Hope Prevails

This image was taken way back in March 2014 when Natascha van Niekerk Photography was visiting me for our first group exhibition. Together with Claire Gunn Photography, we are now working on our fifth exhibition “Landscapes of the Soul”, where this image will be exhibited.

I prefer to believe there is always hope. Even when hope seems lost, I believe that is has merely moved direction to guide you onto another path. Hope is such a powerful, yet complex emotion. It is there to give comfort when needed, yet it is completely controlled by yourself.

In this image I used a lantern/light to symbolise hope and the vibrant red of the dress to symbolise defiance and strength. Hope will prevail.

I did much more processing on this image that I had intended. I certainly did not expect to be building a house in Photoshop! As you can see from the before image, the processing was rather extreme.

I took this image how I had envisioned I would process it. I had wanted it to look to the viewer as if they were peering into another world. Yet when I started processing this image recently it just did not feel right the way I had thought it should. So instead of ditching the image, I started playing around with a few options in Photoshop. Using the rectangular marquee tool, some copy and paste, some careful masking and my new best friend, the warp tool, I had a scene that felt right.

This was a great challenge to work on. I’m not sure if leaving it to brew in my folders for so many months was a good thing, but I love the feel and symbolism of this image, so I am glad I stuck with it :)