When I first read the challenge topic, I really had no idea was this was about. So I read the wikipedia article about it, to discover this is how was called a "concept that spreads from person to person via the Internet". A few lines later, I also saw that it could take several shapes: it "may take the form of an image, hyperlink, video, picture, website, or hashtag", or even "may be just a word or phrase, including an intentional misspelling".
Quite logically, I started to look at various examples, and quickly, I decided to avoid all the visual forms of memes. Frankly speaking, I thought most of them were quite weak from a photographic point of view, and I had no desire to work on such thing. Instead, I chose one of those (relatively) famous sentences, and tried to illustrate it in my own way.
"The cake is a lie" is a sentence based on the false promise of a Black Forest cake as a reward, and got popularized by the video game series "Portal". The concept quickly made me think of the poisoned apple in "Snow White", so I started to work on a bad queen who would prepare such cake.
This is where the real problems started: no way to find a Black Forest cake anywhere in a 20 miles radius around my house! I tried at least 10 bakeries, with no success. In the end, my dear wife offered to cook one, which literally saved the project. She really overdid herself: not only the cake was looking exactly as needed, but it also was absolutely delicious. In fact it really was a lie, since while it looked like a Black Forest cake, it was full of large pear pieces and chocolate chunks. Definitely my kind of photo projects ;-)
As you guessed, she also accepted to pose as the bad queen. This was the perfect occasion to use that black Victorian dress we bought a few months ago: at the time we knew it would be useful for some kind of shooting session, and this was it. Some fake nails, haircut work, lighting adjustments, and I had my main photo. Finally, for the background, we went to the Jumieges abbey again: the place is always so very worth it when it comes to incredible ruins.
I'm very glad of the result, I believe the black queen looks perfect. Thanks for watching!
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 43 Avg (all users): 6.8148 Avg (commenters): 8.4286 Avg (participants): 6.4737 Avg (non-participants): 6.9194 Views since voting: 3607 Views during voting: 365 Votes: 81 Comments: 32 Favorites: 2 (view)
congratulations Christophe, a strong image as usual. The only thing that IMO lets it down a little bit are the overexposed windows in the b/g... probably would've work better against some kind of windowless corner...
Thanks a lot Lev. In fact in the original photos the windows are not overexposed, I added the strong white light in post, I thought it would add some atmosphere and drama. I'll think twice next time!
congratulations Christophe, a strong image as usual. The only thing that IMO lets it down a little bit are the overexposed windows in the b/g... probably would've work better against some kind of windowless corner...
My first thought...Tim Burton's heroine from the Corpse Bride, Victoria conjures Harry Potter's Pudding cake (Dobey's scene - The Chamber of Secrets). As I respected your wife's cinematic effort and what I guessed to be her decorative cake, I gave this an 8. The meme title mismatched the image for me (even though I did google it during the challenge), but, oh well...why not let is all eat cake anyways?! ;-)
Sorry bro, I don't see how this is a meme at all... Good shot though
A meme can be a sentence, and "The cake is a lie" is a meme, according to Wikipedia. I illustrated it in my own way. The challenge description did not mention that the meme had to be a visual one.
Ah, alright. To all their own I guess :) congrats on the red
Sorry bro, I don't see how this is a meme at all... Good shot though
A meme can be a sentence, and "The cake is a lie" is a meme, according to Wikipedia. I illustrated it in my own way. The challenge description did not mention that the meme had to be a visual one.
Well, let's see, Christophe: you have a chef, a seamstress, a carpenter, craftsman, and model, all rolled into one. That's one heck of a crew :-) Congrats on the ribbon.
Congratulations on the red Christophe! So this is what you were working on, such a great pose from your wife! So I am wondering if I'd had the time to make it to your place on that weekend I was nearby, might I have gotten a sample of this delicious cake- in addition to having the pleasure of meeting your wife? ;)
Still, very glad we got to meet for a short while in Paris and hope we can visit again next time I am over there :)
Thanks Brent. Yes it was great fun to meet! However, at the time, I had no idea of what to shoot, so the cake was not there yet. I'm sure we'll find another occasion, the world's such a tiny place nowadays!
Congratulations on the red Christophe! So this is what you were working on, such a great pose from your wife! So I am wondering if I'd had the time to make it to your place on that weekend I was nearby, might I have gotten a sample of this delicious cake- in addition to having the pleasure of meeting your wife? ;)
Still, very glad we got to meet for a short while in Paris and hope we can visit again next time I am over there :)
I think I love your wife. Not to suggest you could not do such great work without her, but you must be a great guy to have her go the distance for your images.
Plus "The Cake is a Lie" is a favorite of mine, second only to " I Took an Arrow in the Knee"
Wow! What else can I say? A masterpiece. The location is incredible. The cake (lie or not) looks delicious. That is one intense look on her face and I LOVE that dress. Only itsy bitsy critique from me is the bright highlight on her chest. It's a distraction but a minor one.
The cake is a lie
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