Making "Music to my Heir"

In the summer of 1997 I purchased my first digital photography equipment. I bought the original HP Photosmart printer and scanner. Each cost $499 and each was considered a real breakthrough at the time. (The scanner competed with scanners costing over $2,000 and there was simply nothing like the printer. 5 years later we take for granted that your ink-jet printer can produce near-photo-quality output; back then this was the only one you could buy for your home.) I also bought my first copy of Adobe Photoshop.

With all this equipment, I decided I'd try my hand at a holiday card. I didn't really have any ideas, but as I was scanning in a number of recent photos I noticed this one that Carol had taken at an "instrument petting zoo." It showed Benjamin trying out a violin. The photo was very cluttered. There was a distracting background of bushes and people. But Benjamin looked great. I started cleaning up the photo, intending to blur the background. While I was cleaning it up the idea of superimposing Benjamin over sheet music occurred to me. Over the next few days I browsed through our piano bench looking for music that was neither too simple nor too complex. Then I tried a wide variety of background shades to blend with until I found one I liked.

I'm still pleased with the results.