Final Collage

Aloha!

The topic I chose for my blog is “About Me” with a focus on ‘ohana. ‘Ohana is the Hawaiian word for family. While the concept of ‘ohana includes the Western idea of nuclear family of mother, father, and children, it encompasses far more. ‘Ohana includes family members now and those to come—members related by birth, marriage, official and unofficial adoption, and friends so integrated within the family we call them “uncle”, “aunty”, “brother,” or “sister.” ‘Ohana also includes those who have come and gone before us, our deceased and ancestral spirit (aumakua). We all share the same commitment, responsibility, and support of one another. ‘Ohana is a fundamental familial support system vital to Native Hawaiian culture. In keeping with the theme of ‘ohana, I decided to focus on generations of mothers and daughters for my collage. We work together to form the support system for each other. Those pictured in my collage represent only a part of our ‘ohana. The background image is a plumeria because a lei made of these flowers symbolizes the bond between all that is good, and for me represents the bond between the mothers and daughters of our ‘ohana.

My idea for this collage is to have my youngest granddaughter as the focal point, surrounded by the others in a “circle of life.” (I did my best to form a circle.) Starting at her hand that is holding pictures of past and future generations, I arranged the images in chronological order. (That’s right—future! Last weekend my son gave me an ultrasound image of my next grandchild who will be born this fall.) The only picture that isn’t in order is the one in the top right corner. It is a picture of my mom and my sisters.

As you can see, I made several changes between my draft and final copy. Thanks to the suggestions and helpful tips from my classmates, I have a better looking design. I was able to remove the white background from the black & white image of my granddaughter using the magic wand tool—thanks Tim!

I edited all the photos using the techniques we learned in the Photoshop tutorials. I cropped/trimmed all the pictures and adjusted those using different layers. From its original colored form, I separated the now B&W picture from its background. I also added a drop shadow to each of the pictures so they don’t look so “flat.” (Again, thanks Tim.) I moved the black & white image of my grandmother so that it looks like Alliana is holding it. (Thanks Tab.) Then I added the ultrasound picture on top to help convey the connectedness of past, present, future generations. I added my initials to the writing since I am the author. For the final touch, I wanted to add a frame but I didn’t want a solid color. With that in mind, I added a black frame layer between the background layer and the plumeria layer. By decreasing the opacity to 65%, I darkened the edges while maintaining the colors of the background flowers. Overall, I am satisfied with the results.