You may realize that lately my posts, however spread apart and inconsistently published, have been interpretive reposts of columns from Scrapgirls.com. That's because a goal of Scrapgirls, as I see it, is to help crafters and family storytellers document history as it happens, in enduring images with a little bit of explanation to document the image's impact--the moment, the emotion, the heritage--you can finish the list for yourself. Scrapgirls' technical and anecdotal columns dovetail with my mission so perfectly--helping you, my reader, see how stories tell your pictures so the images are understood for generations to come.
I found this column by Janine Buckles to be a compelling argument for thoughtful cropping of your photos to illustrate your enduring family stories.
THE SETUP
If you look back at my old blog posts, (and most of them are old--I've been absent from the blogosphere, again), you'll see that I write about the emotion connected with our experiences, and that even a bad picture may be the only picture that adequately preserves a moment we want to remember. Well, Jeanine Buckles addresses the value of visually targeting your journal subject, your caption, your memory in your scrapbook page or your storybook page.
She says, "When I am looking for photos to add to my digital scrapbook layouts, I look at several things. Does the picture or series of pictures tell a story? Or even more basically... are the pictures in focus? Is the main subject obvious? For me, cropping the photo, either as I'm taking a picture or as part of the process of creating my layout, can make all the difference in whether or not the story is told." Read more here...
I recently cropped the heck out of a picture from my daughter's wedding for a 20x20 Heritage Makers canvas that I made to celebrate her special surprise gift to me. I relive this moment every time I enter the bedroom and see this personalized home decor, and it brings a smile to my lips, and a flood of good feelings toward my daughter!
THE PHOTO
It's a nice picture, the subject targeted in the photograph, taken by my niece, Tay Carmel. I love the warm glow of this picture.
But for the purposes of my canvas, I wanted to focus on Allie and me. I left her dad in the picture, and her husband is part of the story, but I cropped out part of the scenery and Grandpa and Grandma's profiles.
THE PICTALE
Here's the story that I attached to the back of the canvas:
"One of my favorite photos from the wedding--it's the moment after Allison and Anthony gave me a rose, and she let me give her a kiss, even though Anthony had her hand and was leading her toward his mother, to present her rose." ~Donna Raagas
March 18, 2011 at Emerald at Queensridge, Las Vegas.
GIFT: YOU CAN MAKE ONE TOO!
If you'd like to have this free template I'd be glad to send it to you. Contact me at donna@sharefamilystories.com. Put WEDDING CANVAS TEMPLATE in the message line. You basically drag and drop your picture into the photo placeholder--you can actually crop your picture there!--that's it! I can show you how to change digital artwork elements and colors, customizing it as you like before you have it published.
Stay tuned: I have some more of Heidi Dillon's wisdom to pass along in my next post.
P+S is best!
~Donna
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