By Mark McConville
BRITAIN’S second city has joined the rest of the world in celebrating world Stars Wars Day through a side-splitting yet sinister photo-mashup of Birmingham.
The amusing pictures which shout, “May the Forth be with you”, shows how a statue of Darth Vader has replaced that of Queen Victoria in the city’s Victoria Square while a pair of Storm Troopers hassle a couple in the background.
Other surreal shots put together via photo-shop show Yoda waiting for a tram, R2D2 sitting on the back seat of a bus and R2D2 joining C3PO in the queue for a popular Birmingham nightclub.
The striking snaps were put together by Birmingham photographer Ross Jukes (35) to celebrate May the Fourth, which has commonly become known as Star Wars Day.
“I saw the work of a photographer called Thomas Dagg, he had done a similar project and I thought it would be fun to use Birmingham as the backdrop,” he said.
“The images were a mix of street/landscape images that I had previously shot. I felt it would be fun to mix the Star Wars characters into everyday situations.
“The shots themselves were very much taken in my normal style. I wanted to give them slightly ‘moody’ feel so I knew I would edit them in black and white.
“Then it was just a case of finding the right characters for the right situations, I am happy with the final images.”
Ross, who has been working in photography for the last four years, hopes his pictures can add a bit of fun to the day.
“It is all very ‘tongue in cheek’,” he added.
“The reaction has been great; most people have found them humorous and enjoy the subtlety of the images.
“They are not too ‘over the top’ and I think that is what makes them work.”
For more information see www.facebook.com/rossjukesphotography
