Perfectly Imperfect-Augumented Reality Billboard Photography Project took 3rd Place at the International Photography Awards (IPA) in the Lifestyle Category

​Perfectly Imperfect-Augumented Reality is a photography series that I have been developing with my husband for a few years. It started out one day while we were in NYC for the afternoon. I was taking photos of the sights, so of course I had my camera in hand! My husband was standing next to a billboard and it almost looked as if he melded into the advertisment. He prompted me to take the shot of him and suddenly we were in a full blown photoshoot with him and the billboard model!  Little did he know that he would now be the subject of my new photography endevor, and thus the adventure began! 

The more I thought about our fun experiment, the more I realized the social ramifications it had on society. Perfectly Imperfect- Augumented Reality Photography Series an exploration through satire of how billboard advertisement messages using life size celebrities and models are transformed once we insert a real life person. Billboards and advertisements in our digital world are so common and have blended so deep into our culture and society that they have become part of our visual landscape and almost go unnoticed, especially in urban environments where they are literally plastered all over the streets. Advertisement images are deliberate messages that subliminally help to dictate our subconscious mind to define what our reality should look like, feel like, be like. These messages are inferred via body language, facial expression and the text used in the advertisement with the intent for the passerby’s subconscious to go out and buy something, go somewhere or to do something. However, once we add the unexpected human element into the scene we can quickly alter the text and body language to take on a new meaning, often times with humor, to help remind us that we live perfectly imperfect lives. 

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Over the next few years we have made "jumping into billboards" a fun adventure. Sometimes he is not super thrilled, but mostly he is a great sport about it! His creativity and spontaneity has helped to create so many fun images. Sometimes I direct him into a pose and other times he naturally just places himself. It is a fantastic collaboration! 

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The images below were entered into the prestigious 2016 International Photography Awards (IPA) and won 3rd place in the Lifestyle category! This was a tremendous honor as the judges for this contest are world renown artists, photographers, editors from many famous publications such as National Geographic and Time Magazine. 

Quick note about the above image, the sunglasses are actually my husbands and he placed them over her eyes. 

Although taking photos with my husband around Manhattan has been great fun, I have started to incorporate new "models into the mix and I look forward to creating more augmented reality in many more urban environments around the world! Here are a few that include other brave family members!

All photographs are the property of  © Alissa Rosenberg from Alissa Beth Photography and Long Island Fine Art Photography. Reproductions and downloads without permission is prohibited. 

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