Maria Mazo, PPSA  

Saving the Boat by Maria Mazo, PPSA

July 2026 - Saving the Boat

July 2026 - Maria Mazo, PPSA

Original

About the Image(s)

The renovations to the house are continuing and demand too much time and attention, leaving me with very little time to dedicate to photography. I was tempted to skip this month, but I pushed myself to create something quickly, and this is the result.

The file I used for the background is a photograph of the peeling paint on one of the room walls that I discovered after removing the radiator. I liked the pattern, so I added the image of the rocks and created the mountains.

The sky and clouds come from a photograph I took one morning when the beams of light were amazing. The boy was playing with the rainwater outside his mother's shop in Vietnam, and the boat also comes from another image I took there.

I combined all these elements to create the illusion of the boy standing on top of the mountain, reaching towards the boat in the stormy sky. I enhanced the clouds with some smoke brushes and then added motion to create a greater sense of movement.

To finish the image, I applied a sepia tone to give it a more harmonious feel.

5 comments posted

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen   Kirsti Näntö-Salonen
Hi Maria, this is one of your composites I fell in love with at first sight. The intense moment of concentration when the boy grabs the boat in the middle of the rapidly moving clouds makes a breath-taking story. I love the way you created the strong sense of motion, and the light sepia toning gives the image an airy dream-like quality. I wonder if adding a faint outline of the mountain just over the clouds in the left part of the image might add some depth? I am looking forward to the new worlds that your renovation project will reveal!
- The image reminds me of a series that a Swedish photographer built round the adventurous dreams of her son - I think you might enjoy them: https://helenablomqvist.com/slumberland/

  Posted: 07/08/2026 13:17:27
Maria Mazo   Maria Mazo
Hi Kirsti,

Thank you for your lovely comment. I'm so pleased that you liked the image.

The lack of time I have to dedicate to photography these days can be quite frustrating, especially when I'm looking through my images for elements that I can use to create new compositions. At the same time, though, it has pushed my imagination to combine images in ways that I might not have considered before, and sometimes that leads to unexpected results.

Thank you also for introducing me to the work of that Swedish photographer. I found it very interesting, and it is certainly a wonderful source of inspiration.   Posted: 07/15/2026 07:18:27
Peggy Nugent   Peggy Nugent
I love the story of this image, Maria! There is something so timeless about a child with a little boat, and his body language makes it clear how intent he is. The motion of the boat works well with the cloud, which reminds me of the froth of churning water. There is a luminance of the image which reminds me of myths and magical tales.
I think the sepia tone really works well, again giving me the feeling that this is an ageless tale. This is such a wonderful image.

Personally, I would consider lightening the blacks and shadows on the boy and the boat, or alternatively lessening their opacity a bit. I just love the ethereal feeling of the image so much, and for me the dark shadows are a touch too real. But that's just my taste.   Posted: 07/16/2026 21:58:25
Comment Image
Brad Becker   Brad Becker
Maria, For something quickly thrown together this is a very interesting image. I love how you've blended the different elements together. Your choice to weight the left side more heavily with the subject matter works nicely. The title "Saving the Boat" doesn't feel fully supported by the image with the child holding onto the stick. There is a sense of this child as a Buddhist Lama or divine entity and I wonder if you could have him reaching down to save a person about to die from the storm the boat is caught in, just how I might take the image.   Posted: 07/19/2026 03:40:49
Alan Kaplan   Alan Kaplan
My wife and I are moving from one condo to another, and while it doesn't compare to having construction done one's home, the stress and anxiety that accompanies a major move has the same negative effect on creativity as does the stress and anxiety of construction. However, you seem to have defeated those negative effects. I agree with most of what is said above. I chose not to give my composite a title so that the viewer would not be influenced by my thinking. Your young man could just as easily be launching a boat as saving one. Your setting and sepia tone add the flavor of one's unconscious to the image which is always a good idea. There's more here left to interpretation than a title should constrict.   Posted: 07/19/2026 18:05:24

 

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