Photographic artist makes people's romantic dreams come true

One of Ma Liang's imagined childhood romance photographs. [Photo: Sina Weibo]

Marrying someone you've known since childhood, called "qingmei zhuma" in Chinese, is believed to be one of the most romantic things that can happen in someone's life.

But because life doesn't always turn out to be quite like a fairy tale, a photographic artist based in Shanghai is offering to Photoshop together childhood photos of couples who met each other later in life so they can enjoy the sentiment of "qingmei zhuma".

An exhibition of these photos has opened at Meiluocheng in Shanghai's Xuhui District, reports The Paper.

The exhibition, which opened on Friday, includes over 50 works by the artist Ma Liang that were printed out and mounted in old-fashioned photo frames alongside children's goods found in the typical 1980s Chinese household.

A poster for Ma Liang's exhibition "Qingmei Zhuma Photostudio" in Shanghai. [Photo: Sina Weibo]

Ma Liang got the idea for the exhibition after making an imagined childhood photo of himself with his wife.

After he posted the image on WeChat, it captured the imagination of many of his friends, so he decided to offer people on Weibo the chance to have photos of their own put together. In 10 months, Ma created childhood memories for 150 couples.

One of Ma Liang's imagined childhood romance photographs. [Photo: Sina Weibo]

Making the photos poses some challenges, as the original images being combined were shot using different cameras, at different angles, and with different types of film. But thanks to augmented reality (AR) technology, the artist can not only create stills, but also animated GIFs.

One of Ma Liang's imagined childhood romance photographs. [Photo: Sina Weibo]