 Short Stories: July 09, 2014 Issue [#6417] |
  Short Stories
This week: Pictures that give a new perspective Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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Playing with the 'drawing' mode on my camera, I realised how viewing a photograph differently gives various perspectives
-- a useful tool for a writer! |
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Dear Reader,
Three years ago, on my birthday, my Dad got me a new 'toy'. A little camera that fits in to my purse, so that I can have a camera along wherever I go. (My mobile phone is one of those old ones without a camera, in case you are wondering.)
I played with my new toy whenever my hands weren't busy doing something else -- and one day, sitting and clicking pictures of students acting out a skit in a school, I turned a knob on my camera, and discovered the 'DRAWING' mode.
I almost yelled aloud with wonderment.
This little gadget of mine took the same frame as an ordinary photo -- and as a pen-and-ink type drawing. For me, it was bliss. I started clicking pictures of everyday objects and situations. Waiting at the traffic light, waiting for the dentist to call me, waiting in queue for tickets, whenever I had a spare moment, I'd take pictures in 'drawing mode'. I started looking at things differently, as prospective subjects for a 'drawing' photo. A heap of old cartons someone was getting ready to discard, coconut shells after the water had been drunk and the white coconut-meat eaten, anything that gave an interesting contrast of dark and light, of thin lines and thick.
These different perspectives can spark off ideas for a writer, too. Take these two photos -- traffic, stopped at a red light, taken from the fourth floor of an apartment house.
A couple of things that struck me were -- how the dark shadows to the left turned to white, looking, to me, somewhat like cloud or water, and how the trees at the top of the picture became a much darker mass in the drawing mode. So if these two frames are subsequent incidents in a story -- what happened? People were driving somewhere and there was a mist? They drove toward something mysterious, maybe sinister ... ?
Or take these two, for when you may be describing a setting:
Notice how the piles of clothes in the foreground don't look like anything much in the drawing mode, while the smaller windows at the top suddenly seem to be more important, and draw your eye. Whatever the plot is going to be, one gets the feeling those upper windows are going to play an important part in it.
I know that many purist photographers and artists think that gadgets that do something like my camera does, or that programs like Photoshop, dilute the true worth of individual talent. Maybe they're right. It would have taken tremendous skill to make those sketches with an actual pen or pencil, I did it with one click on my little camera. But I feel that as writers, technology has given us a tremendous tool. The next time you take a photo that you're going to caption, or write about, view it in another mode -- Photoshop offers 'charcoal' and 'plaster of Paris' to name but two -- and watch how your perspective changes!
Thanks for listening!
Sonali.
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My favorite authors I'd love to meet: JK Rowling, George RR Martin, Phillipa Gregory and Anne Rice. I know, a girl can dream...  . StephBee 
What a great NL. I too have been in the company of great authors. I joined Midwest Fiction Writers for a year or so. I was in the company of some prolific writers. Kathleen Eagle, Lois Greiman and a number of Harlequin writers. Most were nice, helpful and easy to talk to. Some had heard it all. "How can I be as good a writer as you?" How do you answer that? These people don't want to hear, Write, read, take classes, and get a good plot." Some people think you can become a good writer if you take a series of pills. Really! I do agree with you. Writers for the most part hide and are insecure. They are thinkers and spend a lot of time alone. Some are snobs and arrogant. If it hurts you don't buy their books. Be nice, don't expect a writer to be some outgoing social butterfly, chances are they've spent too much time alone and don't have a lot of social skills. Many prolific authors have handlers. These people run interference when the public gets too demanding. Try to relate to them. Quick-Quill 
There are some authors I'd like to meet - to be honest, I have a personal letter from one Bruce Coville, who wrote a series about this young man who encountered some rather small aliens, known as the Rod Allbright series - I think that's what it's called - due in part because the guy lives a few hours away from me - I wish I could meet him. Others, well I'd need a time machine for them, because they passed away within the last few years, like Anne McCaffrey, Brian Jacques, and a couple of others whom I enjoy. BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
Though I like a lot of people’s works, there are a few I would like to meet. My first choice would be C.S. Lewis and then J.R.R, Tolkien. Of course they are no longer available to sign books. There is one author that would be inspiring to talk with would be a fantasy writer named Stephan Lawhead. At the moment I am totally focusing on his works. He has written many good books which are moral and faith oriented. The thing with this individual is that he does not like publicity so it would be hard to catch him. Thanks for the letter! brom21  |
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