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I read the Adjective Association question but I'm wondering how it applies to the following sentence:

Here is a really old picture of me.

It appears that really old, and picture are associated to me, but it could also be assumed that really old associated to picture. Seems ambiguous.

Slightly changing the sentence:

Here is a blurry old picture of me.

Seems to indicate the picture, whereas I cannot come up with an adjective that would associate to me (might exist).

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  • I don't see how you can say really old in #1 "associates" with me. If I say "Here's a really old picture of the king" surely it's obvious the thing which is "really old" is the picture, not the king. It would be completely different if I said "Here's a picture of the really old king". In both of your examples, "of me" simply qualifies the picture - in a different way to those adjectives that come before "picture", but also modify the same word.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Apr 10, 2014 at 19:43
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    Picture nouns have many different possibilities with possessives.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Apr 10, 2014 at 19:45

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Here is a really old picture of me.

The adjective in your sentence is old, and really is an adverb which modifies old. They are in their usual places - before the noun they modify.

of me can be dropped without changing the essential meaning of the adverb + adjective.

Here is a really old picture.

If the adjective and adverb described you, and you are not really old, perhaps:

Here is a photoshopped picture of me as really old.

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