Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be . . .

[CLKunst]

Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be
(What Grandpa Told the Children)

The moon? It is a griffin's egg,
Hatching tomorrow night.
And how the little boys will watch
With shouting and delight.
To see him break the shell and stretch
And creep across the sky.
The boys will laugh.
The little girls,
I fear, may hide and cry.

Yet gentle will the griffin be,
Most decorous and fat,
And walk up to the Milky Way
and lap it like a cat.

-Vachel Lindsay

Playing with fire and inspired by a favorite children's poem.
Comments and Critiques welcomed.

[Shebang]

How in the world did you do that?? Ah, never mind -- I'll just enjoy it! With the poem especially, I see a face. One thing immediately jumped at me that I don't like and that is the crop at the bottom. If you cannot include all of what I would call his beard, then I would crop it barely below the shadow of the chin. The tip of the middle point at the top being cut off is a minus, but not as big a deal. Edit: Toning down the very brightest highlights at the top just a touch would be a plus as well, IMHO.

Very creative!!! Love the movement and the tones!

[Greg McCary]

Excellent. I would imagine this would make a great print.

[Ptax]

As a school teacher, I especially appreciate the way you combined literature and photography. I teach a photography club to fifth graders. Would you mind if I used your post as a teaching tool?

[draymorton]

Awesome. The pairing of the text and imagery is most appropriate. Each enhances the effect of the other. I love kaleidoscopic stuff and this is really well done.

[gahspidy]

This is great, Cindy A symetrical abstraction somehow. I like the smoothness and appearance looks almost like a smooth metal with reflections all around its various contours.
Nicely done and the text goes real well with the imagery.

[CLKunst]

Hi folks! And thanks for the encouraging posts.

How in the world did you do that?? Ah, never mind -- I'll just enjoy it! With the poem especially, I see a face. One thing immediately jumped at me that I don't like and that is the crop at the bottom. If you cannot include all of what I would call his beard, then I would crop it barely below the shadow of the chin. The tip of the middle point at the top being cut off is a minus, but not as big a deal. Edit: Toning down the very brightest highlights at the top just a touch would be a plus as well, IMHO.

Very creative!!! Love the movement and the tones!

Great critique Paula! Here are your suggestions made manifest. Adjusted crop and toned down highlights. Originally this image started as a fire in my backyard. I pushed it through several filters, mostly involving "Liquify", and pushed the image around manually until I started to see the face, the rest was just bringing it out.

Excellent. I would imagine this would make a great print.

Thanks Greg - I'm thinking the MPix Kodak metallic paper is going to look amazing at full size with this image. Planning on doing it big!

As a school teacher, I especially appreciate the way you combined literature and photography. I teach a photography club to fifth graders. Would you mind if I used your post as a teaching tool?

Thank you Ptax! And please do share it with the kids! I believe that literature is an almost bottomless source of inspiration for photography! I have a someday project of creating my favorite scenes from my favorite children's stories.

Dray - Thanks a bunch, and so glad it works for you! I've been working with kaleidoscopic effects like these for a few years now and have only just started really getting what I want out of them.


Gary - Thank you for the encouraging words. Will be trying to get a local show in the next few months here in Asheville and I've been spending a lot of time breaking my own rules about the way I do these. Feels great!

[Shebang]

Wow, CLK -- fire?!! I would have never guessed that. Very creative! and your edit is perfect, IMHO. Great job!

[Old Timer]

Very creative image Cindy. I think the Mpix metallic will be a wonder choice for this print. I hope it finds a place of honor in your home. Well done.

[CLKunst]

Very creative image Cindy. I think the Mpix metallic will be a wonder choice for this print. I hope it finds a place of honor in your home. Well done.

Thanks much Larry I hope it ends up hanging in other places besides my house, though. I'm swinging for the fence this year and looking for gallery exhibitions.

Wow, CLK -- fire?!! I would have never guessed that. Very creative! and your edit is perfect, IMHO. Great job!

Thanks Paula!!!

This is really cool, if you use your imagination there are four different Griffins in this shot, that I can see anyway.......

There are! Thanks for looking!!!:thumbsup:

Poetry and visual interest, two great things that harmonize beautifully. This is an outstanding culmination. Thank you for sharing.

You are welcome!

It is really spectacularly good. Looked like it had been made with one of the various 3d tools. But liquefy and pshop makes sense too. May have to try something like that.

Please do, I find it a very personal and subjective pursuit much like Rorschach inkblot prints are used to judge your levels of perception and sanity(?!). Everyone sees something different with these kinds of pictures but lately I've begun pushing the images into the direction that underscores what I see there naturally.

[hminx]

This is really cool, if you use your imagination there are four different Griffins in this shot, that I can see anyway.......

[chrisnesss]

Poetry and visual interest, two great things that harmonize beautifully. This is an outstanding culmination. Thank you for sharing.

[daq7]

It is really spectacularly good. Looked like it had been made with one of the various 3d tools. But liquefy and pshop makes sense too. May have to try something like that.

[Shebang]

I thought I had a fair amount of imagination -- but FOUR? Where??