The Write on Wednesday spark: The stories a tree could tell.Take a look at the above photo (by Story). Use it to inspire your Write on Wednesday post. Keep your post on the short side: up to 500 words OR a 5 minute stream of consciousness exercise. Link your finished piece to the list and begin popping by the other links in the list. Enjoy!
The morning air was buoyant and crisp. It was enough to break the skin on my face. I bundled up with my white knitted scarf and made my way towards the shallow lands. There lay a bare tree, broken in half with decayed sticks meshing through the marsh. I had passed this tree many times while doing my morning walks on the beach. It was as if the tree had spoke to me in whispers of a long life. Today, its voice was a shrill echo.
I began to imagine this tree as if it were still standing. It was then I had a moment of realization that this would be my photography lesson for myself. This tree was more than an element of broken sticks; this tree was still thriving.
I rushed immediately into the beach house and rummaged through my boxes to get my camera. I strapped my camera to its string and wrapped it securely around my neck. I realized that I had not taken a decent photograph since I left New York. It was time to make a transformation.
Black and white photographs were always my favorite. They seemed to have more color to them than what they seemed. I decided to shoot this tree in black and white. I wanted to capture the fragile points of the tree and paint the roughness of the edges in an imaginary hue of light.
11 comments:
How interesting! Was this a real picture you took? If so, do we get to see it?
You described a photo so well, it does make a reader "see" it.
@ Claire - No, this was something that I had pictured in my head. I am in the middle of writing a novel about a 25 year old woman who has a love for photographing nature. But I do take pictures as well. I may start putting some up! :)
@MSBjaneB - Thank you. I love to make the reader feel the object in different ways.
I have aways loved how photograhers can take a simple object and make it appear different. I would have loved to see that tree and how the photographs turned out.
Love this take on the prompt, it was so interesting and very real. I love the way so many of us recognised the life left in the tree, that it was more than just decaying wood. The tree also seemed to provide some help to many of the characters in this week's exercise. It's great to see you back here for another year of WoW, Steph!
interesting story of inspiration to create. And yes, I noticed you've followed on from Five sentence Fiction "Hunger"!
Kate
@Finding a skinnier me - I will do my best to take some photos of some trees and post them on here. I have a thing for nature life. :)
@Gill - It's good to be back! Thanks for the sweet comments!
@Kate - Yes! I am glad you've noticed. I am working on a novel about this sort of thing. Every now and then I will throw bits and pieces of it in FSF or WOW. ;)
Great description of the weather. "It was enough to break the skin on my face." This line gives a wonderful sense of it. I also like that your character found the beauty in the tree. Very nice.
I love the idea that you actually see more colour in a black and white photo - it's true, once you take away the distraction you see so much more detail (also loved the description of the weather being enough to break the skin)
great post, stephanie. how fun to be a photographer. i think it's a special talent.
daphne
Wow! I really like the last line, "I wanted to capture the fragile points of the tree and paint the roughness of the edges in an imaginary hue of light". Beautiful!
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