The inspiration for this effort was a mural seen in a home decor store - a gymnast on a balance beam, silhouetted against a block wall with a stripe painted across it. Well, we didn't have a balance beam or striped wall, so we did what we could with what was at hand. Mary Margaret did several walkover, back-bend, and handstand poses, fretting that she'd kick a light or knock something over.
We submitted one of her handstands to USA Gymnastics for the 2011 Year of the Handstand project. Click here to see that picture in USA Gymnastics' gallery of handstand pictures.
I wanted the floor and foreground to be white, so I couldn't set up the lighting to create a silhouette of Mary Margaret. I digitally converted her image to a silhouette, retaining just a bit of detail. The color of the softened-edge stripes, applied with a slight gradient, was sampled from cell-phone photos of her bedroom accents. The green is supposed to be 'artichoke', but I guess it's really closer to 'bell pepper'. It is better than my fist attempt, which Mary Margaret derided as color swatch green.
The final print of the poster is 24 inches by 36 inches - for Mary Margaret on her eleventh birthday, September 19, 2011.
Happy birthday, Mary Margaret!
Happy Birthday MM! Love your handstand photo in the 2011 Year of the Handstand project gallery. While you may not have been in the most exotic locale, your handstand was one of the best executed, and Granpa's photo of you was definitely the best!
ReplyDeleteThe final poster is a little bit of digital magic. It makes me feel as though I am in the large expanse of the gym watching the gymnast on a tumbling run. No lights, no camera, just action!
rws