©Maria Flourou
A guest blog by Maria Flourou, the creator of Head On’s 2014 ‘hero’ image that will be used on the cover of the Head On 2014 program and elsewhere to promote the festival. We selected this image on its merits and then discovered why it sums up the essence of Head On…read more…..
The story behind Head On’s hero image is a tale…..and a half. To be or not to be, that was the question. Why you ask?
You see this image was created with a mobile phone, yep, photographed and edited to boot on a mobile phone. Fancy that! I know all you DSLR/SLR users would cringe at the very thought, but in Head On, we’re all in it together, all photographers, all artists, all shapes and all sizes!
I enjoy using my mobile for photography. Most, not all, of my work is self/portrait based. I occasionally touch on landscape, architecture and street photography but self-portraiture is easy: having myself as a model to practice techniques and editing takes out all the stress, after all I am free and I am available to work any time!
©Maria Flourou
This piece came about whilst on a 2 week vacation at the beach with my family at the end of last year. The change of scenery lifted my dreary mood. I decided to break free from my daily routine so I tried a style that was different for me.
I called the piece ‘Quixotic,’ which means idealistic,romantic, extravagant, starry-eyed, perfectionist, unrealistic, unworldly, impracticable, impossible, useless and ineffective (just to describe the term simply).
I guess the piece came about because I simply wanted to change form, to be someone else for a moment. We all feel a need sometimes to be different and this was my interpretation.
This image was created with Apps including Snapseed for clarity and sharpening, Blurfx to reduce background noise, Image blender for layering, Distressed Fx for the added birds and finally Mextures for textures, gradation in colour/tone, ambience and just to mask any inconsistencies.
If you enjoyed what you’ve seen, you’ll adore the group I am part of, The Mnemonics. We all met through a virtual path, Instagram, and our friendship now spans 3 years. All the artists, like myself, share the same passion and are all self-taught photographers using mobile devices. Our featured exhibition is at Bondi Pavilion Gallery and we hope to see you there.
Maria Flourou
Download Head On 2014 program
