There are 4,000 miles between them. But when the yearning gets too much, Rosie Hardy can still feel a mere heartbeat away from her boyfriend.
The British student and American photography expert have created a series of touching portraits in which they defy the distance to appear very much together.
Rosie, 18, of Buxton, Derbyshire, and boyfriend Aaron Nace, 25, of North Carolina, met through photo sharing website Flickr. They dated online for three months before finally meeting in the flesh.
To cement their relationship, they decided to fuse themselves together in a series of pictures, helped by a little computer wizardry.
In some they are entwined in a tender embrace; in others they reach out for each other through photo frames.
Rosie, an A-level student, said the process of making the pictures brought them closer.
She said: ‘Our images make the distance between us easier to bear.
We’re creating our own world in which we can be together. It’s often the closest we can get to each other. It’s a way to doing something as a couple and expressing our love.
‘When I look at the images I can almost feel his skin against mine and feel his breath. And the process of making them has really helped us bond. Creatively, we are the same. We have the same ideas. We know what the other is thinking. We’re a team.’
Rosie got hooked on photography when she was given a Canon 400d on her 17th birthday.
Aaron runs an image-retouching business from his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The pair both took part in Flickr’s 365 Days project, posting self-portraits every day of the year.
Aaron was browsing the pool of photographs when he spotted an image that mirrored his own and sent the photographer, Rosie, a message.
On that day, April 29, 2008, Rosie was looking at the same images. She clicked on Aaron’s and liked what she saw, only to find she had a message from him waiting in her inbox
The pair flirted and started to ‘date’ online – communicating through Skype and messaging services.
A month later, Aaron declared his love but it was a further two months before they would meet in the flesh.
Aaron had to first overcome the hurdle of Rosie’s wary parents, Beverley, 48, a florist, and Philip, 62, a printing engineer.
On July 18, 2008, he flew to the UK to meet Rosie, staying for two weeks. The couple have since managed to spend almost five months together with Rosie visiting America five times and Aaron making two further trips to the UK.
Aaron is the Photoshop expert behind the stunning images but the pair work closely to create the finished effect.
Rosie takes her self-portrait and Aaron then finds a way to seamlessly place himself in shot – matching lighting, camera angles, scale and mood.
Co-ordinating outfits
The couple co-ordinate their wardrobe, use similar props and pose so that they can reach out, or hold, each other in the pictures.
They mount their cameras on tripods and use remote sensors to take the shots.
Aaron said the most complicated part of the process is matching the light.
He said: ‘Rosie takes her pictures in natural light, which is different from the light in North Carolina. I need to mimic this light in a studio using coloured filters and fillers.
‘We work together so well. If feels at times like we are the same person living thousands of miles apart. From the beginning we were completing each other’s thoughts.’
Rosie is about to take her A-levels, in Art, Classical Civilisation and Psychology.
She has deferred her university place at the Glasgow School of Arts to spend more time with Aaron in America.
Rosie said: ‘We need to give it a go so see if it works. It all feels as though we were meant to be together.’
text courtesy : http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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