In my Child's Inner Eye....

The leaves are just about all gone.
On the steep valley sides the oaks cling to their leaves.

My intention yesterday of course was to visit Tainter Hollow and Tainter Creek to get some beautiful late afternoon shots.

However, in my bag of goodies in the back seat, I had some characters from the new Morris Adventure Books.  Some 'wandering' Hedgehogs and The Wise Ol' Frog.

Hmm, I'm near water.
I have the Toys, I have the camera equipment.

I am totally alone in this remote area.

So, I decided to have some fun.

Those Hedgehogs sure know how to get into things.  In fact as I was 'shooting' the two little 'hogs' talking with The Wise Ol' Frog in the creek, a gust of wind tossed one of them into the water.

Lucky me, I caught it and it was not staged.
So now of course, it has to be part of the book somehow.

I almost felt silly placing the little Hedgehogs in the middle of the road and then squatting to try and get a neat photo.

What if someone had come along?  

Well, I would have heard them from a pretty fair distance and would have scooped them up and whisked them back to the Subaru.

The Creek was quite beautiful and I hope to get back and get some more shots in different lighting conditions. 

In case you are wondering there is a fair amount of editing for the 'book' photos.

Here is a sample of what I was working on in PSP X6 ... [sorry Adobe, I am not paying you per month to use your program!]

I separate the characters in each photo generally and give them an edit so they will stand out from the backround of the scene they are in.

I want them to look like toys, but the scenery to have a slightly 'drawn' or slightly imaginative look to it.

Working with Morris in scenes always adds a bit of the unknown.
I hope to get that part done fairly soon.

The story has already begun in my head and yet the photos and the characters may take the story in another avenue that I wasn't prepared for.

That is the beauty of creativity.

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ~~Madeleine L'Engle

The editing of Where's Happy?

With the 'demise' of one of the most favorited toys in our house, I had an idea strike me up alongside the head...literally.
I'd been out of ideas for another book in the line of Morris's Children's Books.

But when I could not find an exact look alike for Happy the Hedgehog and one of my grandchildren had bought Morris a brand spanking new Hedgehog toy...remarking apparently that this new Hedgehog could be Happy's cousin...and....and...
my grandaughter picked up a Frog Toy which quickly became Morris's second favorite toy...

It suddenly started coming together.

Morris wakes up one morning and finds out that Happy the Hedgehog is NOT in the toy-box.  Crazy the Squirrel and Terrible Tiger decide to meet on 'the rock' to discuss where could Happy have gone?  Morris was so sad, they had to do something.

They heard of a Wise old Creature in the Deep Deep Woods that was a Mysterious Old Frog that may be able to help them...

 

So another adventure begins.  Will they find Happy?  What will the Mysterious Old Frog tell them?
What will they have to do?
What awaits them?

Stay tuned! 

I'm using Topaz and Photoshop Elements 5.  In this 'book', I'll be trying to create composites of photos for the effects and illustrations I would like to have appear in the book.
I will rely heavily on layers and going over tutorials by Topaz Labs for ideas.