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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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