Are you in jail, like these orchids?
What do you see here? Are the orchids bursting out of their jail-like window, free at last? Or are they held back by the bars, unable to experience anything more than a fleeting and superficial freedom?

In fact this whole image is an illusion. It was constructed from two separate photos: one of the orchids I found in a hotel lobby, and the other of a street level window along an interesting graffiti–filled lane I visited one day. The marriage of the two photos took place in Photoshop. I erased the background around the orchid photo, and copied it into the window image, manipulating the layers so that it looked like the flowers were peeking out from behind the bars. Once this was done, I played with the lighting, so that the two parts of the image looked like they blended more naturally and belonged together. The  result is what you see above: a believable image created entirely by my imagination

Do you do that in your life? Do you create images of the future or memories of the past that are figments of your imagination? Believable, but not true? What are the bars in your life? Are you putting yourself in a jail that isn’t really there?  Here are some techniques for getting out of jail free. [Read more...]