Take Out Photo August Monthly Special - Photo Within a Photo

Marc Olivier of Olivier Photography has started a really fun blog called Take Out Photo. He centers his posts around a monthly theme, and gives a photography "assignment" based on that theme. Participants can then post their assignments on their own blogs or Flickr accounts, and link back to his post via a special setup on the comments page.

I thought with so many photographers in the family this might interest some of you... I gave this month's theme (Photo Within a Photo) a couple of tries...


Attempt 1
I walked in to my parents' kitchen yesterday to find dozens of old glass slides and a light box on the counter, as well as a handheld slide viewer on the kitchen table. Dad is doing a big project trying to scan his own paper-mounted slides, and he's trying to capture grandpa's slides without the benefit of a machine for viewing glass slides (they are much thicker and don't scan properly). Right now it's a matter of putting the glass slides on the lightbox and taking a picture of them in macro mode. Not ideal, but if it's the only way to get grandpa's pictures, then it's worth doing, right?
Does anyone know of a better solution for doing this?



Attempt 2
This consists of me bragging about Heather. Hello, Creativity personified. These items were all made by Heather and I think they are great examples of how she uses pictures of her family.

The vinyl tabletop on the boys' little lunch table had ripped, so heather took the table apart, Mod Podged pictures onto the top of the table, and covered the whole thing with a heavy duty plastic(?) before reattaching it to the table base. Darling.

This is a project I've been wanting to do for a while. Maybe Heather can blog about how to make these (or, since she has a newborn baby, maybe I'll just try and let you know the results). They are old board books that are sanded down to remove the glossy finish, and then covered in cardstock/scrapbook paper (using Mod Podge) and turned into custom-made story books. Here is Taylor reading one about going to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

This third project a darling way to display photos of your children and the art they make. This would also be really easy to turn into a mini magnet/cork board, a key holder, or a way to display souvenirs and pictures from a special trip, favorite year of high school/college, etc. There are a dozen variations I can think of for this particular project.
The magic ingredients?? Mod Podge, a plank of wood cut to the desired size, pictures, ribbon, a staple gun (or glue to attach the ribbon to the back) craft paint, clips to hold the art (hooks for keys, a strip of cork or metal, etc.), and a way to hang the finished product on the wall.
I hope this has inspired you in some way--I am definitely feeling the need to go find some cheap board books...
And don't forget to jump over to Take Out Photo and look around. Marc's posts are always interesting, his photography is great, and he has just started a series of posts demonstrating how to do helpful things with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.