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(My) Photo of the day, Or On this glorious occasion ... of the splendid defeat



Something a little bit different again today. Each Monday I leave work slightly early to relieve Jen of Henry-watching. I do this in order to enable her to attend a ‘pregnastics’ class. Before you get all excited with visions of the heavily pregnant ladies hurtling towards a vault or throwing themselves around to the strains of Elgar during a floor routine, it is less like gymnastics and more like stretching and Pilates.

ANYWAY

The point that I am trying to get across is the sun. You see, I usually leave work and miss out on the interesting shapes that a low – but not yet setting – sun can generate. However, I was also in a hurry (pregnastics does not wait for art). As a result I rushed off a series of interesting shots involving seagulls, grass, trees and a low, but bright winter’s sun.

Of course, haste makes waste and all of that jazz, and none of my beautifully imagined photographs turned out quite the way that I expected (or wanted) them to. Yet, I will admit that one image in particular has caught my fancy. Technically, it is a failure, I will concede that. But sometimes within failure, the grains of artistic truth are most abundant!

[Get yer hand off it McCracken.]

[All right, I will. Forgive me. I am feeling romantic. It is monthly report time and I always get like this.]

Back to the point. If I ever get around to releasing a debut album, I think that it would make excellent cover art for a big ole twelve inch vinyl long player. I am thinking breezy (yet still meaningful) stripped-back country/folk/rock fusion. Think Stephen Stills eponymous record from 1970 and we are getting there.

An afterthought:
I was thinking about what it was that made me think ‘cover art’ and I think that I have it: Beth Orton’s Trailer Park. I have no idea when that photograph was taken, but for whatever reason, whenever I see this sort of ‘blissed-out’ low-hanging sun, I think 1970s. Maybe it is just poorly exposed colour Polaroid’s taken of when my brother and I were little ‘uns in the late-70s that does it, but yeah, this photograph has a 1970s-vibe to me.

I am quite happy with it.

Comments

Lynette said…
I like the photo, too. Thanks for stopping by. We've had five splendid days in a row. Not sure how many more are on their way since I've not had time to watch any weather predictions since last Wednesday.
Coach said…
Speaking of Stephen - did you see his recent photo in the Faces edition of Uncut - Unrecognisable!
Louis la Vache said…
On a different subject - "Louis" was humored by your suggestion of shark bait. "Louis" would prefer to use cats in place of dogs, but realizes the enormous difficulty of getting a cat in the water.

(Editor to "Louis": 'You've probably just instigated a tremendous outpouring of hate mail from the cat lovers.'

"Louis" to Editor: 'gulp')

Here is the polar opposite to Chuck Pefley's Vespas.
Anonymous said…
I remember lots of photos that look just like this one looks. To me it was a sign that I had failed somehow or that Kodak's film had a flaw in it. I only took really sunshine pictures like your CD Cover shot when I pointed the camera up instead of more down towards something. It is nice to see there in humor coming from other parts of the world. Thanks again for your visit.
Kris McCracken said…
Coach, I haven't seen that edition, but I have seen Mr Stills of late. I am sure quitting the grog has done wonders for his liver, but he looks like Van Morrison nowadays.

Abe, I sometimes like to get a little sunshine in to see what it does to the rest of the image. 99 times out of 100 it wrecks it, the other can often be something special.
EG CameraGirl said…
I enjoy seeing success rising from defeat. I agree it'd be an interesting album cover.
freefalling said…
I like the photo.
I found a polaroid camera in the second hand store on the weekend ($2).
Can't wait to get some film and try some technically inept photos.

In terms of child watching, my sister-in-law arrived home from Macedonia yesterday - 30 hours travelling alone with a two year old!!!!!!!!
She looks like a wreck.
He looks fresh as a daisy.
See here:
http://poofanditsgone.blogspot.com/
(umm....that's not her with the beard!)
. said…
I like it. When the news came of polaroid canceling their film manufacturing I bought everything left in our store (only 3 packs).

Isn't it strange how you can go about missing out on a particular time of day. When you realize you have been it is like you woke up for the second time in a day....

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