The Picnic ©2016 - "I'll affect you slowly as if you were having a picnic in a dream. There will be no ants. It won't rain." -Richard Brautigan, Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork 1976.
I began working on this piece at the end of December 2015, put it away in May 2016 and finally deemed it finished in September 2016. I'm not sure why that happens sometimes when other pieces come together a lot more quickly. After considerable trial and error, I decided to take a break and not so much as take a peek at it for several months. When I looked at it again, with a few minor tweaks, everything fell easily into place and it finally felt right. So, back to the beginning. This montage is a combination of images dating from 2010 to 2015. The background started with a grassy field and a small abandoned building I captured in Sussex County just outside of Lafayette, NJ. The trees in the rear, filled with a large flock of blackbirds, were shot from my front yard as the birds were gathering to fly south for the winter. The lovely lady hosting the picnic is friend and model Maryanne Christiano Mistretta from a photo session we did together in 2010. For the "picnic blanket", I set up and photographed a still life consisting of a vintage table cover laden with fruits and nuts. The guests include a dragonfly, a honeybee and a chipmunk from my backyard along with several crows and a vulture from my travels. Various tones, textures and filters were added for mood and blending to complete "The Picnic".
I began working on this piece at the end of December 2015, put it away in May 2016 and finally deemed it finished in September 2016. I'm not sure why that happens sometimes when other pieces come together a lot more quickly. After considerable trial and error, I decided to take a break and not so much as take a peek at it for several months. When I looked at it again, with a few minor tweaks, everything fell easily into place and it finally felt right. So, back to the beginning. This montage is a combination of images dating from 2010 to 2015. The background started with a grassy field and a small abandoned building I captured in Sussex County just outside of Lafayette, NJ. The trees in the rear, filled with a large flock of blackbirds, were shot from my front yard as the birds were gathering to fly south for the winter. The lovely lady hosting the picnic is friend and model Maryanne Christiano Mistretta from a photo session we did together in 2010. For the "picnic blanket", I set up and photographed a still life consisting of a vintage table cover laden with fruits and nuts. The guests include a dragonfly, a honeybee and a chipmunk from my backyard along with several crows and a vulture from my travels. Various tones, textures and filters were added for mood and blending to complete "The Picnic".
