Fun with Photographs

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We value photographs because these frozen bits of time capture what we were doing and feeling during important parts of our lives. They immortalize how we looked, dressed, acted, and in essence what we were as individuals. Some of them are pictures of you two together that can be framed and kept for a lifetime, while others are fun little throwaway gifts that can be emailed to remind the person that you're thinking of them and then discarded. With a little imagination, you can make amazing gifts out of existing memories or by creating new ones!

The Two of You
These are the important ones -- images of you doing all of the things together that make your relationship unique.

Plan a day to go somewhere scenic or interesting and do a photo shoot. Have fun playing around with different poses and angles. You'll need a tripod to shoot them yourselves or you could:
Hire a professional photographer to take photos, or a student photographer if you're on a budget. A serious photographer will not only give you a lot of flexibility with your shots but should also have plenty of suggestions to make your pictures better.
Take a great existing photo and have it framed or even make a custom from for it yourself!
Make a collage of the pictures you've taken together.
If you have photo-editing software, experiment with black & white, different contrasts, and various filters to give old photos a new, artistic feel.

Say it with Pictures
Express how that special person makes you feel through imagery.

A simple note saying "You make me feel..." along with a photo of a dog leaping to express excitement, a forest for peaceful, playing children for happy, a puppy for young, you get the idea.
As mentioned in the love letters (link) page, you can take a photo of an entire message or words traced out using rocks, sticks, or dug in the sand.
Take individual photos of each word in a message and let your date put them back together. Number the photos on the front or back if it's a long one.

Location, Location, Location
Remind them of important points in your relationship by taking pictures of special places and writing a note about why it was important to you. You could even write the note on a big piece of poster board and put it in the photo.

The place you first met.
Where you had your first kiss.
Where you first told them you loved them.
The spot you got engaged.
Even places you want to travel with them along with a note like "Let's be here".

Turn it into a Painting
You can take a regular photo and turn it into a piece of art to hang on the wall by:

Making it into a paint-by-numbers.
Having a local artist or art student reproduce it in their style.
Have it turned into a preset style by using an online company like allpopart.com

Funny
It doesn't always have to be serious romance, how about a few photos that will make them laugh:

Take a picture with their pet or a stuffed animal along with a note that says something like "Your two favorite animals" or "Your two favorite monkeys".
Cut out your heads and put them on the bodies of animals or celebrities.
Cut yourselves out and create a vacation you took, that you never really took. Kind of like The Story that Never Was.
Any old picture of you goofing around.

There are tons of other ideas you can use too, like sexy photos, turning them into a treasure hunt, a pop-up card, or whatever else you can imagine. Do what feels right and they'll love it!