Fun with my Scanner: At the Beach with Dad

I am about at the lowest level novice on Photoshop Elements. I can work some basic stuff, but I am very limited. A few weeks ago I was messing around with an old photo of my Dad and I and I thought it the end result was pretty cool.

Here was the first one:

Obviously the color was awful, and while it's a nice photo, the more I looked at it the more unsightly I found that pole on the right. Although I am quite sure I used the wrong and harder method, I finally removed it and this is how it came out: 

I also zoomed in because that kid's head was giving me issues. I really like how that sailboat now sticks out a little more and adds a splash of color to the photo. 

Today, I found out a childhood friend's father died unexpectedly this morning. He was a few years older than my dad but he wasn't obese or obviously unhealthy. He was a gruff guy and my most lasting memory of him was that he would eat shrimp tales, just cause.  I lost touch with my friend during high school, so it's not like I was close to him or his dad. 

Even still it got me thinking about my parents and especially my dad. My dad and I don't always see eye to eye on a lot of things (what father and son do?) but he's my dad and I love him. I would like to think we're more different than similar but I don't know how true that really is. We share the same laugh, the same charming sarcasm (just enough but not too much) and the same laid back approach to  life. He was the template on which I built the first version of me. So, here's to my dad. I hope he doesn't die anytime soon. 

Also, the shirt he has on in this photo is awesome.