Being a Colorado native, this prompt brought to mind a rich store of images I associate with the mountains. I chose to focus on one aspect, the way that mountains are layered, that I always find captivating. Also, I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to explore Photoshop for the first time, and learn how to create "layers" within that software. The content of each layer is a texture that I would find on a hike in the Rocky Mountain National park. Playing on perspective, I looked for patterns on a small scale that would mimic the ridges of mountains. Here are some of the images that I took before processing that were used in this piece:
I arranged them in Photoshop and gave them a blue cast to mimic the atmosphere's effects, but then I printed each layer separately and stacked the physical prints. I felt like this added a sense of more depth than if I had printed just the one flattened image from Photoshop. The final installation that I think would be best would be for it to be matted on a blank, white piece of paper. My artist statement that accompanied this piece is as follows:
"I have always loved the mountains, I am from Colorado after all, but I never realized how much I appreciate their strong, regal presence as a daily backdrop until I left for college. What often mesmerizes me most is the way the blue layers face as they recede. The second set of images that come to mind are the textures of pine trees, snow, and rocks when I am in the mountains themselves. Technically, I wanted to use this project as my first foray into Photoshop and play with the "layers" to blend these macro and micro perspectives. Additionally-since my seed of inspiration was another person's photograph which has been nested in as a layer, this work layers meanings and memories-those of mine and those of the original photographer."
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