It all started with a humorous post on Facebook that I liked and shared. Then it led to all kinds of Photoshop variations on Fark with some interesting detours along the way.
Bob DeLong, Fence Post
My curiosity got the better of me and I went looking for the identity of the original photographer. A Google reverse image search turned up the original in two places, a post on Fark by “rgdelong” inviting people to Photoshop the fence post, and a post at Photobucket by “bobdelong”. According to his Fark page Bob Delong is in Taylorsville Utah.
I was immediately taken with all the creative Photoshop work at Fark.
“Linger” combined the fence post photo with an iconic 1932 image of construction workers high above Manhattan on Rockefeller Center.
Rockefeller Center, 1932. Click for a larger version.
The original has always been one of my favorites. This photo used to be attributed to Charles C. Ebbbets but that is now uncertain. You can read the story behind this image at the Daily Mail.
“Wrongo” took the fence post and barbed wire from Delong’s photo and superimposed them over a famous painting by Andrew Wyeth. Note how the light on Christina and the left post comes from the right, but the light on the right post (as in the original photograph) comes from the left.
Christina’s World, Andrew Wyeth
This has long been one of my favorite paintings. Christina Olson (Wyeth’s neighbor in Maine) could not walk. One day Wyeth saw her using her hands and arms to drag herself through a field. When he decided to paint the scene “The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless.” The painting was a critical flop. Wyeth called it “a complete flat tire”. It is very popular now, and one of the most admired exhibits at MoMA, but critics still give it a hard time. Wyeth took some creative license with the surroundings and used his own wife as the model for the head and torso. More about Christina’s World at the links below.
This clever version was created by “alicechaos”.
And this interesting version came from “wickedfish”.
You can see the rest of the versions at the Fark link below.
Bob Delong’s fence post photo on the internet.
As I was doing my Google reverse image search, I found the original photo in use all over the internet. This is a very popular photo.
Links
Bob Delong’s photo at Photobucket
Bob DeLong’s photo at Fark with a variety of Photoshopped versions of the fence post.
Christina’s World at Wikipedia
15 Things You Might Not Know About Christina’s World – Mental Floss