Travel Posters

     "I love those old travel posters!"  Juli and I spent last Saturday at the Barnes and Nobles just bumming.  We had each took turns walking around the store and picking up stuff we liked.  Of course, this time of year means we also are overloaded with calenders.  So I was going through them when I saw one for travel posters from the 30's of the National Parks.  Those 12 posters were very famous but had been lost to hisory until a Park Ranger found "ONE" in a pile of trash being taken out to be burned.  He saved that one and became enamoured with it.  He did some research and found black and white negatives of all 12.  Of course black and white is just that so he got a hold of an artist and with more research they reproduced those posters. 
     They were the high point of wood block printing.  The style is minimalistic in that it reduces the colors used.  And because of that the artists had to become inventive to depict their illustrations.  Design and layout went along with this to make some beautiful work.  Now I got to thinking and decided to try my hand at it digitally.  I went through my photos from Colorado that I had taken and started working on the image above.  I call it "Eye of the Needle"  It is a rock formation in Garden of the God's called "Siamese Twins".  through the hole you can see Pikes Peak in the background.  I took the liberty to fade the mountain out to give the image some dept.  Doing the image this way did force me to eliminate a lot from the original, but it takes it back to the emotion of the scene and not just a reproduction of it.  There are a total of 6 colors used for the rock, 7 for the foreground, 6 for the middle, 6 for Pikes peak and 2 for the sky.  Granted it is more then your standard Travel poster from the 30's but I still harp on detail - even when I am eliminating a lot of it.
     Below is the original photo. I still love it but both have their merits