Message in a Bottle

This idea came by accident. I had hand colored and retouched this vintage photo from Graphics Fairy and was going to incorporate it into another piece I was working on. When I brought the image of the beach into the piece I came up with the idea to use her as a message in a bottle. The beach scene was photographed with my Fuji X-Pro 1 at Gateway National Recreation Area located in the Rockaway Beach area of Brooklyn, New York. The message in her hand was taken at an abandoned silk mill in Maryland. The bottle is one I have here at home and I photographed it against a light box. I used a one of the textures created by Dirk Wuestenhagen for warmth. Seagulls are created using a Photoshop brush.

Tags: bathing beauty, Bathing suit, beach, birds, bottle, Brooklyn, clouds, Composite, Dirk Wuestenhagen Textures, fine art photography, Fuji X-Pro1, Gateway National Recreation Area, Graphics Fairy, landscape, message in a bottle, Montage, mood, ocean, Rockaway Beach, sand, sea, seaagulls, sky, Surreal, vintage photo, vintage swimsuit, water, waves, woman

9 thoughts on “Message in a Bottle”

pdhn5 on November 1, 2015 at 8:15 am said:

I really like this one, thanks for sharing.
Perhaps the bottle could be a little off center ??

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- Karen Johnson on November 1, 2015 at 8:18 am said:
  
  Thanks Peter! The bottle is exactly where I wanted it.
  
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  - pdhn5 on November 1, 2015 at 8:49 pm said:
    
    Thanks for making me smile !!
Hal Schwartz on November 1, 2015 at 9:20 pm said:

Love it Hal Hal Schwartz halartschwartz@gmail.com

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- Karen Johnson on November 3, 2015 at 10:34 pm said:
  
  Thank you Hal!
  
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Sue on November 3, 2015 at 7:47 pm said:

Hey Karen…I like how you incorporated the gull prints in the sand. It looks like the gulls walked around the bottle, most likely seeing if the woman had food, before flying off. Very cool!!!

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- Karen Johnson on November 3, 2015 at 10:35 pm said:
  
  Thank you Sue!
  
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edithlevyphotography on November 15, 2015 at 2:57 pm said:

I missed this one. Love it!

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- Karen Johnson on November 15, 2015 at 3:15 pm said:
  
  Thank you Edith!
  
  Reply ↓

Karen Johnson – A Photographic Life