Mother Earth - Pregnancy Photoshopping

When I shared the final photo from this post a few days ago, it got much praise on the social networks. One of my friends told me that when she first saw it, she assumed – as is always possible with my photos – that it was a Photoshop fake. She said that it looked "too perfect". I had also noticed the especially pleasing aesthetic to the photograph, but it took me a bit to put my finger on it. What is amazing about the original photograph is the perfectly spherical appearance of my wife's belly. Rarely do I feel the sensation that creative people speak about, of not really being in control of whether or not I made my creation, but being forced to do so by the idea itself. But this was one of those times. I had no choice but to make…this:

As you may expect, the geographic coordinates that my daughter is kissing were not an accident.

Once I'd done the work for one recognizable (I hope North Americans recognize what that is?) spherical pattern, I couldn't resist doing a few more.

Still, I liked the original idea best. There was something so symbolic about it, like it could be so profound with some text on top of it. So I came up with this hippy tree-hugger message…

I also made a Spanish version and a North American version, probably more recognizable to my geographically-challenged countrymen.