Monday, 20 April 2009

April 2009 - Sagrada Familia

The original:

The brief:
As you may know I was in Barcelona last week, and spent some time inside Gaudi's wonderful unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia - a vast stone cathedral built in his bizarre, organic style.

Over the main entrance is this rather fine group carving (above).


The figures are beautifully stylized. The pair that most caught my eye were the two solider-like figures on the left - they struck me as figures that would have seemed well at home in Star Wars.

Of course, they'd need to be made of something other than stone. Care to oblige? High res cutout is
here:


Finished work:


As always, click on images to view full size.

Tuesday, 14 April 2009

April 2009 - Another grave business

The original:


The brief:
I had to do another graveyard montage for a newspaper last week, and it put me in mind of this shot of a broken grave I photographed a few months back. How did this come about? And, more importantly, what happened next?


Finished work:

Click to view full size.

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

April 2009 - Castles in the air

The original:

The brief:
The idea of creating a floating piece of land was raised by Scott earlier this week, and it's one that intrigued me.

Of course, the idea of castles in the air has been around for centuries, perhaps most notably realised by Rene Magritte in 1959. His version had a stark, weighty quality that made it all the more surreal; what I'm after is something that looks altogether more plausible.

Your castle is here. Can you make it float? Use as much or as little of the hill as you need. Or, if you prefer, choose your own building.

Finished work:

Click on images for larger version.

Sunday, 29 March 2009

March 2009 - Flying the flag, part 2

The original:

The brief:
A slightly more technical Challenge this week, after last week's flights of fancy.

Here's a flag I photographed a few months ago. It was outside a military airbase, and the blue serves to indicate something or other - not sure what, sometimes it's red, sometimes it's green.


The important thing about this flag, though, is that it has no design on it. And that's what I want you to remedy: I'd like you to place your own country's flag onto this one, making the result as convincing as you can.


Not easy, this one. I don't think there's any quick way of doing this. But can you make your flag look real?


Finished work: (this is the flag of Derbyshire - my spiritual home!)



As usual, click to view bigger.

Monday, 23 March 2009

March 2009 - Family resemblances

The original:

The brief:
This Sunday is Mothers' Day here in the UK, and of course I'll be taking mine out for lunch. But where should we go? Can you picture the scene?

I'm not giving you any pictures of my mother, of course. But you can assume that she looks something like me, so here's the mugshot I used in the latest edition of the book.

I have a feeling I'm going to regret this...

Finished work: (not exactly following the brief but, hey, you've got to rebel occasionally!)


Click to view full size.

Sunday, 15 March 2009

March 2009 - Maritime mayhem

The original:

The brief:
I spent some time in London's National Maritime Museum over the weekend, which has a wide range of entertaining and interesting seafaring artefacts. I was taken with the construction of this display case, which has been made to look as if it's constructed of rusted metal and ship's planking.

The object inside, though, is rather dull, and the walls (this was the children's gallery) are overpowering. Could we come up with a better setting, and a more interesting exhibit?


Finished work:


Monday, 9 March 2009

March 2009 - Poster power

The original:
The brief:
This innovative poster hoarding on London's Oxford Street doesn't seem to be doing its job very well - everyone's ignoring it. What can we do to make it more impressive? Surely there must be some way of capturing the attention of passers by?

Finished work: (NB: no fish were harmed in the creation of this picture!)