The man behind the hand

The 'Souvenirs' project is not a photoblog as such, but is of a similar theme.  It is slightly different as the photographs featured are the work of one man only.   Michael Hughes travels the world taking snapshots of famous landmarks with cheap souvenirs placed in front of them.  With as many as 200 countries visited by Hughes, he has been able to refine his technique, capturing the souvenir in perfect proportion to the landmark in subject and its surroundings, producing a collection of over 100 fun and playful images.  Michael stumbled across the idea of creating such illusions and developed it as a hobby, producing photos that, at a glance, could be the real thing.

'I was on the tourist platform at the Lorelei cliffs next to the river Rhine when I held up a postcard I bought for my daughter.  I was amazed because it just seemed to fill a massive grey hole that was in the sky and it was the exact position the photographer had taken the picture from.

After that I noticed coffee cups from a shop near the Statue of Liberty had the statue printed on so I poured my drink on the floor, and position it in front of the statue.  Since then taking the pictures has developed into a hobby and a passion to the point where I have been taking trips recently just to photograph a souvenir next to its landmark.' 

Quote from an interview with Michael Hughes for the Daily Mail online.

These holiday snaps are no doubt a clever use of perspective – the best of which have been published in the book ‘Souvenirs’ as seen below.  Visit Hughes’ souvenir set on Flikr to view a slideshow of his work.