This composite image features an antique cabinet card, a type of portrait that was popular from the mid 19th through the early 20th century. I have collected many such cards, some of which have beautiful engravings on the back that give information about the photographer's studio. In the present image, from my Card Games series, I superimposed elements from the reverse side of the card onto the portrait, with surprising results. I like giving the photographers and their subjects a new look—and a new audience—more than a century after the original portraits were made.

Both Sides Now: Metamorphosis

Digital photographic collage created from an antique cabinet card dating from the 1880s (original photographer, F. D. Moon, Greenville, PA; subject unknown). The image was scanned and cleaned in Photoshop; then engraved elements from the back side of the card were superimposed onto the portrait side. Printed with an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer on Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper.