“Two lovers met at a patio in the city.  He had a big surprise for her.  With Michael Jordan setting the mood with his keen guitar playing, he proposed to her.  She didn’t have to hesitate in her answer.  They kissed to celebrate their love.  His Airness couldn’t hold back his emotions, teardrops flowing from his eyes at the beautiful sight.”

So I know I usually go for more interesting twists in the stories I try to tell, but romances don’t really interest me and I wasn’t feeling super creative.  So I just went with something funny.  So for the edited Love at First Shot assignment, I used this amazing picture of Michael Jordan to add a bit of humor to the photo.

First I looked up proposal on google images and tried to find one with someone in the background.  Then I downloaded the Jordan photo and cropped it in GIMP to fit the size of the picture.  Unfortunately I have no idea how to change transparency in GIMP, so I had to leave the glaring white background around the head (for some reason GIMP keeps a white square around it even when just the head is selected to be cropped.)

This week, we had a Visual Assignment required within our Design Assignments. Love at First Shot asks you to take an image of a couple obviously in love and tell their story, With a twist from Dr. Polack we also had to use a photo editing software to change something significant about the picture. I chose to use an image of my fiance and I from our engagement pictures last January. It was so so cold, but we were very happy

Here is the original image:

Here is the edited image:

Because this is a picture of my fiance and I, I can give a simplified version of our own love story.

High School Sweethearts, or Middle School?

Douglas and Amanda met in seventh grade English class. Although they didn’t know it at the time, their hearts were destined to be together someday. At first, they started as just friends, each thinking the other was so nice and friendly. They had both started going to public school for the first time since leaving private Christian schools, so everything was new and different. They liked having someone around to talk to in class.

Eighth grade came around, but Douglas and Amanda didn’t have any classes together, so they grew apart.

Then high school started. Douglas and Amanda suddenly had their lunch periods together and struck up their friendship again. They grew a lot closer over the cheap mac n’ cheese and fruit cups. Amanda didn’t know, but Douglas liked her. He thought she was nice and cute. Douglas got Amanda’s phone number from a friend and started texting her. Amanda, being the nice person she was, texted him back and was happy for his friendship. Towards the end of freshman year, Douglas asked Amanda out and they dated for a couple of days, but it didn’t last long.

Sophomore year came around, and Amanda and Douglas grew closer as friends, not really thinking about a relationship. They tried to date off and on throughout the year. However, on May 23, 2010, they made it official and have been together ever since.

Douglas has been by Amanda’s side through some of life’s hardest experiences: long distance relationships, her mom passing away and her dad getting remarried. They both see their love as truly a blessing and one of a kind, so Douglas decided to make it official and ask Amanda to marry him. If you talked to Amanda, she would say “it’s about time!” but God truly does have perfect timing. Amanda and Douglas are happily engaged now and looking forward to their wedding on January 17, 2016!!

I made this image through Pixlr. The edit was actually very simple, while also creating a unique and interesting final image. I used the Pixlr Editor, then went to Filter, and then Kaleidoscope. Once there, you can adjust the various kaleidoscope settings to your desired level.

This story is about two adventurous people who have so much of life left to live. They are not focused on what’s in front of them, but rather looking back at the past and enjoying their memories together. What’s in front of them has endless possibilities and they will continue to enjoy life together and all of the twists and turns it has to offer.

They guy on the right is thinking about how cheesy this post is but then he says to himself “it’s three stars dammit” and he is willing to sink even lower if it means three stars. What a beautiful love story.

Here is the original assignment.

They were best friends as kids. They told stories, and made promises to one another. All was fine until the war began. Cloud joined the military so Tifa would notice him; this is an important memory to him.

Tifa: Talk to me. About anything, some important memory to you… Now that you mention it, why did you want to join SOLDIER in the  first place 

Cloud: ……I was devastated. ……I wanted to be noticed 

Tifa: Someone has to notice you…? ……who?  Who………? 

Cloud: ……You know who! ……You, that’s who.”

Separated, the two live separate lives. It is until support a military resistance group, titled AVALANCHE, that they see each other again. They fought alongside each other and friends on their quest to stop the destruction of their world. There is a moment when the two fall into the earth’s energy and become aware of their feelings toward one another.

Throughout their journey, Cloud has lost many of his memories. Tifa is the only character who remembers the promise he made to her as children, and who Cloud really is.

They end up saving the world together, among friends. The following passage (from Case of Tifa) summarizes their love for one another:

As Tifa looked away from the sky towards the ground, she was fearful of the future. However, Cloud beside her chose to smile gently. It was a smile that she hadn’t seen before during their journey. Cloud noticed her gaze and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Cloud, you’re smiling.”

“I am?”

“Yeah.”

“It all starts now. A new…”

Cloud looked for the right words.

“A new life.”

“I’m going to live. I think that’s the only way I can be forgiven. All sorts of things… happened.”

“That’s right…”

“But when I think about how many times I’ve thought about how I was going to start a new life, it’s funny.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve always failed everything.”

“That’s not funny.”

