Morimur

Today I visited the exhibition Morimur at the jesuit church in Lier. The old, declining building itself already breathes death, and the "we are dying" theme of the work of art of Nicole Bruynseels is very impressive and overwhelming. It's a contemporary work that links war, suffering and death to the higher theme of sense of life and God, symbolised by the low beams of spotlight in the centre of the cross form. It's a morbid 3-D expression with a theatrical touch that moves the viewer because of the lack of human presence... Only the pillow quotes of the dying echo former human presence...
I was tempted to take pictures of this work, and even climbed a ladder to get a more original view. Have a look...

Essential changes

Here is an older example I was working on last year and which, for some reason, popped up on my desktop this morning.
I love the "cut the (visual) crap" principle in photography and PS is a blessing for the creative photographer. The "pure" picture is very hard to make in one go. There are often elements that bother the viewer.

Take this example: What I loved on the spot (and the spot is the island Sifnos - Greece) was the weird perspective of the church combined with the subtle game of shadows. But I especially loved the combination of the huge building and the more traditional blue-topped church in the far background... That to me was the essence of the picture when I took it; that attracted me... I had taken the picture some years before, but for some reason or other it hadn't satisfied me...
But even now, I was bothered by some aspects:

• The tree has no function
• The wire disturbs the picture
• On the bottom-left you can see part of a wall. No way to get the combination of the two buildings without the wall...
• The door is an unnecessary eye catcher
• Is colour necessary in this picture? Does it add value?
  

So I changed a number of things:

• I "cloned away" the door and the wire
• I selected the floor and wall, and warped the whole until the wall had gone. The warping stretches the floor and makes the entire picture a bit more dynamic.
• I greyed-out the sky, changed the whole picture into grey tones, except for the blue dome which underlines the "Greek" spirit of place in this picture...