DougVaughn Offline Upload & Sell: On
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A couple months ago, one of the younger women at church was relaying how stupid she had been to leave a photo on the visor of her car over a period of time. It was a favorite picture of her mom (in her early 60's now) and uncle in their late teens, and one she cherished. The idea of having it in her car was so she could look at it often, but she didn't realize what the heat and sun would do.
Thinking it might have a few cracks and fading, I asked her to show it to me. Even after looking at it and seeing the paper peeling away, I didn't realize what I was biting off. I asked if I could take the photo and try to make it a little better.
After a month, and more hours than I can count editing here and there in the evenings after work, the result is below. I got much more than I bargained for, but it became a labor of love coupled with an unwillingness to be beaten by it. In the process, I learned more Photoshop than the last few years combined, even how to simply paint where healing and cloning were impossible.
The photo now lives in 5x5 prints for her, her sister, and her mom, plus an 8x8 framed print for the wall rather than the car. Aside from the obvious lesson, it shows the importance of choosing some images to live in prints rather than digital to ensure those family memories stay alive. It also shows how the informal, not well focused, and busy background snapshot may be one that means the most to our kids or grandkids 30 years from now.
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