From Mug Shot to Smug Shot

More than twenty-seven years ago, my father shuffled into a passport photo booth near his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. The sign he held up and that frank, military gaze made it look like a police line-up. I love this man, and for some reason, I love that photo. So much so that I turned that photograph into pop art and put it on a t-shirt. I’m not even kidding; I’m never getting rid of that shirt.

I don’t quite fill a frame like my father, but I wanted to create my own throwback portrait in homage to the man. It’s a funny thing to make history of the present and get lost in the process. For me, this image of my father was all about texture; its distinctive patina of age. By amping up the grain in my own image I was able to replicate a similar textural quality. But in recreating this beloved family artifact, I made something that was entirely me.

I’m feeling nostalgic; let’s start a revolution against resolution and bring some past into our present.

Let your creativity run free with a PicMonkey membership.
Rachel Wilson

Combine her schools’ mascots, and Rachel would choose to have a bruin's head on an owl's body. While any unnatural combination of the species would make it impossible for Rachel to pursue her passion for film archiving, she'd still be able to enjoy baked goods. So that’s good. At PicMonkey, Rachel battles DPI misconceptions and fields the community's questions and concerns.