Autumn Song — Lens-Artists Challenge #297

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Hi All 👋 My entry for this week’s challenge, set by Egidio: Music to my eyes.

Now, this was a real tester; I didn’t think I would have anything to contribute to Egidio’s prompt.

I don’t really associate music with my pictures apart from one particular song that has stuck with me all my life. I first heard the song “Forever Autumn” by Justin Hayward as a young child & whenever I see autumnal scenes, the song plays in my mind.

To that end, I’ve concentrated on the one song & imagery that I associate with it.

Autumn
Autumn

The song is from the 1978 Jeff Wayne adaptation of War of the Worlds & is about the main character reminiscing about how he & his wife used to kick through the autumn leafs in a passed time.

Here are some more pictures that instantly bring this melancholy song to mind.

I’ve been working with AI through DALL-E to bring some of the lyrics in the song to life.

I created the following pictures from the line “Through autumn’s golden gown we used to kick our way.” The first & second depict a happy couple enjoying an autumn day, and the third is a more sombre picture of a man reminiscing about a past time; a shadowy figure of his wife walks ahead of him.

The next line I chose to imagine is: “I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky.” To soften the look, I also decided to do this as a watercolour.

The birds fly south

I misheard the lyrics with this next one; I was working on visualising the line, “Like the song through the trees, you came to love me.” To me, this represented the sound of wind & rustling leafs blowing around the trees.

Song & love blowing through the trees
Song & love blowing through the trees

The actual lyrics are “like the sun through the trees, you came to love me”. I actually prefer my version as I think it conjures up better visuals. This is the revised image (I still prefer my mistake).

Sun & love in the trees
Sun & love in the trees

The next one provides quite a strong visual: “A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes, as if to hide a lonely tear.” This was very difficult to visualize, and it took many attempts at rewriting the prompt to create an image that fit the words and what was in my mind’s eye. The carousel below is the culmination of my efforts; let me know your favourite.

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10 responses to “Autumn Song — Lens-Artists Challenge #297”

  1. Tina Schell Avatar

    Wow Jez, you “went to hell with yourself” as the saying goes!! (if you don’t know the saying it means you went all out or gave it your all. Never heard the song but it’s lovely, thanks for including it. Beautifully done!

  2. photobyjohnbo Avatar

    Your take on the challenge with a single song illustrated with both photography and AI art really brought my favorite season to mind. Beautiful work, Jez.

  3. Sofia Alves Avatar

    Great idea to have one song to work with, Jez. I never heard that one before, and it works so well with all your photos. I love the warm light one them.

    1. Photos by Jez Avatar

      Thank you so much, Sofia

  4. Cee Neuner Avatar

    I liked your take on this challenge Jez. 😀 I will also being using a song from my childhood.

  5. JohnRH Avatar

    Great photos Jez. I LOVE that big format header shot. Superb. Interesting creations too!

  6. bushboy Avatar

    I like the “face on” for my favourite last one.
    I love this record and the song is wonderful. Always loved The Moody Blues too

  7. Anne Sandler Avatar

    What a great interpretative post. Your AI images captured the song’s lyrics and emphasized the emotion of the song.

  8. Wind Kisses Avatar

    Such a great idea to choose one song and go with it. Interesting results of your AI images. I had never heard the song before and enjoyed listening to it while I looked at your post.

  9. Eg?dio Avatar

    Jez, thanks for joining the challenge and picking Justin Hayward’s song as your inspiration. Your photo gallery is so beautiful and evocative, just as the song. Also, congratulations on the AI-generated imagery based on the lyrics. The results are very artistic. in the carousel you presented, I really liked the first image. The tree line and the person on the ground create a beautiful juxtaposition of how small we are in nature. The atmospheric mood was beautifully created.

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