I don’t care if it is the night before Valentine’s Day and you don’t have so much as a piece of red construction paper or a doilie in the house. You have have your smartphone and so you have plenty of opportunities to say I love you with a camera—the camera you have with you all the time. It’s not too late! Relax, shoot a quick photo, and email some love. They will love you back for it. Here are a few ideas to get you going:
Although it may not have the handmade feeling of red construction-paper hearts and doilies, adding typography to a photograph can make a powerful personal statement. it’s worth digging into your smart phone editing program and finding out how to apply typography to your photographs. It’s just not that complicated. Words and pictures create a third effect that neither one of them has alone.
If you’re coming up short on a Valentine’s Day card this year, you may not have to dig any deeper than the most recent selfie you shot of you and that special someone. An early-morning email with even a seemingly mundane photograph of the two of you entitled “I Love You” will go a long, long way toward taking the place of a store bought card.
Valentines photos don’t have to be all about hugs and kisses, either. Best friends can be valentine buddies regardless of their age. With a little help from a parent who may have taken a picture of two grade-school companions a Valentines greeting can be emailed and cherished.
And it doesn’t have to be flowers; it could be anything they simply love. Maybe it’s artful shot of their favorite cinnamon sticky bun, maybe it’s a picture of the tickets you bought for the concert they’ve been talking about. But if it IS flowers and THEY grew them and YOU noticed and PHOTOGRAPHED them—extra points and extra kisses.
Anything in the shape of a heart is a possible Valentine’s Day photo subject. Here’s an assignment to keep you busy this year: Keep your eyes open for those heart-shaped found objects. Maybe it’s something you find on a walk in the woods; it might even be some graffiti on a city wall. Regardless, next year at this time you’ll be ready to send your masterpiece as a Valentines greeting.
They love and need to be loved too, you know. If there’s a special animal in their world they’re going to love an email Valentine greeting from the furry world. You could get fancy and enhance that special friend (or friends) with a little bit of Valentine’s Day wardrobe— even a red ribbon collar would add to the impact.
It could be you pretending to air-kiss the camera. It could be you kissing someone they love— your son, your daughter. It could be a selfie of you kissing that special someone who’s receiving the photograph. Kisses are tough to top when it comes to saying I love you.
