In case you're wondering it was made by George Etheredge. It was used in an NYT article about the artist Chuck Close.
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Edit
Haha, the mystery is solved.
pp_mcqueennone's comment showed me the the way the "photoshop" was made. The photographer took a close-up photo of a mosaic artwork in a NYC subway: archive.today • Art Underground: A First Look at the Second Avenue Subway - The New York Times.
Ninja edit: Haha x2. He didn't even do that much. I checked the photo credit and I learned he took the original subway photo. All he did to make the eye was crop that.
well he could have done it manually, or maybe he meticulously adjusted the results after the filter over the course of days
I asked at reddit help sub too. Such subs can be the worst. So far - I've gotten no replies. My hunch is if I get a reply - it'll be a redditor help sub reply guy who says...
I can reply with...
:reddit-logo:
I wouldn't bother replying
That's the smart thing to do. I always feel the need to reply even though it's pointless. Anyway - I've got a reply ready to go that's not "Thanks a fucking lot, buddy" and getting a reply by a mod that's a one week "temp" ban.
the trick for me has been to disable inbox replies when I'm done with someone so you never read the dumbass response