About the Image(s)

At a photo workshop, the first assignment was to take an image with the title ”Old Sailor” during the ferry trip to the site. I thought of a lovely sentimental ballad with the same title. It is about two childhood friends, one of whom ran off to sea as a boy while the other continued at school and did a boring career at an office. The latter is sitting on the pier and contemplating their respective fates. He sees the soul of his friend as a proud albatross gliding tirelessly over the oceans, while his own soul is more like a common gull who never reaches outside the harbor basin. - Orig. 1: my husband posing as the old sailor, Orig. 2: a seagull posing as the albatross, Orig. 3: Helsinki skyline. There is another layer of the background with low opacity on top of everything, partially erased, and mist plume from Affinity assets for a dream-like effect. The finish is NIK Silver Efex High Contrast Smooth preset with a selenium toning, and some grain. - I kept flipping the image horizontally back and forth, thinking about the message in the direction of gaze and movement, but this version felt right to me. What do you think?