What's the Coolest Gift to Give a 20-Something???

What do you get your nephew,
little sister
or 20-something running buddy?

A photo gift that makes them look epic. I'm Nancy Gershman, a digital artist with training in the fine arts, and I can make you a custom photomontage that your 20+ year old can frame, make into a fleece blanket or a photo sculpture.

Here's what you do. Get your hands on your 20-Something's favorite photo from their last vacation. Have them tell you why they love this photo. And what was happening when the photo was taken. Because the cool thing I'm going to do is create a new story that gets its inspiration from another story that's got around in the family. According to Constance's Aunt Cindy, as a little girl, Constance would sneak out her bedroom window. Her mom would notice and then wait underneath her window when Constance would drop out!

So I started with this head shot of Constance.

 Constance loved this vacation photo of herself: tan, with dark sunglasses and a sassy expression. The minute I saw the photo it struck me that I could tilt her head and add the suggestion of a body to give the impression of Constance "flying" over her favorite beach in Antigua.

The other photographs from the same trip to Antigua were a little muddy, like the photo of the Xotic Cafe shack located down the beach. No problem. I did a search for the very same shack, and found another shot at a terrific angle and in sharp, living color!

Much safer than jumping out the window!

I even have a collection of clouds that I tap into every once in a while to make my photomontages look more dynamic. Can you tell which clouds were added and which were already in the photograph of this Antigua beach?

The tethered balloon with flags was another add-on to give the feeling of a refreshing Antigua breeze on the beach. It also picks up all the colors from that crazy shack.

Anybody can throw up photographs side by side in neat frames. But if you can transform a vacation photo into a cool poster -- that's exciting. Especially to young people who have their futures all ahead of them.

Contact me to create a work of art from vacation photos. Email me in my studio, Art For Your Sake. I don't keep banker's hours so you can also call me anytime at 773-255-4677 to reserve your spot.

Thank Sponsors with a Custom Photo Collage Recognition Award

Custom photo collage recognition award commissioned by Special Olympics Atlanta for Publix.

In addition to the four Special Olympic images collaged together, the sky, stadium

floor and filled-to-capacity bleachers were added in by the artist.

Say, you’re the Director of Marketing & Special Events. Or you’re in Philanthropy or the Development Department and in a couple of months you’ll be wrapping up your big annual event. How will you thank your corporate sponsors? You’d love to find something that looks expensive, but isn't -- something that will stand out from all the look-alike awards we see all the time sitting inside a company's Glass Case of Achievement.

Does anybody ever really stop and study a football or bowling trophy? Naaah. The last guy who took a closer look was the guy who won the trophy. As for those walnut boards with the brass engraved plates – maybe they satisfy requirement number one in terms of the shiny brass, but none even come close to meeting requirement number two: artistic design.

Fine Art in a Made-to-Order Award
This is where the magic of a custom photo collage award comes in. Remember the photographer you hired to take candids the day of your sponsored event? Remember how much fun everybody’s having in those pictures? The only problem is, 9 out of 10 photos show people having lots of fun, but one third of those photos are spoiled by somebody scratching their nose or somebody else running in front of the camera.

What if you had an artist cut out the best parts of each photo, optimizing them in terms of color saturation and sharpness and then seamlessly combining all these elements into One Perfect Print? And even if there were missing elements, say an upbeat, blue sky for example, the artist could just retro fit it in! In the end, you’d have an awesome memento with everything your sponsor could possibly want, caught in a single take:

• Performers caught in unforgettable attitudes
• Crowds brimming with excitement
• Your sponsor’s corporate banner fluttering perfectly in the breeze

Good Feelings, Good PR
When a made-to-order recognition award is composed of pictures, what a difference thT makes. Suddenly a newsworthy photograph of a sponsor's special day is elevated into fine art, and it rivets their attention. The custom photo collage award starts to have real personal meaning for the recipient.

There’s another reason why custom photo collage is such a powerful corporate thank-you gift. It’s great PR. Think about every visitor who will pass your sponsor's Wall of Achievement and spy your award hanging there. Nothing quite catches the eye (and the heart) of a visitor like a photograph, and that translates into good corporate relations.

Framed Prints or Photo Sculpture?

Whether you decide to frame your custom photo collages awards or give them as 3-dimensional photo cutouts, either way your thank you gift will stand out from the pack.

You see, if a wall plaque is 3-dimensional, then custom photo collage cutouts are 4-dimensional - the fourth dimension being emotion. At the awards ceremony, the minute you present your custom collage gift and say, Mr. Sponsor, without you, none of this would ever have been possible ... well, everybody is going to be in tears, including the Board of Directors. A brilliantly conceived photo collage award says more about an event, winner, program, donor, or milestone than anything off the shelf.

Next time you’re planning an awards ceremony and want to do something special for the sponsors of the event, think about this:

• Why not have a digital artist combine the best parts of your event photos into a single collage gift that looks like a professional photographer took the picture (and not just like an unsophisticated photo puzzle)?
• Why not make a 3-D photocutout of this wonderful photomontage made by a digital artist, instead of stuffing all my event photos inside one giant costly frame that will look awful in the sponsor's boardroom?

To get your sponsor photomontages in time for the awards ceremony, contact me, Nancy Gershman, at 773-255-4677 or email me at Nancy@artforyoursake.com.