A Look into the Creative Process

The next thing I had to do was put the truck somewhere other than a parking lot. If I was going to create some action, the truck needed to be on a street, preferably looking like it was moving. I remembered seeing an interesting street which had character, good architecture, and interesting light; but I had the wrong lens to capture it. I shot the picture anyway – never let a good scene go by without trying to capture something. This image of the street kept popping into my mind as I wondered how I could do something with it. Interestingly enough, the composition had just the right angle for the truck to be driving down the street so I put the truck right into the empty scene. I had to stretch the picture to get the perspective just right. Finally, I placed a shadow of the truck on the sidewalk to make it realistic.

Next, I needed some characters to drive the truck. Earlier in the day I was having lunch with a couple friends at a beach side cafe. They were sitting across from me and we were having an interesting conversation. I had my camera in hand and made an off color remark to get a candid reaction. The resulting photo had great expressions but the backdrop didn’t do it justice. I had been playing with the image and realized it was perfect for two people sitting in the truck, I extracted them from their mundane background and put them behind the windshield to complete the story. I couldn’t just paste them into the cab of the truck, I had to get them behind the windshield with just enough reflection to keep the dark character of the story alive. Their expressions are great but difficult to see in a small Internet image. At 20×30 the expressions are perfect – they look like Bonnie and Clyde.

So here it is the composite image looking true to the eye; a perceptual truth but a fictional reality.

But I wanted something more. I wanted to take this to the surreal stage. I wanted to put everything into an alternative world, a parallel universe, an altered state of mind. That is the perception I wanted to present. The picture that tells a story and the words to complete the vision.

APB: The Ice Plant reported that there was a major heist of pure ice earlier today as two, unidentified individuals reportedly hijacked the last delivery of the day. The Truck was last seen driving away from the Historic District close to Flagler College. The driver was overheard making demands for the release of a known pirate, Captain Morgan. Please report any sightings of the truck or the perpetrators to the local authorities. Do not try to apprehend the individuals. They are considered dangerous and may be armed with ice picks.