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Helium balloons raising the hem of a skirt, a pencil eraser removing a tattoo, a girl flying out the window...  inflatable duck rings, twelve inch nails. For me, it’s all about having fun with my photographs. My images are little celebrations of ideas that are constantly popping up in my head. Playful, but formal, little monuments intended to surprise, amaze and amuse the viewer.

But I’m dead serious about my work too. There’s little that’s spontaneous about it. Every photo is executed with careful planning and forethought. And once an image has been captured, the real fun begins. I spend uncounted hours digitally manipulating each photo – adjusting tonalities, dodging and burning, and removing unwanted detail. This very deliberate post-processing work reminds me a lot of the highly-rendered pencil drawings I did years ago. Whatever I like about the image, I enhance; whatever  I don’t like, I minimize or delete.

While each individual may draw their own meanings and respond in ways I never intended, in the end, each image is precisely what I want the viewer to be seeing.

I hope these photographs are fun for you too... seriously.

Tom McFarlane 1947-2008