Rainbow Buckets...

"Rainbow Buckets" (c)2012 

This colorful assortment of metal buckets was taken in a garden shop that I frequent during the late Spring.  Loved seeing them lined all up and brightening the aisle that I was shopping in.  When I edited this photo to create my piece, I wanted to keep the happy feeling.  The colors reminded me of young children coloring, so I used a couple of different layers to give it that sketchy and colored in look.  I also cropped the image, giving it a panoramic feel. Overall, I think it is just a happy image.

Rusty Graffiti...

"Rusty Graffiti" (c) 2012

This image was snapped along the sidewalk that curves around Chicago's Shedd Aquarium along Lake Michigan.  It was taken at the same time as the piece from my previous post, "No Diving."  This lovely piece of metal was subjected to the usual urban treatment of graffiti, instantly creating a piece of art work.  In a nutshell, I enhanced the image by saturating the color to give it an extra rusty feel, the I traced some of the words using clogged nozzle brush, along with extracting color.  The point of this piece is to show that there is beauty in all art forms, graffiti is often considered gang related, an urban phenomenon and example of an uncivilized and uncultured community.  I heavily disagree, although there are those who mark walls and territories based on gang affiliations, tagging areas so that the area is marked and you know whose area this belongs to; there is such beauty to many examples of graffiti, those used to create murals in the neighborhood to add color and flair, it gives you a sense of community, a sense of togetherness.  Those who dabble in this art form, are truly gifted artists and each work is unique and beautiful.  My goal is to get my audience to appreciate and accept all types of art work, since my own art form does not conform to traditional photography.

No Diving...

"No Diving" (c) 2013, Simone Hester

This piece is title "No Diving" because of the obvious no swimming sign that is slowly eroding away from the shoreline.  It was captured along the curved walkway besides the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  What drew me to capture the original image was the erosion that has been taking place, from the water and the elements.  I thought the contrast of the crumbling cement next to the beauty of the waters of Lake Michigan was a unique pairing.  To further enhance the artistic quality of the image, I manipulated the body of water by creating waves that have an unnatural look to them against the cement.  Thought it was pretty cool and I hope that to the viewer it presents a variety of messages and interpretations as to what this could mean to someone at that moment.  It could represent a situation in some one's life or a metaphor for anything you can think of.  I'd like to think that it represents life, sure the waters can be a little rough out there, you might want to obey the rules and not jump in, but hey, sometimes rules are meant to be broken, right?