I know that I disqualified myself at the beginning of this challenge. when I said I have tried this before and that I didn’t make it. But my past experience didn’t stop me thinking that this time would be a success. Yesterday I decided to give the challenge my best try. I started by telling my twelve-year-old son that I was going to make an exact copy of the picture “Guys? Hey, guys? This ain’t funny! Guys, where are you? HELLO?” by Vesa Lehtimäki. It’s a picture that I really like. My son looked at me and smiled, looked at Vesa Lehtimäki’s pictures and responded, “You will never make it. You will never do the same picture. I know you, you will do your own picture and it will look like yours.” I smiled back at him and said, “I’ll give it a try…”

I went to the grocery store and bought salt and baking soda to make snow. I decided to set up the studio in the kitchen to be able to use soft natural lights. I decided to go for long shutter speed and realized that I have no idea if Vesa Lehtimäki works that way. But it was my solution to get the high-key lighting that I really like in the picture. I thought the natural light in the kitchen would help me to lose the shadows. If I had thought the light source through, I would have realized that Vesa Lehtimäki probably works with a soft light that comes right ahead of the subject. My lighting choice was my first error … because I couldn’t get rid of the shadows. They are soft but the are there … I could have taken them away in post production (but I didn’t), because I like them; for me they make the picture come to life.

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Error! to far away, and the gun is the wrong hand

My next big mistake was that I hadn’t looked at the picture carefully enough and I put the gun in the wrong hand, although that was easy to correct. Then there was the “snow”; should it be in front of the model or not? Since I worked with a  long shutter speed I could try both. I still don’t get how he get’s the helmet without snow and that softness around the legs. Does the trooper in Vesa Lehtimäkis shot even have legs? My troopers helmet got all filled with snow, and the goggles are all filled with snowflakes (salt and baking soda). Should I have done the softness in photo-shop?

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error too much baking soda and salt

Since I see this as a photographic challenge, my next problem was the white balance and the post-production, in addition I have issues with the model. I have the wrong version of a snow-trooper and that detail makes my picture all different. The printing is different in the eyes so I can’t get them all black (and the baking soda/salt was in the way as well). I thought the model wouldn’t be such a big deal but when I compare the pictures I think it matters…

No, I didn’t get an exact copy of the image, there’s so much that’s wrong in terms of perspective, composition, lightning, framing and so on… As I said earlier, I never thought I would achieve my goal, but I have learned a great deal. This challenge made me look at another photographers work and really see it in all the details, composition, framing, technical aspects, and then look at my own work and see all the errors or maybe that me…

final try

my try! to make a copy of Guys? Hey, guys…

And as my son said before I even started: this will end up with you taking a picture that is you and only you. And it did became that, even though I borrowed someone else’s setting. My picture is called “the little matches girl”. I called it this because as I was standing in my kitchen making snow and winter, it made me think of the story by  H.C. Andersen‘s about the little girl with matches that she lights in the cold winter night and how she is dreaming about warmth and love. So I decided to make a version of my own. In my version it’s a dream about Teddy, and all the comfort that comes with him.

homage to Vesa

the little matches girl – a small homage to Vesa Lehtimäki winter landscape

If you didn’t do the challenge, I really hope you will try to make a copy of someone else’s work because you will have a great opportunity to really look at a picture and see what makes it genuine.

Thank you Vesa Lehtimäki for the amazing image “Guys?! Hey guys…” that I really like and that got me to try to make a copy for a moment or two…

Kristina

If you did the challenge – how did it go? I’m so curious, tell me all about it, and share you try here, on Facebook or Instagram.