Since so many people have taken to assuming otherwise, I guess I'd better spell this out: unless I say otherwise, everything you see me post will be my own original work. Yes, including my avatar.

All rights reserved. Yes, I'm an awful person who won't agree that information wants to be free.

Good morning!

#art #digitalart #photomanipulation #sunset #bird #landscape

If you found a picture of a now finished painting when it was still at the cartooning stage, you wouldn't feel free to copy that cartoon and lay your own painting on top of it, would you?

When you borrow a digital artist's "stock" photo and use it yourself, that's sort of what you're doing.

Fun fact I just learned today:

When the periodical (17 year) cicadas hatch in Ohio they emerge right after Wild Turkey babies hatch and likely boost their survival; 4-5x as many babies seen in mail carrier roadside surveys, higher turkey hunt harvest (of two-year birds) two years later!

#birds

I don't like the idea of calling the photos I shop "stock," because it sounds like an invitation to others to use those photos, themselves. Without making any claims to be making great art, which I know I'm not, I can say that there's a process of sorts to what I do.

Taking the photo is part of it.

"Astor Toward Dusk"

On Astor Street in Chicago near Burton Street, looking north. This is fairly close to where I used to live, albeit in an apartment building, not in a home like one of these.

The local income divide was very, very sharp, and has probably only grown more so in the last few years.

Since this has been asked, elsewhere, I might as well answer it, now. The reason you don't see me posting credits for the stock photos I use for photomanipulation is because I shoot my own "stock" and would much rather people not called it that.

Giving myself a photo credit would be a bit much.

"Forest Light"

Playing with a photo of Bandera Volcano in Northern New Mexico. My current avatar is a detail of this image.

Mixed feelings on the move. Like a lot of people in the last few years, I've moved out of the city of Chicago.

I miss being able to just walk outside and find the subject matter for my photos. I do not, however, miss being exposed to black mold in my wall.

My health is slowly improving, out here.