When we were assigned this project, my first thought was one of immense anticipation. This is exactly the type of thing I’ve wanted to do for a while now. The very first image that popped into my head was that of a striking, timeless yet contemporary, fairy. For this juxtaposition, I chose two separate photos, one of a butterfly, and one of the fashion model Coco Rocha. I just typed “butterfly” into Flickr’s search database, and there were hundreds of beautiful, pristine photos of any sort of butterfly you could imagine; I did the same to find Coco Rocha’s photo, and there again was I met with dozens of stunning images. Once I’d found the two pieces to the puzzle I wanted to create, I cut up and colored, blurred and brushed, and painted the picturesque fairy image I had imagined. The revised photo, obviously a fabrication, can’t really do much damage, as it is merely a whimsical mirror into a more beautiful world. While it is true that both images have been severely altered, I don’t believe it could start up any controversies over said adaptation, as neither image are associated with a delicate topic of any sort. The fact that Photoshop can create this type of image from two distinct, separate photographs by a novice photo editor, is both intimidating and intense; we can manipulate a photo to serve an evil aim, but we can also create beauty that jumps right from the page.
