More for not very much ...

Sometimes a photo just grabs me ... It might be quite a mundane, run-of-the-mill sort, and it takes me a while to work out why I want to use it. Once I've worked that out, there's the 'how' to contend with! On my browsings a few months ago, I came across the Before and After Magazine blog: really meant for designers, but with some great tips for scrapbookers like me who love to keep it simple. The idea was about taking one photo apart, selecting three sections, so it yielded three photos rather than just one. Being frugal (read 'mean', given my Scottish ancestry), this really appealed; not least, because it's often difficult to find suitable matching photos for the good one I have in mind. I'm not really a single-photo-layout kinda gal, though I hugely admire those who can do it so well. It also obviates the need for an embellishment - if a bit of a photo can act as one, well, what's not to like?

Here's what I ended up with: just a shot from behind of my DD and my Mum on a rare family holiday last year.

A title, a subtitle, and some thoughts (the journalling follows below), and there it was. All from one photo: a good big picture to catch the eye, a smaller one from the edges of the original that shows something of the surroundings and sets the main one in context, and a little one to provide some balance. There's an infinite variety of possible positions and configurations for the three photos, of course, so if you decide to try it sometime, there's lots to play around with. Hope it's a useful tip! Many thanks for joining us today, and this is Alexa heading for (you've guessed it) her usual cup of tea!

Journalling reads:

• "And I thought: Just who would ever have guessed that one day in the future ...

• we would all be back here in Donegal on holiday, our own original family expanded into four generations ...

• we’d be living across four countries, keeping in touch by pressing keys and buttons, invisible lifelines knitting us together ...

• you would be taller than both me and your Grandma. She used to hold your tiny hand so you didn’t fall, carry you around, show you her world. And now here you are, holding her tight, making sure she can still experience as much of the world as we can make possible for her ...

• and just who would ever have guessed that the future would ache so ...

Comments

[mandy]

A thought provoking post...tfs.

[Eleanor]

Now that's really given me an idea - one good photo and all I could have thought of was to blow it up and use it big. Now I will do exactly as you suggest and look at how I can break it up. Perfect. And your journalling is, as usual, so moving and special.
(loving too the double handbag bit, I've done that too...)
E
xx

[Julie Kirk]

Wondeful page Alexa :)

I really enjoy playing with balance etc by cropping my photos but have never seen this idea before - certainly one to try- thank you!

x

[Debbie Roberts]

Beautiful and I love your journalling

Debbie x

[Sian]

Very, very clever idea with, as you say, so many possibilities. I would love to have a go at this. Thanks Alexa!