With Impressify, a microsite created for the New York Botanical Garden, you can now create Impressionist versions of your photographs just by uploading them. Via Adweek:
Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the digital feature is the work of Brooklyn-based agency Madwell. “The brief was to create something that’ll make people engage with the exhibit and share content—and it couldn’t be hard to use,” said creative director Chris Sojka. “So we thought, ‘What if we could digitize impressionism in a social context, with your content?’ It was the perfect thing to do.”
It is, certainly, a fun thing to do. Three dials allow visitors to control the focus and the thickness of the virtual brush strokes, so you can give your photos the misty feel of Monet, a blunt and heavy Van Gogh treatment, or anything in between. The feature also allows users to download the finished product as a jpeg or GIF and share it on social media. (The hashtag #GardensOnCanvas furnishes a subtle plug for the NYBG.)
The landscape paintings currently on display at the garden (which has, naturally, also grown the corresponding flowers) are all by American impressionists—notably John Singer Sargent and Childe Hassam—but the gauzy, dappled style is unmistakably French feeling.
Speaking of Impressionism, if you’re in Melbourne, there’s a Degas exhibition this month as part of NGV’s Winter Masterpieces. Check it out!