Willow Pattern Revisited

This is the Willow Pattern we are most familiar with - a traditional chinaware design by Thomas Minton in 1790, popularised for at least the next 200 years. Thinking back to the old poem about the Willow Pattern,

Two birds flying high,

A Chinese vessel, sailing by.
A bridge with three men, sometimes four,
A willow tree, hanging o'er.
A Chinese temple, there it stands,
Built upon the river sands.
An apple tree, with apples on,
A crooked fence to end my song

I discovered that some of my photos taken recently in China reminded me of a contemporary Willow Pattern scene. As I am not a skilled photographer by any stretch of the imagination, I have tried to turn two very rather ordinary photos into modern versions of the Willow Pattern - well at least, elements of the Willow Pattern.

1. Original Image - Wild Goose Pagoda , Xian , China

2. Sepia tint

3. Blue tint

4. Blue tint with white background .

5 Blue and white tint with mirror frame

6. Blue and white tint with HDR (high dynamic range )

7. I call this the tea towel effect - but it is really the panographic effect.

Here is the one I prefer ....

1. original image - West lake, Hangzhou , China

2. Blue tint

3. Panographic effect - landscape

4. Panographic effect - portrait

Willow Pattern - old and new .... Tag on tag - double gift tag,
digital image on photo paper and photocopy on cardboard with Chinese character wooden beads and baker's twine

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