The idea for this series of self portraits started after a chance encounter with Howard Millard's article "Create a Pop Art Portrait; Back to the '60s" at Shutterbug.com. It didn't come to fruition, however, until last Friday, when I went in search of a do-it-yourself photo booth at Belconnen Mall, Canberra.I love the delightful cheap 'n' nastiness of these booths, including the thrill of the note slot sucking up your money and those nervous moments waiting for your sheet of portraits to be dumped into your hand, kind of like a can of Coke from a soft drink machine. The beauty of this particular machine was the four different poses it allowed, so watch out for much more of me!
I wouldn't say copying Andy Warhol's famous technique, albiet digitally, was easy. In fact, it took a couple of days to scan and adjust the original picture, choose sympathetic Pop Art colours and master Photoshop's "elipse" and "add anchor point" tools. Millard doesn't suggest the use of these last two tools, but I'm a perfectionist and wanted absolutely smooth edges between colours, just like you'd find in a silkscreen print. The result is definitely worth it.
As for copying Warhol ... it felt strange at first, but I'm now convinced that everyone should have their own pop art portrait! I'm inspired to drag Justin and other family members into the nearest photo booth, and perhaps experiment with turning the results into image transfers.
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