The Big One

“Big waves are not measured in feet, but in increments of fear.” -Buzzy Trent

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This little project of ‘upcycling’ old images is turning out to be pretty simple considering the number of manipulations that are available to me with my new free programs.

I used an old photo of the sea, taken from a ferry during my ‘mom and son’ road trip back in 2009. I’m including a little collage below to show you the journey that it went on… in case you’re interested.

Most everything was done using GIMP and the G’MIC plugin. I played around with adding illustrations, like a surfer or a kayaker, but it just looked silly.

I love the colors and the shape of this. It makes you want to jump right in… if you’re brave enough that is! Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin it with some cartoon character nearly drowning in the sea (although it was tempting!).

I actually missed several steps here, but I’m showing you the basics. I think what I like about it, or about image manipulation in general, is that you’re never quite sure what you’ll get, and almost anything is possible – as long as it’s not premeditated.

If you set out with specific intentions, you’ll end up with nothing but frustration. I guess it’s a bit like life. We know where we want to go, and what we want to see and do, but disappointment looms if we set our expectations too high. And we miss the good stuff that can pleasantly surprise us.

It’s a little like blogging as well. Sometimes you just have to dive in. If I waited around for ‘perfect’ images, or ‘profound’ words… you’d probably never hear from me!

Like Buzzy Trent said… fear is involved. But I’ll never ride the big one if I don’t get on my board and paddle. HaHa!

Anyway, I’m already working on my next image and it’s manipulated to the hilt so far. Unrecognizable, to say the least. So I’ll be back to share number three soon enough.

Until then, thank you for viewing or reading… I hope you enjoyed something here.

Surf’s Up!