Maria Mazo, PPSA
April 2026 - In Another World
Original
About the Image(s)
My husband and I are fully immersed in our house renovation. While we are currently focused on the foundations for the extension, the shapes of the iron beams caught my attention. With this in mind, I took some photos to use in this month’s image.
For the background, I used images of rocks and the waves that I took from the top of the cliff overlooking the sea. For the sky, I used a blue-toned image and applied a motion blur filter. I then duplicated it and applied an additional blur to soften the effect while preserving the sense of movement.
For the floor, I used two images of rocks with waves and blended them together.
The buildings are created from the iron beams, which I positioned using the transform tool. The inhabitants come from a photo I took some time ago of decorations in a bar.
Once I was happy with everything placed on the canvas, I merged all the layers and applied an Analog Efex Classic camera filter to achieve the desired mood and texture. To finalize, I applied an SP12 Camera Raw filter to bring all the colours together
12 comments posted
Maria, My first take was more of a post apocalyptic world. You've created an interesting and mysterious image that defies a perfect story on initial viewing. If I were to explore other options I might choose an alternative subject to enter the amazing landscape you've created. Having fewer of the subjects may allow for a different story to be told. Posted: 04/03/2026 18:36:02
Hi Brad,
Thank you for your comment and suggestion,I'm glad you understood the story at first sight. I included many inhabitants to convey the idea of a city or civilization. Unfortunately, I only had one character that fit the role of an inhabitant; I would have liked to have more for greater variety. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:09:46
Thank you for your comment and suggestion,I'm glad you understood the story at first sight. I included many inhabitants to convey the idea of a city or civilization. Unfortunately, I only had one character that fit the role of an inhabitant; I would have liked to have more for greater variety. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:09:46
This is an eerie and intriguing world you have created, Maria. The rich orange of the beams shows up so nicely against the cyan filtered light. The beams feel carefully placed and naturally scattered to me at the same time. I feel a tension in the empty windows in the beams, as well as from all those staring eyes of the strange little creatures. I love the water - and I think it also works well if read as falling snow (which was my first thought).
I really like your lower left hand corner, with the little guy and the fallen beam bringing me into the image. It reminds me of Rachel Ruysch's still life paintings - she always has some interesting item to draw you into her images.
My only suggestion is to consider cloning in a touch of hazy water over the left-most beam, to make it consistent with the other beams in the distance. Posted: 04/03/2026 21:33:24
I really like your lower left hand corner, with the little guy and the fallen beam bringing me into the image. It reminds me of Rachel Ruysch's still life paintings - she always has some interesting item to draw you into her images.
My only suggestion is to consider cloning in a touch of hazy water over the left-most beam, to make it consistent with the other beams in the distance. Posted: 04/03/2026 21:33:24
Hi Peggy,
Thank you for your kind comment. Working on the foundations of the new area of the house was quite boring for me, but the beans became a nice source of entertainment. I enjoyed observing them and imagining their shapes as buildings with windows. Then, the images of the waves fit into that world, creating the canvas and atmosphere. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:15:30
Thank you for your kind comment. Working on the foundations of the new area of the house was quite boring for me, but the beans became a nice source of entertainment. I enjoyed observing them and imagining their shapes as buildings with windows. Then, the images of the waves fit into that world, creating the canvas and atmosphere. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:15:30
Art is a mirror. You only see in it what you already have inside of you. This is an adaptation of a line in "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Luis Zafon that I changed to fit art rather than books. I use Zafon's wisdom because for a long time the high school where I was an English teacher added a new wing next to the English office. The construction was a restful break from grading papers. For several weeks, construction equipment "planted" 3-foot-high beams before coming to attach taller, vertical beams to these bases. Once completed, more construction equipment came to lay beams horizontally across the taller beams. I watched as a construction worker crawled across all of the horizontal beams to secure them to the vertical beams. Your composite made me relive the whole construction of beams. I like the way your mind works, and I get the eerie scene, but 3+ weeks of watching construction outside my window is "already inside of [me.]" Posted: 04/06/2026 23:16:19
Alan, I take the opportunity to thank you for bringing up "The Shadow of the Wind" last month. After intensive hunting in second-hand bookstores I now own all the four books in Finnish and can only now fully appreciate the power and beauty of the text that creates such visions and images, and the wisdom. Posted: 04/11/2026 20:15:01
Enjoy! Posted: 04/12/2026 01:35:07
Hi Alan,
Thank you for your comment. Construction sites are very interesting to observe, as you can see the evolution from a rough, messy place into a beautifully finished building, something I hope my place will become in the end. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:20:23
Thank you for your comment. Construction sites are very interesting to observe, as you can see the evolution from a rough, messy place into a beautifully finished building, something I hope my place will become in the end. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:20:23
Enjoy every aspect of the renovation. It's miraculous that such a mess turns into livable space. Posted: 04/15/2026 01:26:10
Hi Maria, this is like the opening scene of a scifi movie. A traveller enters through falling snow to this eerie little village with its wary watchful inhabitants. I love the way their stiff erect postures and round eyes resemble their buildings, or the other way round. There is such tension hanging over the encounter: will they fight or flee or start to communicate. The color scheme is just perfect for the atmosphere, Posted: 04/11/2026 19:07:29
Hi Kirsti,
Thank you for your kind comment, I'm glad you like the image. I would have loved to include more variation among the inhabitants, but unfortunately I only had one, so I created this world using just a single character shape. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:24:39
Thank you for your kind comment, I'm glad you like the image. I would have loved to include more variation among the inhabitants, but unfortunately I only had one, so I created this world using just a single character shape. Posted: 04/14/2026 20:24:39
I think the the uniformity of the inhabitants is actually an important element in set story! Posted: 04/15/2026 05:57:36