Monday, January 18, 2010

Fantasy and Reality


A number of years ago, we some a great couple in Las Vegas. It turned out that they were also from Oregon and had a home on the McKenzie River. We had a great time talking with them while we were there and they were quite interested in my photographic endeavors. They told us they had a great view of the river and surrounding forests from their home, and offered to let us use their land and their deck for photography if we ever wanted to visit.

Life being what it is, we didn't get down there right away, but we were able to visit them the following summer and were amazed at the beauty of their home and of their land. The McKenzie moves deep and swift past their land, and in the summer their deck is covered by a canopy of green. The home decor relies primarily on the natural wood tones of the lumber used to build it as does the multi-level deck that rises from the slope that leads to the river and attaches to the back of their home.

Over the years, we've used their land for several photo shoots and the image above is only one of many images I've captured there. This image, however, is somewhat special. For our 25th anniversary, I decided to give Wanda a different kind of gift that would merge my love of glamour photography with her love of fantasy art and decor. It just so happened I know a very talented and creative art designer in San Diego, and I commissioned her to use this photograph to create a custom piece of art for Wanda. The first image she produced is below and to the right.


As you can see, she extracted Wanda from her surroundings and added a castle wall, swords, a gown, jewelry, flowers, and other articles. The swords are from photos of a sword that hangs in our home, the flowers are images of columbine I shot for another project, the table and knife behind her replicate other items in our home, but the gown and the jewelry come entirely from the artist's imagination and skill.

We did collaborate quite a bit on the image as she sent me several images prior to the producing the final version. The wall came first, then we decided to put swords on the wall. She found the flowers on my website and decided to use those in the hair. The table was her idea as well, but I suggested the knife that's on the table. The table's color and texture match an antique piece that we have in one of our bedrooms.

Since the final image was to be framed and hung in our bedroom, I did ask for one final addition, for even though our bedroom is a place of privacy and intimacy, we do occasionally have other people in the room. The final image that was printed and framed can be seen below:


No comments:

Post a Comment