Thursday, August 9, 2012

A Little Girl

"Gift/s" is this week's prompt at Bonnie's Photo Art Friday. What a beautiful theme - we all have gifts in our life, don't we? It can be a beautiful morning, an unexpected flower blooming in your garden, a cup of coffee brought to your bedside or a spectacular sunrise. The list is endless.

My gift - the best and biggest and most miraculous gift ever - is this little girl:


This is my daughter at three years old. Just two months before this image was taken we had moved to California from Germany. My daughter had attended only a few weeks of preschool before it closed down for the summer. Too short for her to make friends or learn enough of the new language to communicate with other people using words (she had many other ways, though, especially her killer smile). She missed Germany and her friends there, the little toddler group that she went to every afternoon. But still she kept her irresistible smile and her joy of life. Those first few months in the States were hard on both her and myself, but somehow we got through it and remembered to have fun every day. She was a real trooper.

She still is. The best gift ever.

This photo was taken with my film camera. I couldn't find the negatives anymore so I had to scan it from the scrapbook page I had created years ago. Thanks to Photoshop I could still work with it.

First I cropped it and then added the blur, taking the blur away in only those places I wanted to. Added Bonnie's texture "Autrefois" and blended it in soft light at 100%. Copied it and that's it.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

she is beautiful. what a wonderful gift!

Tito Eric said...

Delightful colors and composition.

Cheers ... visiting from Photo Art Friday!

Tito Eric
http://turningboholano.blogspot.com/2012/08/zadig-by-voltaire.html

Pat said...

Lovely work. She is adorable.

Andrea @ From The Sol said...

Words can't express the beauty of this gift. This picture and your editing captures a beauty that is deeper and more profound than anything you could say about her. Wonderful choice, wonderful job ... and I love your little girl.

Andrea @ From The Sol

Sherri B. said...

Oh my...what a precious gift, indeed! She is adorable...look at that gorgeous smile! Thanks so much for sharing, and what a light she must've been to you as you both adjusted to your new life in the U.S.

patty said...

Beautiful, Carola. Lovely girl, lovely photo!!

Currie Silver said...

what a wonderful story to gift us with!! I love the photo and it deeply touched my heart about BEing new and making friends and NOT ENOUGH time... you let me return to a BIG change of my own in April when I was in 4th grade. It changed EVERYTHING in so many ways and yet Now that I have seen it more clearly, I have BEgun to use it for good. That is a gift I'd NOT really seen until Right Now, so deep Gratitude for shining the light there!!

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

She is adorable and very lucky to have such a sensitive mother who understood that such a big move was hard on a little one too.

Love the texture you chose for your edit, as it does not interfere with your sweet subject.

Thanks for sharing with Photo Art Friday, Carola.

Ida said...

You are so right about children being a "gift". Your little one is adorable and you've done a fabulous job preserving this special moment in her life.

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a beautiful girl, and the processing is just right.
Rinda

Rosemary Aubut said...

She is indeed a beautiful gift! So very precious and I love the processing!

Deborah said...

children are the greatest gift of all!