My lyrical essay discusses the experience of a military kid who feels like she does not fit into Californian culture, because she feels more at home in the state she grew up in. I chose this photo, because the man on the paddle boat is clearly not an aquatic creature, but still finds a way to exist in the water. This is meant to represent my interviewee feeling like she is in a culture she is not adapted to, and having to find her own way. In my silhouette, I put the quote “You’re from one small town, where everything is slower, and the tops are cropped lower.” because it expresses the clashing cultures between my interviewee’s hometown, and where she lives now. It also shows how overwhelming the sheer amount of people in Silicon Valley can be, which I represented with the vast expanse of water beneath the paddleboat.
When editing the photo, I boosted the contrast in the background, and also edited the light levels with a curves layer. I did this to enhance the details, and also create more darkness and shadows. I also enhanced the brightness and saturation on the man, to make him stand out, and make him less shadowy and more clear. I chose to turn the shirt of the man in the photo green, so that he would stand out on the black and white background, and also because green a the color commonly associated with the military. I used the font Copperplate, because it has an old fashioned official look to it, which seemed appropriate for someone who was stationed in a small town. In the silhouette, I placed the word “cropped” at the hem of the shorts, since the word cropped was meant to refer to where clothing ends. I also put the word “lower” at the lowest point in the silhouette, to emphasize it.
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