Fresh insights and changed perspective.

Holly fairies twist and turn with liquify.

Ever tried something funky with your photography and the results were really fun? I love to take an hour now and then to experiment, losing myself in photo filters and techniques. Photoshop is wild when you free yourself to follow your heart. Anyway, when the end photo is a surprise, I realize my creative adventure was worth the time.

Amazed at seeing a big holly bush last summer, I snapped a few unbelieving photos. The lighting was right. At the time, I remember thinking how crisp the holly bush highlights and shadows presented themselves. You know I've always said presentation is everything and that holly was doing an excellent job at catching my eye when I walked by.

Later I cropped my picture and tucked it away into a project folder on my computer. In retrospect, I’ve discovered I need to open those project folders more often. Good pictures can get lost or forgotten.
So on a winter snow day from school when I had a little time on my hands, I explored my computer for hidden treasures. I found my holly picture and decided it might be fun to play with it.

First I experimented with the liquefy filter. Playing around with different swirls and twists, I thought about holly fairies dancing around imaginative places of escape and fun.


Playing with hue and saturation opened me to the wonders of recreational experimentation.

Adding adventure to imagination, I manipulated hue and saturation, changing the original green holly to rainbow colors galore. What I ended up with was a burnt orange wonder that triggered my warm feelings and gave me a whole new perspective.

Seemed there might be a life lesson here. Like if we look at an issue or a problem from different angles, working the subject the way we work a photo, perhaps our perspective will change and problems will be solved with fresh insight.

Interestingly, when I entered this into a photo class, it was selected as a photo of the week. So I’m guessing it would make sense to dabble in those project folders even more. I might just have another treasure hidden deep inside. Now let’s see…hmmm.

Comments always welcome.