“After this … I think I’ll be okay.”

Cloud was silent for a long time before he spoke again.

“Because I have you this time.”

“You’ve always had me.”

“What I mean is kind of different,” Cloud answered with another smile.

Assignment

I found this GIF online of the two, showing how much they care for each other:

In order to make a remix of this, I created a new image using an editing tool. Here is the remake:

This effect takes the original image and duplicates it with a horizontal offset. Both images are then colored differently (red and blue).

This remade image is captivating because Tifa is injured, and this shifted image resembles what someone might see if they were injured. Life could be over in a moment, and this image captures that quality.

Process

The above remake was accomplished using the following steps:

1. Create two layers using your editing tool.
2. Load the image into each layer.
3. Apply a color-filter to each layer.
4. Apply 50% transparency to each layer.
5. Drag one layer horizontally until you’re satisfied with the result.
6. Save!

Love at First Shot

Take/Find a picture of a couple who are obviously in love. Use the picture to tell a story. Give the story some background and maybe even create a dialogue between the two or tell the story from each point of view. Just give it some detail and create a background to your photo! It can be a true story or a completely made up one, just have fun with it!

I thought this assignment, “Love at First Shot” would be perfect for my sister and her fiance. They are very much in love as you can see by this picture and I thought it would be fun to tell a story about them.

The Work Itself

It was Christmas Eve eve and Rhea was walking around downtown finishing up the last minute shopping that inevitable occurs every year. She was admiring the Christmas decorations and the general Christmas spirit that could be felt all around. There happened to be another person walking around that night. His name was Rob.

Rhea was about to walk back to her car when she noticed that the hotel downtown was hosting a Christmas tree competition. She thought it would be nice to go check it out.

As she was walking across the street she did not notice the black ice and being the clumsy person she is, she immediately began to slipping. However, just before she fell, the heroic Rob saved her! (And all of the gifts in her hands). She could not have been more grateful. Rhea asked her hero if he would like to go look at the Christmas trees at the hotel with her and maybe have coffee while they were there too. Rob was thrilled that she asked!

So they went looking at all of the wonderfully decorated Christmas trees and hit it off so well that Rob asked her out on another date! Rhea of course said yes and they have been dating ever since.

Their worlds have been much brighter since they met each other.

Telling the Story Behind the Story

As I said before, I thought this would be a fun assignment to include my sister and her fiance in. I chose this photo because I think it shows how much they are in love with each other. Whenever there is a photo of a couple laughing and smiling, it feels very genuine. I knew that I needed to make it a Christmas story because there was a giant Christmas tree in the background so there was pretty much no way around it.

Obviously this is not the true story of how they met but I thought it still made for a cute story and went along with the photo well.

Narrating the Process

In order to accomplish this effect, I used Photoshop Elements 11 which has been my go-to lately for this class. First I downloaded a photo of my sister’s Facebook page and opened it in Photoshop. Then I added another layer so I could make a gif. I also added a brightening and grain effect to the second layer. I did this because I wanted to illustrate their worlds becoming “brighter” once they met I was unsure how make a gif in Photoshop, but I knew that you could so I Googled it and found this video which showed me exactly what to do. It is actually quite simple. You just have to go to File–>Save for Web–>Gif.

Honestly, when someone thinks of a photograph that captures love this is usually it. It’s iconic. This famous kiss took place after the victory over Japan Day. It was taken August 14, 1945. I like this photograph because it’s candid and not like today’s candids where they’re planned candids, but the photographer spontaneously captures this photograph. After U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced the end of the war on Japan at 7 o’clock American citizens erupted in celebration- that is when this photograph was captured. Because the photographer, Eisenstaedt, was photographing rapidly changing events during the celebrations he did not have an opportunity to get the names and details- which leave us to make up our own stories through this picture.

While reflecting on the photograph and our photography week I wondered if it was just in the photographers nature to know what elements were around him in order to get this amazing photograph. I feel like the balance of color is so good and the background, line, and angles are just perfect. However the photographer only had a few second to capture this image so he couldn’t have planned it out.. then I came across this:

From Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt:

In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn’t make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.

Only one is right, on account of the balance. In the others the emphasis is wrong — the sailor on the left side is either too small or too tall. People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture.

So he used his knowledge of photography to lead him to the subject, but all in all he was just in the right place at the right time.

This however is not the story I want to choose to believe. When I look at this photograph I think of a sailor who has just arrived home and its so overjoyed that the war is over and he can stay with the love of his life and they can start a family and life can go back to normal. When in reality he was just kissing a stranger in the streets. And not only that but one of many strangers he had kissed on the streets that day.

In another account the photographer says:

From The Eye of Eisenstaedt:

I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I’d hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her. Now if this girl hadn’t been a nurse, if she’d been dressed dark clothes, I wouldn’t have had a picture. The contrast between her white dress and the sailor’s dark uniform gives the photograph its extra impact.

I guess the moral here is that not everything is what it seems. However, if my someday child comes across this photograph I will let him or her make the photo out to what he or she may want.

x Kelsey