Monday, July 26, 2010
Yesterday I got a somewhat frantic email from a mother of a client who wanted to know if I could remove someone from a family photo that I had done. She said "someone doesn't want to be married anymore, or have any responsibility" and she wanted that someone's "presence removed." Ouch.
Believe it or not this was not the first time I have been asked to do this. I have to gently inform these clients that I cannot just delete people from photos. I mean sure there's the clone stamp, layering, and strategic cropping. I am not a novice when it comes to photoshop, but I am also not an expert and even then when you tamper too much with photos it's obvious and it's tacky so I personally will not do that to my work.
But the sad thing is that this isn't really about photoshop craftsmanship it's about heartbreak. It's desperately wanting to change reality, to go back and reverse things. Unfortunately that attempt to erase hurt is even more destructive than just a mediocre photo edit. It happens though. I am certain that someone you know has gone through a divorce or a really bad break up, or maybe you have yourself. So what do you do with those old photos? It seems trivial in the scheme of things, but it's a big deal. If you have a framed photo of the formally married couple do you keep it? What if it is a photo of just the bride in her dress? Do you try to photoshop all the pictures to make it look like it never happened? Or maybe you go the old fashioned route of ripping, burning or scribbling on someones face with a permanent marker? Then you have to wonder if there is any chance of reconciliation and all your momentous are gone. I have seen people do all of the above honestly!
So tell me readers. What do you do with photos of exes? It's a modern day conundrum. 
Posts
The reason I'd do that is because now, years and years down the road, Jer and I are both a little disappointed that we are missing a lot of 'proof' of 3 years of our lives. Now that we're no longer hurting, we wish we could get some of those photos back.
And when it comes to my recently divorced parents? well it is best for me not to make further comment. ^_^