My kingdom for some junk

I waffled on whether to post this or not, it seemed so obvious. Anyway, This cd cover is at the front of a row of my cds and I see it several times a day, seven days a week. When I first saw it, I thought, "That's fine if you have a huge illustration budget." I could visualize a bunch of guys in the photographer's studio building this thing over the span of a few days, then getting the light just right, taking a bunch of different angles and making it beautiful. About $10,000 worth of beautiful.

Then the other day, I looked at the base of the assemblage. It looks like a small cafe table base, and it occurred to me that most of the stuff was junk that even I could find around here for under $100.00. Put it together, clamp it to the table top, making sure it is balanced, prop up the Cello behind everything and shoot away. There is a lot of duct tape and non-audio stuff thrown in. It must have been fun creating this.

The upshot is that it is an idea I would have dismissed out of hand as too time consuming, too difficult (after all, where would I get a Cello to tear up), too "out there" to be worth the effort. Another example of defeating oneself before you get started. I would have ended up with some series of flat cut-outs, overlapping, wild colors, boring but effective. Or should I say that the other way 'round?

Even the photographer must have had some input about lighting, color and placing the highlights, dropoff, everything. The photography merges the layers with even lighting so you can put a real Cello up there and "suspend disbelief" when the camera flattens the assemblage. I think I could pull it off for under $2,500. If I were a student, my labor would be class/grade driven and I could probably drum up a garage in which to shoot it, maybe having to pay a studio for a cast-off seamless. Or I could build a real cove. Then turn it into a skateboard ramp when I am done.

Putting a little distance between the creative burst and the execution allows the idea to gestate a little before you get into logistics. Creative execution is necessary too, but the difficulty shouldn't stem the creative tide before it has time to crest.