ was a lengthy but rewarding one, and I hope this has given you an understanding of one aspect of my photographer’s journey.
