The young lady looking in the window is one of several young ladies who
volunteered to be painted topless for the sake of art in the NYC, Greenwich
Village 2010 Halloween Parade. Someone in my camera club that year was able
to get press passes for those who were interested in being a part of the
parade-camera in hand. I jumped at the chance and happened to get to
Greenwich Village early enough to become part of a scrum of photographers
taking pictures of the creation of body art in progress.
I used Photoshop and its grid overlay to draw the room. The grid is well
hidden in the menu: View>Show>Grid. However, 2 keystrokes will bring up the
grid. Hold down the CTRL key and press the quotation marks key. The tool to
change the size of the grid lines is also well hidden:
Edit>Preferences>Guide & Grid.
As a chess player, I have, on occasion, fallen victim to an opponent's
moving his/her pawn from its starting point (opponent's side) to the
opposite side of the chess board-i.e., my side. Once the pawn survives this
journey, it can be exchanged for another piece, usually a queen, the most
powerful piece on the board.
Happy New Year everyone.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 6 comments posted
Alan, creating a room like yours has been on my bucket list for quite some time. The perspective and shading are beautiful. I can't help wishing though that the subject of this image were simpler and more easily understood. The images on the wall and the apple near the bottom of the image seem to distract me and without your explanation, I would have no idea what the purpose of the chess pieces were. I'd love to see a step-by-step process on how you created the room though. That's what I would love to do myself and could use your expertise with that. Posted: 01/13/2018 18:50:56
Alan Kaplan
(Group 54)
The chess player, the boy, is standing between innocence (the "happy apple") and loss of innocence (the woman). The woman is looking into the room through the window, what voyeurs do to women. The Muslim looks disapprovingly across the room at the woman. The shadows all come from different light sources, a natural occurrence in the surreal world of art. And are the distant mountains a picture or a picture window? Posted: 01/23/2018 21:47:47
Brian Swinyard
(Group 41)
Alan, This is another thought-provoking image which for me has continuity and discontinuity within it. I love the boy looking through the window space at the desert horizon and the way that you have arranged the chess pieces at different opacities in the azure gradient sky with the Queen coming towards the viewer and the pawn receding from the viewer. This would be sufficient for me as it alone would make for a powerful visual composition. I find that the pictures on the walls adds confusion to that simple story. It is interesting how you have opposing reference points on the walls; a Muslim cleric in the left picture and a naked female model in the right picture, almost facing off against each other and competing for our attention. Similarly, it is interesting how the bright door frame on the left hand side takes my eye out of the picture. The red apple(?) in the lower left hand corner seems to be floating above the ground and its shadow is at variance with that of the boy, presumably both created by the same light source. Perhaps that was your intention and that is fine. Posted: 01/14/2018 15:28:28
Joan Field
(Groups 3 & 18)
It certainly has a surrealistic look to it. Things that don't really go together apologize to each other when put together is such a way. Although the other objects (paintings), apple) in the room don't make much sense, it adds to the mystery of the photo. The young man studying the chess conversion works really well. The big window reminds me of the view window in the Star-trek series. You should check your shadow effects as the person and the apple do not match and I would soften their shadows, as well. The woman in the painting looks like she has a cat face or is it my imagination?
I'm glad you're back to surrealism where "images are subject to all interpretations." Posted: 01/15/2018 13:53:32
Alan Kaplan
(Group 54)
Thank you for your feedback. An interim clarification: the woman in the mask (NYC Halloween parade) is looking into the room through a window. The apple is "Happy Apple," a musical plastic apple my sons played with in their crawling ages. Now my grandson is playing with their "Happy Apple." More later. Posted: 01/15/2018 21:31:52
John Larson
I can really relate to the image of the chess player and the chess pieces and they are quite well done. For me I would have stopped there and the two wall pictures and the apple only serve to confuse me (I/am like simple). Posted: 01/27/2018 11:11:42
