Thursday 10 September 2015

If You Hate to Throw Old Photos Away - Ideas.

I've just been sorting a box of old photos that I have had since the pre-digital age.
Among them were photos that were terrible - you know the ones - arty shots that didn't work, boring ones you took as a tourist, photos with your ex in them...but I have trouble throwing them out.
Yesterday I scrutinized them with an artists eye to see if there was anything I could salvage from them...and this is what I came up with....

A  mosaic of cut up photos on a theme

First up I cut several summer photos into squares (uneven of course, I don't do straight lines). They became a mosaic. What I noticed was that each little square became an artwork in itself. I have put them into the upcycled book that I nabbed to make into an art journal. Every so often it has a quote, and these blue half pages, which are a great feature.

Next I cut out anything redeemable in a photo - such as the next two pictures. 

A lizard we saw in Australia - now an interesting feature in my art journal

My daughter in a tinsel wig when she was little - released from a bad photo

Sometimes there is a feature that can be enhanced - like these belly dancers. Using a blade to scratch away the background highlights them and makes it arty.
Scrape away the distracting background


I drew on this really old, faded photo of the Sydney Opera House with a fine tip permanent ink pen, then cut it out. Now it's interesting.



Once I started I kept thinking of more things I wanted to do with the large pile of would-be rubbish photos. I'll take some before photos next time, I was just too engrossed to remember to do it this time.
Anyone else got good ideas to share for using up those photos? 


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