Matt told Bored Panda more about why and when he started to create these photoshops: "I started doing it about 6 or 7 years ago, just taking pictures of my dad messing about around the house and posting it on Facebook. My dad used to be a teacher at the local high school, which makes him a bit of a local celebrity where he lives. The posts became really popular among my (and his) friends. I then came up with the idea of inserting him into famous historical images, and then films and TV programs."
Matt told us how his dad reacted to the very first photoshop he created: "The first year of doing it was just pictures of him doing silly things around the house, and we didn’t start photoshopping until the second year. He thought it was a great idea, though, and looks forward to it as much as anyone else."
"My dad used to be a teacher at the local high school, and was quite a popular one, which is why so many people were initially excited by the idea, although he’s in his 80s now and long since retired. Beyond that, he’s a musician and has been playing regularly since the '60s, and has done a lot of local theatre over the years, so he’s a performer at heart, which is why he always enjoys 'acting' for the pictures every year," said Matt when asked to tell us more about his father.
Matts tells us more about himself: "I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I’ve been working with Photoshop for a long time (although you wouldn’t know it to look at some of my early efforts!). I’ve also inherited my dad’s musical talents—playing guitar, piano, drums, and singing—and have played in various bands over the years, although COVID means I won’t be performing anywhere any time soon!"
Matt said he, his girlfriend, and their slightly angry cat live near Cambridge in the UK and Matt's dad lives in a small town about half an hour away. He also told us about his and his father's relationship a little bit more: "My dad and I get on so well. We try to have dinner together at least once a week when the subject of Dadvent usually comes up. He’s basically an older version of me, so it’s nice to just hang out sometimes."
We asked what their favorite image is and Matt even rang his dad to ask: "I’d have to say the Kim Kardashian one is a favorite for both of us, although the ET one comes a close second because it’s such a stupid image."
Matt shared what inspired this idea in the first place: "I’d seen other people doing advent calendar posts on Facebook—pictures of cute animals and stuff like that—but I thought it would just be funny to post pictures of my dad doing stupid things. It was only ever intended for my friends and family, but it got so popular that we’ve now got dedicated pages for it right across social media. The photoshopping came about purely because my dad’s kitchen is the only place in his house that has decent lighting, so rather than have him constantly doing things in just one room, I decided to cut him out and stick him in other places."
"The whole thing takes quite a bit of effort. Coming up with the ideas for each post, finding time to take the pictures, as well as the photoshopping itself. I don’t have any professional photography gear, so all the photos are taken on my phone, which means a lot of work has to go into finding the right conditions to take the pictures. I either have to position my dad in places around the house where I can get the right kind of lighting, or wait for the right weather conditions for pictures that need to be taken outside. As you can see, some work is better than others. The year he broke his leg was quite difficult, and obviously doing everything in 2020 whilst maintaining social distance was quite tricky (thank god for optical zoom!), but it’s always such a fun thing to do, and it gives me a reason to hang out with my dad."
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