Background
For over 30 years, my relatives have dedicated countless hours to compiling the family tree of my ancestors. Several years ago, Dad took over the work, and since then, I have assisted in working on the website. For the new version of the website, I decided to experiment with Photoshop, to learn and create some new assets for the new website.
Ancestors
Recently, much of the family tree website became broken, but luckily, we were able to save the media, posts, and pages. It’s going to be a long-term project, but in 2024, my dad and I were able to start the process to repair everything.
This project is very personal to me. I’m quite a sentimental person, especially when it comes to my ancestors and where my family comes from. Without going into specific private details, I can say that the events that caused the website to be in the state it’s in now are due to decisions I’ve made. And so, I’ve made it a priority to bring it back to its former glory, if not better; I want to do it justice.
Old Meets New
While working on the website, I wanted to utilize the materials available as much as possible and use them to build the website’s identity. However, there are new assets that are going to have to be made.
In one example, I used the Freepik AI tool to create a portrait of a woman in the 1920s, but because I don’t want to create confusion and cause someone to think this fictional woman is real, I removed most of her facial features to create anonymity.
If you’re seeing a resemblance to the Manic Street Preachers video for “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”, you’re not alone. After working on details and zooming out, I realized I had unconsciously recreated something I had seen before, and I’m okay with that.
Reflections
I clearly have a lot to learn about Photoshop, but it was fun to work on something completely outside of my comfort zone, on a project which is very different from everything else I am working with.
