Today is MLK Day, and my daughter again this year invited me along to her school’s Day of Service. This year I focused and was able to complete all the projects in the kit, but I was so focused on the work I forgot to take pictures. But those are some of the best memories we make, when we are so in the moment and focused on the present we don’t stop and break the magic for a photograph. It feels good to use my creativity to impact people I have never met. The world can alway use more love flowing through it without seeking repayment or reward or even acknowledgement.

Since I didn’t take pictures of my work to share and my watercolor pads are in the bedroom with my sleeping husband, I decided to work on some of my digital and composite photography. I take a lot of pictures of my family and of flowers and nature, which are nice, but not very interesting to anyone beyond myself. But when I combine my favorite photos into new compositions often they are some of my most popular photographs. One photo I made last year took Best in Show at the Iosco County fair. My youngest was featured in that one, and he loves that the big rainbow ribbon is on his picture.

These are fun to play around with and when you are layering photos often you realize details and textures that you hadn’t noticed originally. I sometimes take pictures of my food as a reminder to myself of what I was making, but as I rarely go through and delete old photos, they remain for years. These types of photos often work great as layering pieces because they have so much texture to them. I recommend trying to make some composite photos of your own sometime. It can be fun and addictive, even though its very different than making physical art like paintings and sculptures.

Have you experimented with digitally manipulating your photographs?