May 2009 - Damien's iMac

The original:
The brief:

I was commissioned to do a rather interesting job a couple of weeks ago, and thought you might like to have a go at it. It was for a magazine feature about buying contemporary art online, and the idea was to show a computer in a glass case in the style of Damien Hirst, the British artist best known for his early work that involved sawing animals in half and pickling them in formaldehyde. So the task was to cut the computer in half and place it in a case. 

This is the starting image I used (although I didn't use the speakers). It turned out to be a tricky and very interesting job. Feel like having a go? I'll post my version next Friday, for the sake of completeness. 

Finished work:

As usual, click on image to view larger.

May 2009 - Out of the depths

The original:


The brief:
Down by the docks in Oslo, I spotted this underground channel. What kind of machine or beast could live in such a place?

The real challenge here, of course, will be to match the distorted reflections in the water's surface. Not a task for the faint hearted!

Finished work:


Click on images to view full.

May 2009 - Spinning Columbus

The original:

The brief:
Another image from my Barcelona trip. It was the home of Christopher Columbus, and there's a rather fine statue of him on a magnificently decorated column. The trouble is, when I photographed it, in order to get the column well lit I had to take the shot from behind.

Your Challenge is to find another image of Columbus, and place it on the statue facing towards us. It should, of course, match both the perspective of the scene and the existing material as closely as possible.

And please - for the sake of modesty - NO statues of me!!!


Finished work:

Click on images to view full size.

April 2009 - Lift the lid

The original:


The brief:
It might surprise some that I should go all the way to Norway and come back with a photograph of a manhole cover, but you have to admit it is a very fine manhole cover.

What I want you to do is to lift the lid and show me what lies beneath. It's not quite as easy as it sounds: you'll need some subtle shading to make this one convincing.

Finished work:


Click on pictures to view full.

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.

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.

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.