Visual Assignment 13— Averaging Concepts using Flickr (3 stars).  This is a really cool way to make an abstract piece of art. The instructions for this assignment called for using the first 50 images produced on a Flickr search to create an “average” image. The end product reminds me of an abstract watercolor painting!

I chose to make the subject of this project: Lilies. I love lilies! They are my favorite flower. In addition to growing them in my gardens, I have pictures of them hanging in my home and tattooed on my body. Not only are they beautiful and fragrant, but their symbolism is powerful to me. Remembering Greek mythology, the ancient Greek gods were not known for their monogamous relationships. Zeus, the king of the gods and the god of thunder, was no exception. Although the Greek hero Hercules was a son of Zeus, his mother was not Hera, the goddess of marriage and children, and the wife of Zeus. A mortal woman gave birth to Hercules. Zeus drugged Hera and took Hercules to nurse from her while Hera was sleeping. When Hera woke up, she saw the baby and pulled Hercules off of her. Some milk spurted from her breast, forming the Milky Way. A few drops landed on earth, resulting in the first lilies.

For centuries, lilies have been associated with innocence and purity. Lilies also represent female sexuality. In addition, an orange lily represents hatred and tiger lilies indicate pride and wealth while the pink stargazer lily is a symbol of prosperity. But I digress, and return back to the true subject at hand, the lily images.

I started by using Bulkr, a Flickr app, the search and select the first 50 photos that came up on a search for “lily”. After downloading the images to my computer, I discovered nearly half of them were missing, having a “no longer available” placeholder instead. Bummer.

So I selected and downloaded the next 50 photos is the search but now I had too many. I deleted all the placeholders. Still too many images. So I decide to take a little creative liberty with this assignment, and deleted the photos that contained people, dogs, or other random images that did not focus on the lily flower. When I finally narrowed the images down to a total of 50, I opened Picasa and created a collage.

Then, to “average” or the images, I edited the collage from the “Picture Pile” setting to “Multiple Exposure” in the drop down menu to superimpose the 50 images one on top of the other.

The results looked like this:

Pretty neat way to create an abstract piece of artwork from a collection of images. This image provokes a sensation of peace and joy to me, with its pink and green tones and its watercolor painting design.

Innocence and purity? I think I’d need to see a whiter, lighter blend to create that effect.

Female sexuality? Yeah, I can see that.

What do you think?