Early on in the shelter-in-place phase of life this year, I began thinking up a studio shoot focused on capturing quarantine. I wanted something fun, but themed to this time. I debated toilet paper and leaning supplies for a while. But I mean, who wanted to waste toilet paper at the time? And I also didn’t have any clorox wipes or lysol or anything. So it just seemed empty and lacking.
I had always thought the “white box” collage images I had seen around were fun. But I didn’t think that it was something print worthy, I guess, so I never pursued it. But when the boys were playing with boxes in the house, I realized I could use those and create a more decorative composite.
Hello cardboard house photo shoot.
I had planned to do two shoots, with tow different outfits. For most go the first shoot, I fought the boys. It left me too tired to even go into my studio for a while. I shot the images and then they sat on my computer for weeks.
One night I was itching to do something creative. But editing photos was NOT it. I had yet to decide how to display the box images together. They had been individually shot, paired down, and cropped, but I didn’t know how I wanted to display them. I kept imagining a house scene with them inside, but what kind of house? A play house? A cartoon house? The outline of OUR house? (I still might try that one later…)
I began looking through my stash of digital stock graphics and backgrounds. There were several “house” shapes, but as usual, I fell in love with this doodle/sketch type version. Then I overlaid it with flowers, textures and colors, gradients, and some stock images. I painted each layer on where I wanted it. I did the backgrounds with the same elements, but I did them each individually. Then I picked my top favorite images and started stitching them together.
Now, I am NOT a composite photographer. Though I think I just may start getting into it more. It really helps bring my fine art background out more. I always feel like my works is stronger when there’s a fine art aspect to it, so I need to dive into that more. With that said, I think these came out pretty awesome myself. I’m excited by them.
They are great symbols of us all locked away in our houses, feeling a wide range of emotions on any given day. For me, it ended up being the perfect outlet to express myself during this time, and I’m thrilled to share it with you.
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