In this photo I manipulated a terrible photo of the car lights and sunset into a magnificent and intriguing piece of artwork. I love to manipulate/edit photos as much as I love taking them. I had originally deleted the original photo. As soon as I did I felt a pang of regret. I immediately had an idea of what I wanted to do with it. Since I went to the recently deleted file and restored the copy, I was able to save the photo. Within that same action packed day I managed to take time to edit the photo. At first, I was playing around with the editor. However, I managed to edit the original photo into this piece. I call it traffic jam because of its story. It (the photo) was originally stuck with nowhere to go—not going forward. But, finally the jam cleared up and it was able to reach its destination. It also relates to how all bad things can turn amazing. The photo used to be boring or not that great, until I manipulated it to be how it is now. I really enjoy the color scheme of this photo so that’s why I chose this photo as one of the submissions.
Daania Sharifi is an eighth grader who attends Gainesville Middle School. She has been published in several literary journals such as the Lit Mag, Stone Soup, and the Rare Byrd Review. When she isn’t taking a photo of everything she sees, she continues to edit her novel with her best friend, drinks Snapple while reading whatever she can get her hand on, and acts out short skits with her sister, Rania.