For the Marriage stage of life I decided to use the photograph of the Eiffel Tower, with Paris being commonly known as the City of Love, and the Eiffel Tower being an important landmark of the city, I felt that this image fit the stage very well.


With this photo, I altered the stroke details of the image, making it blur slightly and altering the stroke effect, before changing the blending style to overlay, so the image seemed to glow more. I then added a grey outline to the photograph and made photo mounts for the corners, as if the photograph was part of a wedding album.
Picture
I think that the effects on this photo work well as the rich, bright colours suggest the happy, memorable time that is the wedding ceremony, the honeymoon, and the years following, and that it is always a celebratory time. It also looks as if it is from a wedding album, which helps with the meaning.


Time Taken: 45 minutes
Total Time Taken: 12 hours
 
Now my exams are finished I have been able to get back to doing some work on my Arts Challenge. I've started with editing some of the photos I have, as I have now gained quite a collection of photos to work with. Like I've already said I'm not designating a time in life to each photo before I have edited them, I usually do have a time in mind, however this can change while I am editing due to the lighting effects used can give me new ideas. Even once edited, the photos do not have a set time of life to be suitable for, I know where I want them to go, however when I come to put them all together this may change if I see that they are suited elsewhere. 

Once I have a range of completed photos I will start putting them into an order that is not set, but does give me an outline to how far along I am.

The first picture was done by altering the saturation, brightness and contrast of the original photo to make the colours brighter and be more different than you usually see during sunset. Then using Photoshop CS3 I blur the bottom and the bottom right of the photo and sharpened the top and the top left to make the effect that the good things had passed and troubling times were just approaching. I am planning on using this for the Teenager stage to show how this is the time when we often find we have the most troubles and is the most confusing part of life, and also we are leaving the calm and innocence of childhood where we worry about nothing, into a more mature age where we are more independent.

The second picture was done by lowering the saturation so that the photo was almost black and white. Then using Photoshop CS3 I made the saturation of the chairs very high. This emphasises how the chairs are empty and represents loneliness, a time of being on your own in new settings. I am planning on using this for the Lower School part of the Teenage age as it is a time where you move from Primary to Secondary, often on your own or only with a few of your friends and you have to learn new rules in a completely new setting and know few people so have to make friends.

The third picture was done using Photoshop CS3 changing the hues of the different bottles/liquids/tops and then making the saturation higher. I've tried to achieve the effect of how everything is different and perceptions are changed under alcohol. I am planning on using this for the Adult part of life as in many people especially in the 21st century, alcohol is a large part of their lives.


Time taken = 2 hours 30 minutes


Total time taken = 4 hour 15 minutes
I did also take a couple of more photos as the opportunity to use photos with snow in, with our current weather, was too much to pass by.