Smiles and laughs are not what this picture is all about. After being married for fourteen years, my parents unfortunately got a divorce and have fought ever since. Their divorce has caused hundreds of problems financially, emotionally, and physically within our household. As a child, I have always looked up to my parents, but along the way it has been a battle on which parent to love or listen to more. After my parents finally got separated, many people in my town decided to take sides between my parents and it was very unfortunate to see outsiders bash my parents. As children, my sisters and I have been vulnerable in the sense that we had no idea of who to trust because one parent would say bad things about the other and then that parent would bash the parent that said those things. The whole divorce has created an environment that thrives off of hatred of the other parent. By looking at this picture, one may think we are a perfectly happy family, but the history of my family has created a situation that creates hostility amongst one another. The use of spacing, color, and contrast are used to reflect the uncomfortably my sisters and I for taking a picture together with both of our parents for the first time in ten years.

The easiest thing to pick out from this picture is the spacing and body language of my parents. My parents are both on the opposite ends of this picture and if they could, they would stand further away. My sister came up with the idea of the five of us taking the photo together, but as we were about to take it, my father ran away. Then other parents began to scream at him to get back in the picture, so he had no other choice but to get in the picture. By looking at his stance, he really wanted to get out of the picture as soon as possible because his hatred for my mother grows more and more every day. He has always thought negatively of my mother, which has been tough on me because I love each parent and hearing degrading things especially from another parent is extremely difficult. The space between my sisters and I is the closest because we have always been extremely close. While taking this picture, my sisters and I could not do anything but laugh because we taking the picture felt surreal and I could not put into words how weird it felt to finally take a family picture after it being so long. My mother also enjoyed taking the picture too because she knew how much it meant to us, and my father was smiling big too after he realized he was wrong for leaving. 

Not only were our smiles bright, but the colors were too. The colors in this picture play more of an ironic role because the bright green that fills the background portrays happiness, harmony, and a sanctuary away from stresses. As one can tell, we are all happy and smiling in the picture, and although we have had many laughs and giggles throughout the divorce, there are still some downs to divorce. The dynamic between my parents is not exactly the most uplifting. My family is never in harmony because my parents tend to disagree on things and struggle to come to a consensus of who is wrong because they are both always “right”. Green is also supposed to be a relaxing color and my parent’s divorce has been everything from relaxing. The divorce has been emotionally draining for every single one of my family members and for many of people that have had to deal with it. There have been many points where my sisters and I have had no idea what to do. But that green in that one moment was happiness because seeing all of us together and seeing the way my family interacted brought a smile to my face. The sky that day was partly grey which is ironic because the color greys symbolizes emotionless actions, and in the picture, there were so many laughs and smiles. The rest of the sky not photographed in the picture was blue that was reflected on the lake. The reflection on the lake reflects upon how we all think about the divorce and there are parts that are green that show laughter and happiness out of the divorce. Times like these are when my sisters and I are happy about the divorce because this was a very rare occasion that probably will not happen for another ten years. There are little bits of white and grey that show the moodiness that my sisters and I have had during the divorce. The white is there because it holds a positive connotation because in the long run, the divorce will make my sisters and I better people and there will be many life lessons out of it. But the majority of the pond is reflecting blue because the divorce has been very stressful and upsetting. The picture itself shows that although we were not upset in the moment, but we have been upset in the past about the divorce. My family is standing on a small piece of bright green grass and is divided from the rest of the green forest that is behind. We are divided by the reflected lake that reflects the colors and feelings that we feel from the divorce. 

With the past history of my family, the picture shows contrast because the past is not as bright and joyful as it looks in this picture. The contrast is the elements shown in this picture make us look like a happy family, but my sisters and I cannot stop laughing and smiling because we never expected this picture to happen. After ten years of being divorced and having hundreds of feuds between my parents, it was funny to see them forcefully smiling in the same picture. The trees and the beautiful landscape has produced a happy and bright feeling. Beyond that is darker clouds in the sky that indicate that this is not a perfectly happy picture and there are discrepancies in the meaning behind the photo and the actual photo. The gloomy clouds give an inkling there has been a rough past with all of us. The bright background allows my family stick out some, but the bright background is overpowering to our dullish colored clothing. Being the subjects of this photo, the reversed rules of the coloring provide contrast. There are also shadows on each of our smiling faces that give more of a meaning. The shadows show internal conflict amongst the five of us and it shows that each one of my family members have all struggled with this divorce. We have struggled with making decisions, who to listen to, and what is the right decision that needs to be made. I personally have struggled with who to trust because my parents always fight to be right and want us to trust them, but it is hard to when they will throw the other parent under the bus. The shadows are more than just shadows, they show the fear that we have had when making decision that we have no idea what the outcome will be and my sisters and I have no idea what the outcome will be. 

Had this image showed a less about of bright colors and duller colors, it would give more of a feeling that shows the stresses and frustrations of the divorce. Instead, the picture showed a more vibrant feel of the way the divorce may look to others. On both sides of the family we are silly, but the picture shows my sisters and I smiling and laughing and then my parents smiling through the pain and trying to be supportive. Many things have been degrading and harsh on both ends of my family, but at the end of the day I love my parents both dearly. Although my sisters and I are put into uncomfortable situations that causes stress and awkwardness, we will always love our parents and the views of outsiders so not affect the way we think of them.

 As I have shown the feelings and emotions that had been created by my family have been all over the place, but at the end of the day, we all still stay smiling. 