132. Mother-Daughter Journey: Birthday
Mother collage
For my workshop …
So many, if not most of my photos are of portraits/street; I didn’t want to be redundant and there was not much opportunity to get out. But, my mother’s birthday was coming on the 16th and I was hoping to have and create a memento of the day. She is not an easy subject; very much self involved with her appearance, cringed at the selfie I attempted with her, and eventually insisted on her “pose” which she said “they” taught her to do. Don’t ever argue with my mom. She knows everything.
So I snapped and she balked and I came home with a bunch of images with lousy backgrounds that crept vividly into the scenes. Everything from a rose stem sticking out of her head to a kitchen towel that the aide had strung across the cabinets to dry. OY.
Not what I was hoping for or expecting and there I was firing away with a pile of plastic bags on the floor by her feet. Onward. I sat on the photos for many days and tried to figure out how, if possible to do them justice. This was not an easy task, and here is why: the aging process that was before me, no matter how much I thought I had accepted it, was horrifying. I wanted to show the “now” but there is a poignancy to the change from the “before,” a bittersweetness to face. Of a face. And a body.
Then there were the tech disasters. I was able to really clean up a few photos with Tadaa SLR and had made a final cut not realizing there was still some tweaking to do. I saved the photos and the app has been crashing ever since. I had forgotten that there was an issue with this app on the iPad and now it was also dead on the iP8+. Hours went by and I took a long journey, from app to app, having forgotten the parameters of most of them: Afterlight, Enlight, HandyPhoto, no app had that same background blur capacity that Tadaa had. Finally I gave in and used the BLUR subapp on Snapseed which does not do the same job that I was hoping for but it was better than nothing and just about what every other app offered–an elipse or lines to mark off an area to mask.
After some more hours, I redid that Mother collage you all know, above. I used the “when she was young photo” and surrounded it with the edited photos. But what really blew me away was the photo of mom I had taken a year or two ago in the orange sweater. The difference in her face astounded me. Her vision is legally blind from macular degeneration, she is down to 74 pounds (33.56K), she fell twice last year and was hospitalized with a fractured pelvis for over a month, she was showing signs of paranoia and dementia. But on her birthday, she was brilliant. All there. Happy.
She is now 100 years old.
The lower right sepia photo is the final result.
Beautiful photos and collage, Susan….a lot of work went into it. You are a beautiful daughter.
What lovely and expressive photos you took.
Happy Birthday to your Mom. Such a special birthday!
Simply beautiful Susan. I love the words you have chosen to write about your Mother. Wishing Happy Birthday to her with all good wishes.
What a beautiful tribute to your mom. She’s beautiful inside and out yesterday and today!
What a wonderful testimony to your Mom. all of your work is truly a labor of love, and it shows! She is lucky to have such a wonderful daughter, and you are certainly a product of her love and devotion to you. Well done (in spite of the glitches). Hugs!!!!
Although my mother is 4 years younger than yours, I see how much she has changed from one visit to the next. It is heart-breaking. I know how you feel.
Beautiful result, great care was taken to capture her beauty. You did fabulous.
Sue she is wonderful glad you got some cool shots she is funny <3
Susan, you did beautiful work taking your beloved Mother’s photos, she certainly was classy and very beautiful.Yes, you are right, the orange sweater is a great picture. The color is good, the smile, awesome captures. You know she should make the today 100 year old birthdays they review. I loved all the photos and just between us I think she enjoyed posing. She has her memories and she also cares how she looks. She is a great lady. God Bless you. I applaud you for all you do for your Mother. God bless you and your family. love my friends.
Good job, Sue!
Beautiful!
Now matter how you look at it is getting old is tough, but you still managed to capture some of who she once was.
Glad that was the only “drama” this post.
Happy Birthday to your mom. 100 is quite a milestone!
Beautiful. The aging process can be very harsh but you captured the beauty!! ❤️