I've always been a super fan of photo blending & digital manipulation since the early days of photoshop (for me 2001) Even when I'm shooting via my phone or with my dslr I'm always shooting with the intent of wondering how I can transform and repurpose any image to create a new visual texture or an insane abstract landscape.

I shoot professionally and I also teach Digital Art & Design full time. These days I rarely have time to capture images of my husband, we are often on the go or bantering back and forth to each other about who's turn is it to put our two-year old son to bed. I make him come to shoots with me, sometimes its probably torture for him to help me lug around my gear but he does it because he's awesome. I was asked to feature some of my work in support of our good friend during his design pop-up shop debut in Sept 2014. I caught my guy taking glance out into the distance, I made him pose and I got this profile shot of his handsome face.

Original unedited raw photo of Poet, Writer, Content Strategist and my husband, Kevin Johnson Jr.

You are my Autumn - image 1 - student project

A few weeks later I found the image on my phone and decided to tweak it a bit during my 2 AM nightly editing sessions, unleash VSCO:

You are my Autumn - image 2 - student project

I really wanted to see if I could add a sense soft mystery into this shot. My husband is a writer which means he thinks, ALOT...when he's not speaking he's thinking, observing, I wanted to capture some of that essence.

I purposefully made an insane constrast call because I knew I wanted play around with this image.

overlaying and blending was the next step

About a month later the autumn leaves began rise I had an engagment shoot at the most beautiful botanical garden in Vienna, VA. Often like most photographers we'll sneak in a few shots for ourselves that we know we're going to use for something cool if we get a chance.

Here are some of those shots edited with VSCO.

The garden possesed the textures, the pallete and everything I wanted to say. The roughness of the trees and branches, the softness of the reflection caught by the pond, the whispiness of the colored trees in the background.

You are my Autumn - image 3 - student project

You are my Autumn - image 4 - student project

Autumn is OUR season. We were married in the fall, our wedding was on Oct 16 2011. Our son was born Oct 11 2012, The autumn always represents a time of transformation and new beginnings for us. If you were to ask me what my husband represnts to me, I would say "He's my autumn"

Enter Afterlight for the photo blending and overly technique

You are my Autumn - image 5 - student project

The blend allows for me to peak inside his head, I'm always wanting to know what he thinks about. If he's still in love with me after two years of marriage? If he still thinks i'm the most beautiful woman in the world? Because this is what I think of him

2nd Iteration

You are my Autumn - image 6 - student project

Jen White-Johnson

Art & Design Educator

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