If you look close enough, there are enough clues in any photo to be able to contextual its meaning. For this photo, the breakfast, which is what the camera is focused in on, gives away that it is morning time. Muffins, fresh fruit, and orange juice is displayed on the coffee table. The lightening coming from the top left corner looks like sunlight, which also helps the audience understand the picture was most likely taken in the morning.
The woman in the photo, my mother, is laying on the couch with a fuzzy blanket. She is wearing glasses while reading the newspaper. She looks like she is enjoying a relaxing part of her day. To boot, the dog, Snickers, is lounged on top of her. Because what better way to spend a Sunday morning.
The throw blanket and pillow give the photo a pop of color, for it is a bright photograph to begin with, the bright colors lighten the mood even more. The pillow even has a saying on it that says “Enjoy Every Moment”, which is what it looks like the woman is doing in the photo.
The flower next to the breakfast lets the audience know this isn’t just a bowl of stale cereal from the closet, but a nice and pretty breakfast that was prepared, and matches the overall tone of the photo nicely.
I edited the photo by brightening it, sharpening it, and adding a blue tint affect. I brightened and sharpened the picture so it appeared clearer. I added the tint affect because the overall color of the image was blue, with splashes of color, but the blue tint gave it a more pleasing look. It also enhanced the look of the photo—a woman relaxing, enjoying her morning with her pup, with a beautiful breakfast display.
I staged the photo by taking out the footrest and putting our coffee table back to the center of out living room. I bought fresh fruit and muffins from the Shoprite near my house, and poured my mom a glass of orange juice. Of course, I did my best to make the picture look astatically pleasing—which takes away from the authentic-ness. Kind of like Instagram. We filter things and show the world what we think looks best, even if it means its not raw or real. Or even like advertisements, which show the best, but not always realistic, version of their product or image. So while this isn’t exact what a Sunday morning looks like in my household, when I imagine what a relaxing morning looks like, this is what I picture—peacefulness.
My mother likes to read the Sunday paper every Sunday—it’s a weekend ritual if you will. Her favorite part, if you ask her, is that she never reads alone…or does anything around the house alone for that matter. My dog Snickers is there to keep her company every chance he gets. He most definitely is a lap dog, not that he is relatively small. Nobody loves to cuddle more than him, so I figured why not capture a typical Sunday morning photo, of the rare sight of my hard working mother actually relaxing and my pup keeping her company.
karlymac 